DISCLAIMER: I am nervous to do this post. While I have lost a lot of weight since making this change. I am NOT a barbie size girl. I love my body and I love myself enough to want to get healthy. You have to start somewhere, and I take it a day at a time. I am not a doctor or in the medical field. I suggest talking to your Dr. before making drastic changes to your lifestyle.
Here's the facts about meal prepping, yes it is time consuming but for only ONE DAY. The rest of the week I do no cooking except for oatmeal that takes all of 3 minutes. I cannot tell you how much easier my weeks are since I don't have to worry about what's for dinner. I also save a lot of money, because let's be honest, when I would have a long working day I would order pizza or have Chris stop and get fast food. Not only is that hard on your body but it's also hard on your wallet. Meal prepping is not only helping your health, but it is also helping you save money!
Meal prepping can be stressful when you start. I tried to look up videos, blogs, etc to find tips, but it was beyond time consuming because no post I found really had a road map or guide lines to the process.They just showed pics of the food they made, and while that is great to get recipe ideas from, it leaves you not knowing a lot about the process. So look no farther because I am going to lay it all out for you. Bare with me, because this may be a littler longer post but it will be worth it.
Tip #1 Have a clean kitchen and sink before you start.
I'll be honest some weekends I will relax or we will go out, and the house suffers. This goes back to the post about dreaming of a clean kitchen. You need to make sure all your containers are clean and your pots and pans are ready to go. It helps if your dishwasher is ready to be loaded up. That way you can clean up as you go. I know this is simple, but when you are starting something new it is easy to get overwhelmed, and let your dishes pile up. If your kitchen and dishes are clean it's going to make the process easier and go quicker.
Tip #2: Write out a SIMPLE meal plan for the week
This is where I messed up in the beginning. I wanted to make sure that I didn't get tired of the food so I would try to make all these complicated meals and burn myself out. The easiest thing to do is get a pack of chicken boil half of it, and when it is ready use different spices and sauces to jazz it up. Examples would be Ms. Dash spices, herbs such as basil, rosemary, thyme, pesto, low sugar marinara sauce, hot sauce, etc.
You can take the other half of the chicken and throw it on a baking sheet with mixed veggies such as carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, etc with a little olive oil and herbs. I honestly like the veggies with just a little olive oil and sea salt.Then I will put olive oil, a little bit of salt, and Ms Dash southwest seasoning on the chicken. It gives it a ton of flavor and it leaves a wonderful smokey taste on the chicken. Let me tell you it is amazing, and if you use foil on your baking sheet it makes clean up easy.
Make a big pot of brown rice and measure out 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup of rice into your lunch, dinner, or both containers for the week. This gives your body the complex carbs that it needs.
BONUS TIP: Don't waste your money on the microwave rice. I used it for the longest time, but it is cheaper and just as easy to make a big pot of rice.
Microwavable veggies will be your best friend during meal prepping. They are super easy and quick, and on top of that grocery stores normally have great deals on rotation for them so stock up when you can. I also make a big container of fresh veggies cut up for us to snack on. They are a life saver.
I like to get a big pot and boil eggs. I know that it's simple, but they really make a difference in my meal preps. They make great snacks, and I like to use them for breakfast. I will make a serving of oatmeal and on the side I will have one or two eggs. If I want to make a quick salad I make sure to chop up a few for extra protein. I just put them in a big container and they stay good in the refrigerator for roughly 4 to 5 days.
We have to workout super early because of Chris' work schedule. When you wake up before the sun sometimes you don't feel like eating much. I will make a BIG fruit salad, and we will eat a little of that before workouts to get the sugar spike to give us energy.
Tip #3: Take inventory before going to the grocery store.
You may already have essentials hidden in the pantry that you didn't know about, or frozen chicken that should be used, etc. I cannot tell you how much money I saved once I started taking inventory. I noticed I would stock up on items when they went on sale, and then forget about them.
Tip #4: Use labels
If you are making food for you and your spouse the proportions are going to be different. Make it easier on yourself and label whose food is whose. If it's lunch or dinner, and the day it's made for. It just makes it easier to grab and go.
Example would be: Ashley's Monday Lunch, Chris' Monday Lunch.
Tip #5: Netflix
Some days Chris has patient research he needs to do, and can't help with the meal prepping all that much. It doesn't bother me because it gives me time to catch up on my show. I will bring my laptop into the kitchen, and turn Netflix on. I will watch Scandal or Friends. I will also listen to a audio book some days, but I like catching up on shows since I don't get to watch a lot of T.V. throughout the week. It makes the time go by so much faster, and takes away the stressful part of the routine.
Tip # 6 Don't be hard on yourself.
Take time to listen to yourself and your body. You have to figure out what works for you and your family. For me, I had to pretty much start out with a "all or nothing" mentality. That is what works for ME. If I go slow into something I never really move or make changes. That's just my personalty. That doesn't mean that will work for you. Take the time to see what works for you. Maybe start out only meal prepping dinners. Starting out with one meal and gradually go to two, and so forth works then go for it! There is no right or wrong way. You are making healthier changes small or big they should be celebrated because you are making HEALTHY CHANGES AND YOU SHOULD BE PROUD.
Question of the day: Would you like to see more recipes and meal plans? Share your go to healthy recipes in the comments below!
No comments:
Post a Comment