Project Half Marathon: ready meals to the rescue?

The Greifensee Run is just around the corner and I should actually be ready to tackle the last few weeks of training with full energy. Should. I have to admit, things have turned out differently. The training sessions are one thing, but in terms of nutrition I never really got on track. Work, family life and other commitments have meant I’ve hardly had the time and energy to prepare balanced meals. Is that an excuse? Admittedly, yes! Can I still do something about it? Yes, and, in my opinion, with the most undignified of all methods – ready meals.

Reactive instead of proactive diet

When I started my training and prep for the half marathon, I really had the feeling that my training sessions would have a positive effect on my diet relatively quickly. Far from it, Mr Candinas! My diet didn’t exactly suffer from the training, but there was hardly any improvement. I still snack regularly during work breaks and I feel like I’ve clocked up 500 steps a day just by going to the fridge at night.

This hasn’t really shown up on the scales yet, but the kilos haven’t exactly dropped as much as I’d have liked. So I’ll probably start the Greifensee Run with the fighting weight I had at my very first fitness check. Unless my desperately ingenious idea from the week before last pays off in the next six weeks.

Ready meal, steady, go!

I must admit the training sessions (whether running or cycling) still give me a good feeling. But unfortunately, laziness, tiredness and not least a guilty conscience are my constant companions on my way to the half marathon. And that definitely has to do with the fact that I’m simply feeding my body junk. I live on black coffee, Pepsi Max, some water and a diet low in fibre and protein, with various unhealthy snacks on the side. In short: rubbish. And since I have six weeks to go, to change things round, I’ve done my research on the web as to how I can optimise my nutrition with little effort.

You don’t need clairvoyant abilities to guess what I was presented with as a solution. I came across a variety of ready meals, all of which are supposed to win you over with their fresh ingredients, high protein content and minimal preparation effort. A few weeks ago, I would have dismissed all this as absolute nonsense. But time is pressing on and my will is weak. So I opted for a box from Löwenanteil, which offers me a total of 40 meals. From chickpea curry to vegan goulash and lentil dal, everything is included. Sounds like it’s healthy, diverse and most of all, a huge time-saver. Order complete! Just under a week later, the box was already on my doorstep. So the culinary low-flying could begin.

By the way, we also offer a variety of ready meals in our range.

Convenience food

Littlelunch Little Italy

350 g

4

Convenience food

Littlelunch Ready meal Chili sin Carne 350 ml

600 g

3

Convenience food

Littlelunch Little Morocco

350 g

5

Not bad at all

I have to admit, the most tedious part of the ready meals was putting them away in the pantry. The jars are heavy and take up a lot of space on my shelf. Apart from that, however, there’s little to criticise about the meals so far. I think the ones I’ve tried are at the tasty to very tasty end of the scale and prepping them is easy-peasy. Open the jar, pour half of the contents into a microwave bowl, add the rice, cook for three minutes at 750 watts et voilà!

They just lose a few points in the appearance category. No matter how nicely I place the rice next to the contents of the jar – as soon as the dish comes out of the microwave, the whole thing looks like the food that was slapped onto my plate at military school. But hey, I don’t have time to concern myself with aesthetic, the food should primarily be balanced and taste good. And it definitely does. All that remains now is to hope that the ready meals will have a positive effect on my well-being and energy levels. I cross my fingers.

The devil has turned to ready meals

No, I’m not proud of eating food out of a jar, especially since I’d like to be a role model to my children and show them how to prepare fresh foods with appealing ingredients. But the current situation is simply out of the ordinary, so I’m prepared to temporarily remove myself from the regular meal plan and experiment.

And in case you’re wondering what the rest of the family are eating now – normal food, of course. The nutritional problem lies solely with me and my snacking escapades and the resulting lack of appetite during regular meals. Moreover, anyone who has small children knows that their diet is anything but exemplary. No matter how well you prepare and decorate vegetables and the like, at the end of the day the kids usually just want pasta. But that’s an entirely different story.

I hope the ready meals will give me a boost both physically and morally over the next few weeks. I’m taking the following lessons from recent weeks with me:

• Nutrition is and remains my ultimate enemy.
• Ready meals are cool, I won’t lie.
• In future, I’ll be all the more careful not to judge people for their diet.

Want to join Oliver and me on our journey to the half marathon? Here’s what we’ve been up to.