How to end your unhealthy relationship with takeout

Guest post by Lucas Bikowski

Let’s be honest, at some point or another we are all guilty of having an unhealthy relationship with takeaway food. No matter whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner, it can be hard to escape the allure of quick, hot and calorically dense food that you don’t need to put any effort into preparing yourself.

​Nowadays, with many freelance food delivery services becoming popular, it’s even harder to police your takeout temptations. In today’s fast passed consumer society, it can seem almost impossible to stick to healthy eating.

When it comes to eating healthy, sometimes all you need is some inspiration. If you’re looking for ideas, check out the quick and tasty HelloFresh recipes that are incredibly easy to prepare.

​With that said, a big reason that people have an over-reliance on takeout is that they simply don’t have the time, energy or willpower to cook something themselves. Additionally, the huge range of food choices we are confronted with every day can be overwhelming and leave us preferring the simplicity and convenience of takeaway meals.

While attempting to divorce yourself from takeout might take some trial and error, luckily it’s very possible to start eating healthy and getting proper nutrition if you follow some basic rules.

​Let’s take a look at a few ways you can help end your unhealthy relationship with takeaway food!

Set a strict budget for takeout each week
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​One of the easiest methods to reduce your reliance on takeout is to control your spending on it by setting a budget. While you could just make the conscious decision to spend less money, writing down an actual dollar amount will make you more likely to stick to your goal.

After sticking to this budget for a while, you can gradually start to reduce the amount of money you spend until you get rid of your cravings altogether. After a while you’ll become accustomed to eating less and less takeaway so that it will eventually come naturally to you without any mental effort.

​In this way, you are tricking your brain into adopting healthier habits by gradually divesting from them.

Plan out your meals each week

Another great way to reduce your dependency on takeaway is to plan out the lunches and dinners you are going to have throughout the week. While you may not have the time or energy to do this for every day, you can at least plan all of your work lunches or all of your weekday dinners.

​This is convenient because it allows you to do all of the week’s grocery shopping in one trip and reduces the amount of time you would otherwise waste thinking of what to cook while in the supermarket aisle.

Try a meal-kit service
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One alternative to takeaway that has recently exploded in popularity comes in the form of meal-kit delivery services. Basically, each week you get a delivery of fresh ingredients with quick and healthy recipes.

The best thing about these services is that the ingredients come pre-portioned for you; this means that all of the boring bits of cooking such as mixing and measuring are already taken care of. Meal-kit services combine the convenience of home delivery with the goodness of home cooking in a really spectacular way.