Definitely had more than my fair share of takeaways and ready meals at this time. Those long days in the lab! 😩
As someone else mentioned, dumping everything into one-pot meals and traybakes are really quick to prep and you can batch them up! Turkey Chilli, Lentil Bolognese and Dhal are some of my go-tos.
i know a lot of people spend a few hours sunday morning meal prepping—i just make a bigger batch of whatever my sunday dinner is for my lunches. and like you mentioned, prepping single ingredients is helpful too!
If everything’s already prepped, Meals that you either dump everything on a sheet pan or in a crockpot and let cook without intervention are a game changer! You can do what ever else and it’s only one dirty dish!
I agree so much with your points! I think the big issues are the effort that cooking takes and also the very limited budget most PhD students are on - thanks for pointing these out. Totally agree about meal prep too! Often my weekends were the only time I could be bothered to put any effort into cooking.
I think universities could do a lot to help though, by making healthy and affordable options available on campus!
Thank you for you comment, very much appreciated! Time and budget are real struggles during the PhD... Meal prep helps, but it’s not always easy, I totally understand that.
I had worse nutrition as an undergrad because it was only me, but I think it’s because I am now as a PhD student also cooking for children & husband who works full time. So in the morning, a hot lunch goes into a thermos for my kids at school — so I need to have already planned that otherwise I find myself cooking at 6am. This post is good inspiration for me as sometimes I am cooking 3x a day and I have recently been thinking it’s feeling very unsustainable and tiring, really. It’s hard when family members are eating such different lunches though and then all have different needs in the evening. I really dislike planning food though. I have my PhD so well organised in Trello, surely I can bring some of that planning to food!
I'm glad I could inspire you, even if just a little. You're right, it gets much more complicated when you have to think about the whole family. But with some good meal planning and batch cooking, it might feel a little easier. And honestly, anything that helps reduce stress these days is worth a try.
Definitely had more than my fair share of takeaways and ready meals at this time. Those long days in the lab! 😩
As someone else mentioned, dumping everything into one-pot meals and traybakes are really quick to prep and you can batch them up! Turkey Chilli, Lentil Bolognese and Dhal are some of my go-tos.
Nice Post! 🤩
Okay Sam, now you're making me hungry! 😂
meal prep is my best phd superpower!!! thanks for highlighting the importance of wellness
Wow Josie, that’s great! So happy you’re already doing it and finding it useful! Any extra advice for a newbie like me?
i know a lot of people spend a few hours sunday morning meal prepping—i just make a bigger batch of whatever my sunday dinner is for my lunches. and like you mentioned, prepping single ingredients is helpful too!
If everything’s already prepped, Meals that you either dump everything on a sheet pan or in a crockpot and let cook without intervention are a game changer! You can do what ever else and it’s only one dirty dish!
Yes Emily! ❣️ That's exactly my point! Efficiency, time-saving, but at the same time, quality and health!
I agree so much with your points! I think the big issues are the effort that cooking takes and also the very limited budget most PhD students are on - thanks for pointing these out. Totally agree about meal prep too! Often my weekends were the only time I could be bothered to put any effort into cooking.
I think universities could do a lot to help though, by making healthy and affordable options available on campus!
Thank you for you comment, very much appreciated! Time and budget are real struggles during the PhD... Meal prep helps, but it’s not always easy, I totally understand that.
I had worse nutrition as an undergrad because it was only me, but I think it’s because I am now as a PhD student also cooking for children & husband who works full time. So in the morning, a hot lunch goes into a thermos for my kids at school — so I need to have already planned that otherwise I find myself cooking at 6am. This post is good inspiration for me as sometimes I am cooking 3x a day and I have recently been thinking it’s feeling very unsustainable and tiring, really. It’s hard when family members are eating such different lunches though and then all have different needs in the evening. I really dislike planning food though. I have my PhD so well organised in Trello, surely I can bring some of that planning to food!
I'm glad I could inspire you, even if just a little. You're right, it gets much more complicated when you have to think about the whole family. But with some good meal planning and batch cooking, it might feel a little easier. And honestly, anything that helps reduce stress these days is worth a try.
Thought I’d drop this resource for March Produce in the comments: https://open.substack.com/pub/itsthelunchbreak/p/march-produce-guide?r=1gv75k&utm_medium=ios
Super!!! Thank you!!!