How to eat healthy even if you are busy working together? Introduce solution

What are the main problems faced by dual-income households? I tried to pick up typical problems.

I can’t find time to eat together with my family

In the 2017 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries “Awareness Survey on Shokuiku”, when asked “I think it’s important to eat meals with family,” they answered “I strongly agree” or “I agree.” 90% of all age groups did.

Eating together is an important opportunity for children to deepen family ties and acquire knowledge about food and table manners. One of the benefits of having meals as a family is that you can easily set a regular meal time.

On the other hand, more than 30% of those in their 20s to 50s answered that they “strongly agree” or “agree” to the question “It is difficult for families to eat together.” The most common reason for all age groups is “Because I or my family is busy with work”, which highlights the ideal and reality of eating together in the so-called prime working generation.

Lack of repertoire, lack of cooking knowledge

The number of dual-income households began to increase in 1980, and in 1997, it surpassed the number of households in which “a man supports the household budget and a woman supports the household as a full-time housewife.” When the working generation was a child, there must be many families where both parents were busy working.

In busy households where both parents work, it is difficult to find time to teach their children how to cook, and parents have limited opportunities to teach their children the basics of cooking. As a result, he grew up with little knowledge and experience in home cooking, old-fashioned recipes, how to cut fish, how to prepare vegetables, how to use seasonings, and so on. There are many people who have the problem that the seasoning is one pattern and the menu is always the same.

I don’t have time to cook, so I often eat out or eat ready-made meals

There are many household chores to do after work. In particular, double-income families with children often have little time to spare due to the minute-by-minute schedule until they go to bed.
Even though they really want to cook meals, they are forced to eat out or use ready-made meals such as ready-made side dishes and boxed lunches due to lack of time.

What kind of problems will arise if the troubles of meals in dual-income households are left unaddressed? There are three main possible problems:

Conflicts occur between husband and wife

Fewer opportunities to eat together as a family physically reduces the amount of time spent talking. As a result, you may not realize that the burden on your partner is increasing, or your dissatisfaction with the other party will accumulate, leading to misunderstandings. In order to prevent misunderstandings between husband and wife, it is necessary to make efforts to equalize the burden of housework and communicate outside of meals.

Eating alone aggravates the state of mind

In recent years, “lone eating”, eating meals alone, has been viewed as a problem. People who eat alone often tend to feel more stressed, which can lead to worsening mental health conditions. In the 2022 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Awareness Survey on Shokuiku, we surveyed how often people who live with their families eat together. As a result, we found that 26.0% of people rarely eat breakfast with their family and 6.2% of them eat dinner.

Even children who are still developing physically and mentally are known to be affected by eating alone. Children who eat alone often have problems such as not learning manners such as how to hold chopsticks, wash their hands before meals, and greetings. It is said that there are many

Eating out and eating out are convenient when you both work and don’t have time to cook.
However, it is known that people who frequently eat out or eat ready-made meals tend to consume more fat and lack dietary fiber. In the “National Health and Nutrition Survey” conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2019, the amount of vegetable intake and the ratio of fat energy were items that did not reach the target for each age group, so caution is required.

What are some ways to solve the food problems faced by dual-income families? Here are some easy ways to get started.

Utilize local dining venues such as children’s cafeterias

Eating together refers to eating with someone, and mainly includes the whole family, part of the family, friends, and relatives. Co-eating has many benefits, including:

<Benefits of eating together>
・There is no feeling of fatigue or physical discomfort in the morning, and self-evaluation of health increases ・There is
no stress, and one feels healthy
・Intake of healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits increases・Able to
eat a well-balanced staple food, main dish, and side dish・ Able
to eat a variety of foods・Regular meal and snack
times or go to bed early or sleep for a long time

While eating together has many advantages, it may be difficult for some children to eat together in homes where both parents come home late, or in areas where there is little connection with the surroundings in the city center.

In such a case, it is also a good idea to use “children’s cafeterias”, which are provided by local residents and local governments to provide free or low-cost meals and social gatherings. Children’s cafeterias are managed not only to create a place for children and to develop the community, but also to “convey manners, food culture, the importance of meals and nutrition” and “preparing staple foods, main dishes and side dishes”. Masu.
Borrowing the power of the region is never a bad thing. It is important to make good use of it and give your child a place to eat together.

Prepare a nutritious breakfast

In a busy dual-income household, it is not easy to achieve the perfect nutritional balance for all three meals. If you try too hard, you will get exhausted, so try to have a well-balanced breakfast.
Having a good meal at the beginning of the day is very important to have a good day.

While you sleep, maintenance of various tissues, including muscles and skin, takes place in your body. By eating breakfast, food enters the stomach, which sends a signal to the intestines and turns on the excretion switch.

