New Year, New Beginnings by Katrina Lander
Our guest blogger and Katrina Lander @fitnessfodmap_ guest edits this blog post for Cole & Mason UK.
New Year, New Me? Well, no not exactly! However, putting in practices to becoming an improved version of myself is something I want to work on.
I’m passionate about nutrition, fitness and well-being and I really do believe that they all interlink with each other in some way. Most of my cooking I do from scratch, it’s a good way to work on my cooking skills and allows me to include fresh ‘simple’ and basic ingredients that aren’t inundated with added preservatives.
One aspect I want to focus on more in the near year is being less wasteful and being more aware of the environment. So, how am I going to do that? To becoming less wasteful, I think preparation is going to be key! My aim is to plan my meals for the weekday (at the weekend I find I can be a bit over the place so will avoid planning for these days) choosing several vegetables for the week and making recipes involving these, so I know if one day they’re not used for one recipe, they’ll fit in with another recipe from that week. I also aim to alternate my ingredients on a weekly basis, as variety is the spice of life (and is good for the gut microbiome).
I’ll be having a clear out of my freezer, I don’t use it no where near as much as I should. Cooking in bulk, or having leftovers is perfect for if you have freezer storage, not to mention how handy it is on those days when you just don’t have the time/cant be bothered to cook, all in all an overall winner.
One ingredient I do find hard not to waste are fresh herbs. I’m not sure about you, but I tend to find they don’t last very long, and I’m guilty of using them in only one recipe for the week, and then forgetting about them as they sit at the bottom of the fridge. How to keep them fresher for longer? Cole & Mason Tealby Freshly Cut Herb Keeper Pot it will keep your cut herbs last up to 10 days longer and sits neatly in the fridge. It also has a fill indicator at the front of the pot to aid refilling, an investment most of us could do with!
How to become more aware of the environment? I admit this is something I struggle with, and something I’m going to work on. One change I will be making is to the best of my ability food shopping loose items, as opposed to items already packaged in plastic. I’ll be using my own storage containers, including my Cole & Mason Saunderton Herb Storage and Shaker
(which I also 100% recommend when cooking from scratch). Not only are you helping the environment, but storage containers can look so much more aesthetic than numerous plastic jars and bags.
Overall, I personally think not adding too much pressure, and creating little changes can in return make a bigger difference than we realise.
