Weekly Meal Prep Tips
I have people asking me ALL the time about Meal prep. It is definitely one of the most important parts of reaching your health and fitness goals.
The real key is to be organized, to write yourself a shopping list and of course, make a meal planner!
I personally don't like to JUST plan my meals, I like to plan my entire week! This includes my workouts, and my personal growth plan, which I personally think it's just as important as fitness and nutrition!
Personal development is the food and exercise for your brain and spirit! And it's having an attitude of gratitude and a positive mindset that will keep you striving towards your health and fitness goals!
For instance, this is my weekly plan for my upcoming week:
When I hit the grocery store, I like to organize my shopping list into categories so that I don't miss any items.
There is a great app for shopping lists, it's called ShopListFree and looks like this:
Once I have my plan of action, I've hit the grocery store and I get home, it's time to rock out some meal prep !
These are some of my top tips for making meal prep simplified!
1. When purchasing groceries, choose items that you can make multiple meals out of. This will not only be convenient, and save you time, but also money!
2. Cook more than 1 thing in the oven at a time for example, chicken, fish, and veggies.
I often use 1 large baking tray, but separate it into sections with tinfoil. Then I don't have to spend hours cooking additional items! Roast your meat and veggies at the same time and just call it done!
3. To keep everything fresh, use glass or plastic containers, and sometimes ziplock bags. I will often prep a crock pot recipe, and just throw all the ingredients in a large ziplock and toss it in the freezer. Then when I need it, I can just pull it out of the freezer and dump it in the slow cooker and hit GO.
When it comes to keeping veggies fresh, I usually only like to prep about 3 days at a time. Mushy tomatoes or brown lettuce does not appeal to me at all!
4. Prep foods but don't cook them. Sometimes the idea of eating cold food, or food you have to reheat is unappealing. So for instance if you wanted to make a fresh hot stirfry, all you would have to do is wash and chop your veggies and put them in a container. Then season and chop your meat and keep it in a separate container. When it comes time for dinner, all you have to do is toss your prepped food into your wok or skillet, and you're good to go!
5. Pre make dressings or spice mixtures and keep them in in small containers or ziplocks ready to go! One of our favourite things is just to buy really good quality all of oils and vinegars. Then all we have to do to make a dressing is toss a couple teaspoons of vinegar and a couple teaspoons of olive oil in a little container, shake it up, and there is delicious dressing! No fuss no muss!
The most important thing you can do, is have healthy, fresh food available. The truth is, if you keep good food in your fridge, you will eat good food!
No matter how much we prepare, those cravings can sometimes hit us! So prep for those too!
If you have a sweet tooth pre-make some protein balls and keep them available in your freezer for those moments where you just need a treat.
Our kids love these superballs: http://gcnfit.com/blog/2016/3/30/no-bake-superballs
And if you have a “salt tooth” lol Try out something like crunchy roasted chickpeas! I’ve made this one here but cut the oil down to 1 tbl instead of 2 :
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/81548/roasted-chickpeas/?internalSource=similar_recipe_banner&referringId=197683&referringContentType=recipe&clickId=simslot_1#
If your cupboards and fridge are full of junk food, it is much more likely you will eat it. Although it took me years to get my family on board, now it is a non-issue. We do not keep things in our house that we know are not going to help us stay healthy and fit. So if one of those crazy moments of chocolate or chip cravings hits us, we have no choice but to grab some fresh fruit or veggies from the fridge!
Good health is priceless, and looking and feeling like a lean mean, healthy machine is pretty great too. We CAN choose to take good care of our bodies. Besides, YOU are fabulous, so aren’t you worth it!?
The one last tip that really helps is simple : get some accountability!
No matter how determined we are to make healthy choices, we are human, and having accountability can make a world of difference! I recently read that 42% of people are much more likely to reach their goals when they write them down, and 78% when they actually tell a friend! So search out an accountability partner or group, and get on the road to being the happiest, healhiest YOU possible!