For the next two weeks I am going to be commuting from Oxford to London every weekday, a journey that takes about two and a half hours each way when everything goes smoothly and a fair bit longer when something goes awry. While eating healthily is very close to the top of my priority list I also know that exercise makes me feel good and keeps the stresses of the week in perspective and so I still plan to fit in most of my regular exercise classes during the week. This means that on most evenings dinner has to be ready in 15 minutes and there will be limited time for preparation and shopping. Today therefore has been all about meal planning and cooking for the week ahead, and so I have decided to join some of my favourite bloggers in writing about what I plan to eat this week.

First job this morning was a big shop to stock up on healthy foods for snacking on while I’m in London and on the way there and back.  On the list was easily portable fresh fruit, almonds, oatcakes and individual low fat fruit yogurts.

Breakfast will be eaten on the train, speeding through the glorious Oxfordshire and Berkshire countryside.  I’ve made a tray full of Cassie’s breakfast bars, which are bursting with oats, seeds and dried fruit and I’m planning to have this for breakfast on at least three of the days, with yogurt and fruit on the other two for variety.

In the spirit of saving energy as well as time, while I had the oven on for the breakfast bars I roasted some vegetables in olive oil.  The roasted peppers, red onions and half of the butternut squash will be made into a chilli, soy and lemon-dressed brown rice salad for lunch on the first couple of days (with enough for hubbie to have some too). 

The other half of the roasted squash is all cooked and so we’re all set-up to make my butternut squash and red lentil dahl one evening with minimal effort.