“If You Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail.”
How do I manage to eat healthy all week long? Meal Prep. It's a lifesaver.
In actuality, meal prep is just making a LOT of leftovers. And the best thing about leftovers is that you don't have to cook again. Meal prep helps me avoid the "what to eat for lunch" conundrum and avoid eating out. I'm saving myself time, money, and calories by doing it myself.
How do I manage to eat healthy all week long? Meal Prep. It's a lifesaver.
In actuality, meal prep is just making a LOT of leftovers. And the best thing about leftovers is that you don't have to cook again. Meal prep helps me avoid the "what to eat for lunch" conundrum and avoid eating out. I'm saving myself time, money, and calories by doing it myself.
How to meal prep
1. Gather your Tupperware – I like getting separate meal-sized containers and snack sized containers. I also have containers with compartments which is great if you’re dealing with a picky eater who doesn’t like their food to touch or if you want to separate out your food like hummus and veggies or yogurt and fruit salad.
2. Chop in bulk – When you’re prepping veggies, do all your cutting at once. It’s so much faster to cut up 4 peppers in one sitting than to get out your knife and cutting board 4 times throughout the week just to cut 1 at a time. Also, if I’m making a stir fry with veggies, I’ll leave some raw so I can eat them as a snack with hummus. Killing two birds with one stone is the best part of meal prep! Other ideas for knocking out two things at once:
2. Chop in bulk – When you’re prepping veggies, do all your cutting at once. It’s so much faster to cut up 4 peppers in one sitting than to get out your knife and cutting board 4 times throughout the week just to cut 1 at a time. Also, if I’m making a stir fry with veggies, I’ll leave some raw so I can eat them as a snack with hummus. Killing two birds with one stone is the best part of meal prep! Other ideas for knocking out two things at once:
- When cutting an onion – mince half of it and slice half of it. This makes it quick to throw the sliced ones in a stir fry and the minced ones in guacamole or fresh salsa
- Portion your fresh fruit that you need to wash/cut into “fresh” snack bags/Tupperware + Freeze extras for smoothies!
- Think of simple recipes where you can “split” the ingredients. IE. Using half of a can of black beans to add to soup and the other half for eating on top of a salad
- Oatmeal reheats really well. Instead of paying for single serving packets loaded with sugar, make a big batch at the beginning of the week and heat up just as much as you want for breakfast with a splash of milk. Tastes just as good as day one!
- Cooking 1 filet of fish takes the same amount of time as 4. Think about it.
4. Remember to portion- Once everything is cooked, now it's the fun part! Lay out all your tupperware containers and start making your meals. For me, this will often look like a portion of fish, vegetables, and whole grain starches.
As for meal-sized portioning – use these handy charts:
As for meal-sized portioning – use these handy charts:
One of the biggest “mistakes” I see is people over-eating when it comes to their meats. 1 serving of chicken is 3 oz. (deck of cards) – and I’m talking the entire deck of cards, not two stacked on top of each other. If you are making chicken breasts, try cutting them into portions before you cook them – it’ll make this step really easy.
5. Don’t forget snacks! Forget those 100-calorie packs you see at the grocery store. Make your own! It’s so much cheaper. You can buy a big container of things like trail mix, nuts, “healthy” chips, treats and separate into your own snack size baggies. This also prevents this relatable scenario:
8 a.m. You bring a large bag of 'healthy' chips to work and say “I’ll just eat a little bit each day!”
5 p.m. Chips are gone.
5. Don’t forget snacks! Forget those 100-calorie packs you see at the grocery store. Make your own! It’s so much cheaper. You can buy a big container of things like trail mix, nuts, “healthy” chips, treats and separate into your own snack size baggies. This also prevents this relatable scenario:
8 a.m. You bring a large bag of 'healthy' chips to work and say “I’ll just eat a little bit each day!”
5 p.m. Chips are gone.
The little half cup containers are perfect for portioning things you don’t want to eat a lot of like nuts, cottage cheese, small fruits like blueberries/raspberries, small amounts of salad dressing/peanut butter/hummus, etc. It’s the perfect little snack size too and that way you don’t have to worry about over serving yourself and over eating.
Meal prep can be time consuming on the front end, but saves a lot of time in the long run! Happy Prepping!
Meal prep can be time consuming on the front end, but saves a lot of time in the long run! Happy Prepping!