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BRAND POST: Going to the gym is a positive step that anyone can take to improve their personal health and fitness. When it comes to physical health, however, diet and nutrition are just as important as how much you sweat.

Without being supported by the right fuel, and making sure you get enough of it, your efforts in the gym are going to be thwarted. Eating good food on a consistent basis is going to allow you to engage in longer and more intense, and more frequent, workouts which will undoubtedly propel you towards your fitness goals at a much faster rate.

While you might be a beast in the gym, if you can’t keep up in the kitchen then you aren’t going to get optimal results. If cooking to support your exercise feels like a chore, you should read the information below on how to make the process more convenient for you.

Have a plan

When you go to the gym, do you just do whatever workout you feel like, or do you have a plan in your head of what you need to do? If you do the latter, then you can apply this to your cooking and come up with a plan that allows you to optimise each step of the cooking process.

When you have a plan for the meals that you are going to prepare throughout the week, you can save time with certain steps. For example, you can prepare different ingredients in advance on a Sunday so that your cooking throughout the week takes less time.

Also, having any kind of plan makes you more likely to stick with it. Just like skipping gym sessions, it’s easier to skip cooking if you don’t have a solid plan prepared.

Knowing what you are going to be cooking allows you to mentally prepare for the activity throughout the day. As a bonus, you can save time and money in the supermarket by only buying what you need for the meals you have planned to make.

Team up with friends and family

Most activities become quicker and easier when you team up with others to complete them. When it comes to preparing food at home, having a buddy with you to assist in the process is a great idea to speed things up as well as keep you motivated.

You are far less likely to give up if you have someone there with you. All the tasks you find boring (like dicing vegetables or waiting for something to reach a specific temperature) are chances for you to have a conversation with the person you are cooking with.

Another benefit of teaming up in the kitchen is that you can learn from one another. The person you are cooking with might teach you a more efficient technique or introduce you to a variety of new dishes that you can enjoy making for the first time.

Cook several meals at once and put them in the fridge

Instead of just preparing ingredients ahead of time, you can take things a step further and cook entire meals to refrigerate and enjoy later. If done correctly, you can spend a single day in the kitchen and have home-cooked meals neatly stored in your fridge, ready for you to eat during the week.

This is incredibly convenient, especially if you usually come home from work on a weekday feeling too exhausted to start cooking. This strategy allows you to maintain tight control over what you eat and enjoy the convenience of microwaving a quick meal before you hit the gym.

Cook large batches of the same dish

To make things even more convenient for you, you can simply cook a big batch of the same meal and portion it out over several days. There is no rule that says you need to eat something unique every night of the week. As long as what you are eating is healthy and satisfying, there’s nothing wrong with deliberately making so much that you have leftovers for multiple days.

Learn new cooking techniques

Another way to make cooking more convenient is to learn new techniques that help you to save time. Attending a cooking class is an excellent way for you to pick up new skills and refine the ones you already have, as well as learn some different recipes and make friends at the same time.

Buy staples in bulk

Sometimes, going to the grocery store to pick up ingredients can be a hassle. If there are certain staples you use all the time, like rice or lentils, then it makes sense to buy them in bulk and store them in the cupboard.

This tip also helps you save money and spend less time at the supermarket.

Buy time-saving appliances for your kitchen

You can make different cooking activities more convenient for you by buying new appliances. For example, a rice cooker would eliminate the extra time and effort it would otherwise take for you to prepare rice in each of your meals.

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