At the same time, the absorption of nutrients that provide energy and vitamins and minerals that are essential for metabolism from breakfast turns on the metabolic switch that produces energy for activity. Breakfast is essential to raise body temperature and wake up the body.

Take advantage of easy-to-eat foods

If you don’t have time to examine foods, want to cook as quickly as possible, or don’t have much in your repertoire, use foods that are easy to eat and nutritionally balanced. These foods are also recommended for breakfast and snacks.

・Banana
For the brain, carbohydrates are the only source of energy. By getting enough sugar in the morning, your brain will be more active and you will be able to work and study better.
Bananas contain a variety of carbohydrates such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, making them an excellent food that can be easily consumed even in busy mornings.

・Processed cheese
Processed cheese is a food that you can easily ingest protein without cooking. Protein uses part of the ingested energy to raise body temperature. Your body temperature is the lowest in the morning, so if you eat protein-rich foods for breakfast, your body temperature, which dropped while you were sleeping, rises, making it easier to be active.

・Canned food, sausage, ham
Protein is an essential nutrient for the body, but if you try to get it from meat or fish, you need to cook it, which takes time and effort. Canned tuna, canned mackerel, sausage, and ham are recommended because they can be easily eaten without cooking.

Eggs
Eggs are a food with an amino acid score of 100, containing a good balance of essential amino acids. Rich in protein and folic acid, it can be easily incorporated into meals such as egg over rice and boiled eggs.

・Frozen vegetables, cut vegetables
Frozen vegetables and cut vegetables that do not require the time and effort to wash and cut are ideal for saving time as they can be used as they are. You can use commercially available products, or you can make your own frozen vegetables by cutting vegetables and mushrooms.
Dried vegetables that are cut and dried from leafy vegetables and root vegetables can also be added to miso soup to make up for the lack of vegetables.

Take advantage of time-saving cooking techniques

If you don’t have time to examine foods, want to cook as quickly as possible, or don’t have much in your repertoire, use foods that are easy to eat and nutritionally balanced. These foods are also recommended for breakfast and snacks.

・Cook a batch of rice on the weekend and freeze it
. Rice is a grain meal, so the speed of digestion and absorption is slow, and blood sugar levels do not rise sharply. Adding side dishes containing vitamins and minerals, or making rice balls and adding ingredients, is also an advantage of easily supplementing the nutrients that are lacking.
It’s hard to cook every meal, so cook it all at once over the weekend and freeze it, or use retort-packed rice. If you make rice balls and freeze them, you can save even more time.

・Prepare soup and miso soup
with plenty of vegetables Vegetables contain plenty of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. If you make it in bulk and refrigerate or freeze it, you can eat it just by warming it up.

・Meat and fish are seasoned and frozen.Meat
and fish can be seasoned to your liking and frozen. If you have time, season it with miso or teriyaki-style sauce and store it in a freezer bag.

・Prepare so that cooking can be completed with just a microwave
If your child is in the upper grades of elementary school, it is efficient to prepare food that is “just warmed in the microwave” before going out.

The following dishes do not use fire, so they are less dangerous and even children in the upper grades can make them. When you have to go to cram school before your parents come home, or when you prepare dinner on a day when your parents are likely to work overtime, you can eat colorful and nutritionally balanced food even when your parents are away. you will be able to It’s perfect for days when you want to eat as soon as you get home.

<Ingredients>
Cut vegetables
Chopped meat or fish fillets
Seasonings (Ponzu sauce, mentsuyu and oil combined + spices)

<How to make>
1. Spread cut vegetables on a microwaveable Tupperware and put chopped meat or fish fillets on top.
2. Sprinkle the seasoning.
3. Put it in the refrigerator and heat it in the microwave just before eating.

Introduce a frozen home delivery lunch box

The dual-income generation who wishes for the health of their family tends to work too hard, saying, “I want to eat well-balanced meals even if I’m busy with both jobs” and “I want to create opportunities to eat together at home as much as possible.” If the creator becomes exhausted and jeopardizes his health, it would be a case of putting the cart before the horse.
I would like to recommend Nichirei Foods Direct’s frozen home delivery bento to such dual-income generations. Even when you’re too busy to go shopping or don’t have time to cook, you can prepare nutritionally balanced meals.

Nichirei Foods Direct’s frozen home delivery lunch box ” Kikubari GozenⓇ ” controls the calorie content to 300kcal or less and salt equivalent to 2.0g or less. Because it is supervised by a registered dietitian, nutritional balance is guaranteed. For first-timers, we recommend the trial set where you can enjoy a variety of side dishe “Kikubari GozenⓇ” Trial Set of 4 Meals

No matter how busy you are, you never want to give up healthy, happy family meals.
To solve food problems in a busy dual-income family, make good use of local dining venues, services such as frozen delivery lunch boxes, and time-saving foods such as cut and frozen vegetables. Find ways to lighten the load so that the creator doesn’t get tired.