Healthy eating when you have no time: what actually works for busy people

When you work eight or nine hours and still have things to do afterwards, healthy eating is usually the first thing to drop off the schedule. Not because you don't know what to do, but because at 9 pm you have no energy to cook. Here's what actually helps, from the cheapest option to the easiest.

1. Cook once, eat three times

Meal prep doesn't have to mean a whole Sunday in the kitchen and 20 identical boxes. It's enough to prepare the basics twice a week (say, Sunday and Wednesday):

• one protein in a bigger batch (roast chicken, meatballs, boiled eggs, lentils),
• one grain (rice, quinoa, buckwheat),
• a tray of roasted vegetables.

For three days you mix these into different meals: a bowl, a salad, a wrap. An hour and a half of work, and three days are sorted.

2. Shop with a list, not on an empty stomach

Plan your meals for the week before you go to the shop. Buy only what's on the list. It saves money and time, and it cuts food waste more than anything else.

3. Keep a backup in the fridge and cupboard

The day when nothing is ready always comes. If you have these at home, dinner is done in 10 minutes:

• eggs,
• tinned tuna and chickpeas,
• frozen vegetables,
• wholegrain wraps or bread,
• Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese.

4. Snacks at the office

The afternoon energy slump is when healthy eating most often falls apart, with a biscuit from the vending machine or a pastry from the bakery. Keep nuts in your drawer, and yoghurt and fruit in the office fridge. When the healthy option is within reach, you don't have to fight yourself.

5. Don't aim for perfect

A burek once a week doesn't ruin anything. What ruins it is turning one bad day into "it's all gone wrong, I'll start again on Monday". If you eat well 80% of the time, you're already ahead of most people.

6. When it pays to have someone else cook

If you've tried everything above and it still isn't working, the problem probably isn't willpower but time. That's when it makes sense to hand the cooking over to someone else, at least on working days.

With us it works like this: every morning five meals for the whole day arrive at your door, with calories and macros on each one. No shopping, no cooking, no washing up. You can also take a package for working days only (the 5 or 20-day plan) and cook yourself at the weekend. You can read how delivery works in healthy meal delivery in Belgrade, and the prices are on the pricing page.

If you're wondering whether it makes financial sense compared with cooking, we've done the maths for Belgrade.