What I Eat in A Day in Europe

As you might have read in last week's post, my eating habits have changed a lot since getting to Europe. I'll be the first to admit that back in the US, I got into a bad habit of always feeling like I needed to eat the boutique superfood brands and load every meal with superfoods in order to "be healthy" buuuut that's not the case. Today I wanted to share what I eat in a day and how I've acclimated to new eating habits.My meals have been pretty simple...kinda boring but they work. I enjoy eating them, they are fairly healthy, and I am not wasting food or money. I typically choose one or two different breakfast, lunch, and dinners to eat throughout the week. This new way of eating is less about meal prepping for the entire week but more about focusing on the next few days and then going shopping again once I run out of food. It's slightly unconventional but pretty common to do in Europe.

Breakfast

For breakfast, I typically make overnight oats with muesli (+ almond milk, chia seeds, yogurt) just because that's quick and easy to prep. Some weeks I will buy a half carton of eggs for the week which I use to scramble or fry and add on top of anything for some added protein. A couple of days, I have had a roasted sweet potato with yogurt and peanut butter...surprisingly delicious and I'm craving one right now.

• overnight oats
• WASA crisps with peanut butter and figs or with avocado and hummus
• roasted sweet potato with granola and yogurt
• yogurt bowl

Lunch

My lunch ranges from couscous salads (with falafel, avocado, and hummus) to homemade miso soup and soba noodles. I try to have a carb, protein, and vegetable for lunch but sometimes I just end up snacking all day until dinner.

• couscous or quinoa, mixed greens, falafel, tomato, avocado, hummus, and lemon juice
• miso soup, soba noodles, spinach, tofu, and shredded carrots
• canned tuna mixed with avocado on crackers
•  quinoa breakfast bowl with fried egg, sautéed veggies, and avocado

Dinner

My dinners have been lame. Like I'm not very proud of it. They have been fairly tasty but I have been getting bored. Sometimes I'll get fancy and have salmon (ok, that happened once in the past month) but I am getting most of my protein from beans. Then I'll have pasta or cous cous and then roasted/sautéed vegetables.TIP: to spice your meals up, use different dips/spreads/sauces...I typically have hummus or a creamy red pepper dip or pesto with all of my meals. This gives it a lot of flavor and allows you to change the flavor profile when you are eating the same ingredients all week.

• cous cous, lemon pepper salmon, sautéed mushrooms and tomato, roasted brussels sprouts
• pasta with spinach and sautéed tomatoes (use lentil pasta or add beans for protein)
• peanut soba noodles, fried tofu, mushrooms, spinach, and miso roasted eggplant (THIS recipe)
• roasted sweet potato with sautéed zucchini and chickpeas with avocado

My pantry/fridge staples consist of:PRODUCE (leafy greens, green veggie like zucchini, breakfast fruit like banana, snacking fruit like apple, lemon, mushrooms, sweet potato, avocado)PROTEIN (at least 2 cans of beans at all times, vegan meat/falafel, canned tuna)BREAKFAST (alpro non-dairy yogurt, chia seeds, granola, muesli, almond milk, peanut butter)GRAINS (cous cous, quinoa, pasta)OTHER (sunflower oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, miso paste, garlic, onion, Maria cookies)Sooooo as you can see, my diet has been pretty basic. And I'm happy about it. It's been really nice realizing that I don't need all of these bells and whistles and high-end products to maintain a healthy diet. I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on groceries each week. I'll admit, I'm not having as much fun with cooking lately because I haven't really had the time and I don't have the kitchen equipment/space to really do that but it's ok. Sometimes food is really something that brings me joy but other times it's purely a nourishment thing. There's a spectrum and we go through phases in life...I guess this is just a time when I am meant to cook simpler meals :)