How to have healthy food around all the time

Something a recent post reminded me of is how good it is to always have soup or stew around, especially in wintertime. When this is the case it's very hard to go into the kitchen and think "I'm very hungry but there's nothing good to eat"!

A big soup, if brought to a boil once a day, can last for a week at least. (I haven't seen it go past that but it usually is gone by then.)

Beans or legumes are another good food to always have ready as they are very filling and give plenty of energy--they can be added with the soup/stew, after, or eaten by themselves. Fried beans or chickpeas with spices is a good snack that I like to make when there are beans around.

How do you make sure that there is always healthy, nutritious food for when you're hungry?

You've just reminded me to turn the heat on my perpetual pot of beans. Done.

Beans are the thing for me. You can add beans to lots of other things. You can add lots of other things to beans. The possibilities seem endless.

I've kept perpetual stew going for over a month having never been refrigerated and there are commercial joints that do so for years on end. Right now, it's chili that has enough sweet potato in it that some folks might balk at calling it chili. Anyway, we do the same thing keeping soup or stew around all winter, at least.

We also go through a pot of beans every week starting with a pound or pound and a half of dry beans. Sometimes that goes into the soup, sometimes it becomes a fresh chili or frijoles or beans-n-rice. Occasionally it's chikpeas and becomes hummus or curry instead.

We cook good food for all our meals and don't really seem to have a problem keeping that healthy. Our problem and it's true for everyone in my family is between meal snacks. I've been buying a lot of celery so that I have something crunchy to go after. If I cut it up on the weekend and put it in a tub of water in the fridge, it stays good all week.

think it ultimately comes down to things being convenient and available.
We don't buy convenience foods, so if I'm too lazy to make something, my snack is a piece of fruit (we keep plenty of fruit around) or a cucumber with miso.
I try to keep a lot of leftovers around, so I can have a flatbread with peanut butter or a bowl of rice with pickle or something like that.

My healthy strategy is basically just to not have unhealthy stuff in the house. If we want to eat crap, we go out to do it (and now do it so very rarely.... ice cream once in a while.)

I have this trouble so much.  I often rely on frozen vegetables, especially peas as they have protine, fibre, and vegetable goodness.  And lots of butter (fat helps us feel full).

Apples and cheese take about the same time to prepare.

But i confess, sometimes 3 minutes is too long or too much effort.  I need an easier snack that doesn't spoil quickly.

Stew sounds good.  I think I'll put on a pot when the chores are done.