Primal Influence (Aimee): Paleo for Busy People

It is often assumed that tasty and healthy meals are time consuming and expensive, but that isnt the case at all. When you move towards the 'paleo' style of eating, you no longer have the convenience of condiments to flavour meals or microwave-ready packs in the freezer. In essence, more often than not, most dishes need to be prepared from scratch. This of course equals more time and effort, but there are definitely ways to save time and reduce effort while producing quality, healthy (and most importantly tasty) dishes for the family.

I don't have kids, but saving time is important to me. I'm pretty lazy and impatient when it comes to cooking. So I've found anything that helps to save some time and energy is a massive help, and I am more than happy to share some time-saving tips with you!

Here are my top 5 tips on how to save time and effort in the kitchen…

Make large quantities of your favourite flavour mixes and store in the pantry. Such as spice rubs and herb combinations. You might have a favourite spicy Mexican blend you like to make for Mexican-inspired dishes, so why not mix up those spices, herbs, salt and pepper into a jar so you can grab it and use straight away when making that yummy meal?

Become good friends with your slow cooker! And if you don’t already have one, buy one quick smart! Throw in a big chunk of meat like a rolled roast or a whole chook, along with a heap of veggies and leaving on the low setting all day or overnight you have an instant meal ready to go! Not only does it help easily make a whole meal for the family, you can use it to cook foods in bulk for serving-size storage in the fridge and the freezer. Cauliflower rice is always a crowd pleaser. You can grate up a 1 or 2 whole cauliflowers in the food processor or with a grater, throw in the slow cooker, leave on low for a few hours, and wah lah, you have a big batch of cauli-rice you can then split up into smaller portions and freeze/refrigerate for easy re-heating on the stove top to go alongside your fave meat and other veggies. There are so many incredibly healthy meals you can make using a slow cooker, they are definitely one of the best kitchen gadgets for saving time and effort.

Pre-make brekkie dishes. Paleo excludes inflammatory grains, therefore most cereals, toast, and many of the usual suspects eaten at breakfast time. So to come up with healthy and reasonably quick alternatives can seem almost impossible at first. But it’s not! You can eat meat, veg, eggs, bacon, good ham, zoodles, pretty much anything you have for lunch and dinner you can absolutely have for brekkie. An example is Meat Muffins (see recipe below); they’re so healthy, versatile and can be made on a weekend and stored in the fridge to then quickly reheat in the oven for brekkie. Another idea is to hard boil a heap of eggs on the weekend and keep in the fridge for instant brekkie food each morning. Easy!

Find nifty and affordable kitchen gadgets that do the work for you! One of my absolute favourite kitchen gadgets is my slicer from Aldi. It works like a Julienne machine and cost about $12! I use it almost every day. It slices veggies in a few different ways meaning I can easily create variety with my seemingly-boring-at-first just meat and veg base. Such as flat chips, chunky chips, tooth-pick size, grated for quick cooking and more. By slicing veggies differently it gives different textures, it allows some veggies to be cooked faster because they’re made smaller, it creates even shapes so cooking time is consistent and minimal and it saves me time cutting veggies by hand. I also love my ‘noodle maker’ – more specifically the Chef Avenue 4-in-1 Vegetable Slicer. This gadget allows me to make noodle out of lots of different veggies, so I can create healthy grain-free pasta dishes and lots of other interesting and healthy meals. It’s fantastic! There are stacks of different slicing machines on the market now, so find a couple that you feel would add value to your kitchen creations and that you can afford and off you go saving time prepping and cooking!

Buy in bulk. Whether it’s meat or paleo baking ingredients.. buying in bulk often saves money and saves time because you have what you need on hand when you need it. By buying small packets of spices and herbs it’s easy to run low or totally run out, so instead, head to your local health food store or market that offers bulk buy foods, take your own jars or zip-lock bags and grab plenty of what you always use at home so you then have plenty on hand. Or find a local quality or butcher and buy meat packs in bulk to store away in your freezer. This also helps the environment, which is a bonus!

I hope those tips give you ideas and inspiration for helping you save time and effort in your kitchen, leaving you more time to actually enjoy your healthy meals!

Now here’s my yummy Meat Muffin recipe...

MEAT MUFFINS
 

 You’ll need these:
1 pkt organic grass-fed lamb mince (or other meat that stays moist. Beef tends to dry out in this recipe)
1 cup mixed grated veg of choice (carrot, zucchini, onion, cabbage etc)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp bone broth (optional)
1 tbsp pure organic tomato paste
Coconut oil or animal fat (for saucepan and some for greasing baking dish)
Herbs and spices of choice
Himalayan salt, pepper
Optional: 1-2 organic eggs to help muffins rise and increase ‘fluffiness’ (not essential)
1 tbsp coconut flour or banana flour to help bind (not essential)
　


Do this:
1. Lightly grease a 1x6 muffin tray and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. In a mixing bowl at mince, veg, garlic, herbs, broth, tomato paste, spices, salt, pepper (and eggs and coconut flour if you’re including)

3. Using your hands to combine all ingredients thoroughly

4. Take a handful of mixture and press into muffin trays

5. The mixture will settle while cooking so there’s no particular method in which the mix should be placed in the trays

6. Place in oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven

7. Remove from oven once cooked and allow to cool

8. Pour out any excess liquid sitting in the trays, remove meat muffins and store them in a container in the fridge

9. Reheat (using oven if possible, not microwave) 1 or 2 for brekkie, lunch or just a snack

Enjoy ☺


Aimee Clark
Paleo Cooking Coaching
Primal Influence
www.primalinfluence.com