If there is one food trend I can get on board with, it’s bowls. Poke bowls, buddha bowls – call them what you want, they rock.
I’ll be honest, I make a lot of bowl-based meals at home because I live alone and feel empowered to eat on the lounge (more than I should). Pre-chop your steak and veg, throw it in a bowl, add some hot sauce and you’re ready for a solid session of one-handed bliss in front of Queer Eye.
On occasion, I’ll stump up and buy a poke bowl from Nudefish and holy moly the price hurts. If you want avocado on that baby you’re spending fifteen bucks.
But judging by the queues at the food court the good people of Sydney can’t get enough bowl action. It’s like they enjoy spending too much on takeaway!
Well Fierce Girls, I’m here to combine two of my favourite things: food prep and saving money!
The thing is, it’s annoying to make just one bowl because there are all these separate elements. But if you do a batch, you’re set for the week. And you’re in control of all your diet and money resolutions.
It’s not complicated. It comes down to:
A base: rice, quinoa, buckwheat – or if you’re feeling low-carb, try shredded cabbage, zoodles, or even the good ol’ salad mix.
It’s super easy and cheap to buy some red and black and brown rice, cook up a cup or two and have it ready in the fridge all week. It’s more exciting and nutty than boring old white or brown. And less plastic waste than the microwave packets.
Veggies: I like to roast them up for sweetness and general deliciousness, then add some microwaved or steamed greens like broccoli. You get a nice mix of flavours.
Protein: If you feel fancy, some hot-smoked salmon is fantastic, but you can also do some normal smoked salmon. You can marinate and grill up some chicken breast (or buy the pre-marinated one from Aldi – no judgement). And if you’re really desperate you can totally throw in a can of tuna or salmon.
For an extra tasty flourish, I fry an egg or two that morning and throw it on top. I also like to add some hot sauce, some avocado or some tahini – whatever condiments get you going.
The process is really simple. Pre-cook as much as possible and put it all in separate containers in the fridge.
Maybe your fridge doesn’t look quite like mine, but also, you probably don’t have a lifelong Tupperware obsession.
The key points I want to make are:
Food prep is not that hard to get right. It just takes some planning and an hour or two of time.
BYO Lunches are the absolute key to saving money and cleaning up your diet. I love bowls because it’s so easy to track your macros (if you weigh and measure like a nerd).
Once you have a few go-to meals, you can mix and match to avoid boredom. It also helps to buy seasonal veggies, so you can change the ingredients over time.
Simply put: bowls are a great way to rock your diet and wallet.
*Sorry about my lame food pics – need to really work on my skills. But you get the idea. I’ll also give you some more serious financial tips soon. In the meantime, get cooking!
January 16, 2019 at 11:23 am
Love this! I’m a big fan of black rice, garlic kale, roast eggplant and kangaroo (all that iron without the fat!). All prepped on a Sunday arvo and weighed into Tupperware. Ha. My colleagues are also super jealous of my lunches too!
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January 16, 2019 at 11:39 am
That sounds awesome. My colleagues are either jealous or baffled by the amount of food in Tupperware I eat all day.
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January 18, 2019 at 3:02 am
We’ve recently been getting into bowls (e.g. I thought they were called “pokie bowls” although there isn’t anything very RSL about them) and there is the aesthetics question: Should you bother putting all the ingredients into the bowl in a nice pattern when you’re just going to smoosh it all up together anyway?
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