Meal prep and planning made easy!

Hi, all!  Today I am going to give you some tips that you can take with you right into the kitchen and start whipping up some healthful meals!  

Does this give you anxiety?  It doesn't have to!

Here are some things that you should do before you start meal planning: 

Figure out what works best for you.  Some people plan and prep all of their meals for the week in one day.  Some (like me) make meals each day.  Decide when you have enough time to plan your meals and what is going to be the easiest for you to help you be successful.

Familiarize yourself with foods that are healthful.  Some foods pretend to be good for you but they may have a lot of sugar, sodium, or saturated fat.  Try to limit yourself to non-processed foods and make sure to read and understand the labels if you do buy packaged foods.

Get some recipes.  The best way to create healthy meals is to have some recipes at your disposal.  I have several cookbooks (Autumn Calabrese’s Fixate and Jillian Michaels’s Master Your Metabolism) that I use on a daily basis.  I also have nutrition guides from the plethora of workout programs that I have so I can find recipes very easily from those.  If you don’t have access to books such as these, you can find tons of recipes on the Internet, especially Pinterest.

Decide how much you need to be eating.  For most people, it is best to have three bigger meals (not huge meals) and two snacks.  Everyone is different, though, and caloric and dietary needs vary based on current weight and activity level, and what your goals are.  Some workout programs include a formula to calculate calories, such as 21 Day Fix, which you can find here:  http://teamelev8fitness.com/21-day-fix-getting-startedcalorie-calculator/.

Now that you have some tips to get yourself started, I will share with you how I do meal planning every week.  

1. I always look through the local grocery store ads.  I specifically look at the seafood, meat and produce sections.  If there is something on special that is not typically on sale or we don’t eat very often because it’s more expensive, I may choose to include those foods in my meals that week.

2.  I look through my recipes and figure out what I want to make that week.  I typically make two meals for lunch that I can have throughout the week and the same for dinner.  For example, I might make hard-boiled eggs and tuna salad and will alternate those for lunch.  For dinner, I might make fajitas and chili and alternate those as well.  I am not one who makes the same thing for lunch and dinner every day of the week.  I would get bored with my meals and be less likely to enjoy them if I had the same thing every day.

Meal plan for a week and Fixate--I get so many recipes from here!

3.  After I decide what I want to eat for the week, I make my list.  I look at my recipes and see what I need from the store.  I try to use as many ingredients that I have at the house as possible, especially fruits and vegetables.

4.  On Sunday, I decide what can be made ahead of time.  Now, this could be where you decide if you want to make all of your meals on one day or make them throughout the week.  On this day, I make as much stuff as I can ahead of time so I don’t have to do it during the week.  I portion out meat and trim it (and put what I don’t need in the freezer), I cut fruits and put them in air-tight containers, and pre-cook anything that will last the whole week (boil eggs, grill chicken, etc.).  

5.  Once everything is prepped on Sunday, I get my breakfast and lunch ready for the next day.  That way, all I have to do when I get up in the morning is eat breakfast before work and grab my lunchbox.  When I get home from work, I make my snack (usually a protein shake), prep dinner (cut vegetables, usually) and get my breakfast and lunch ready for the next day.  Then, I do my workout and cook dinner.  Since I know what I’m eating every day and already have all of the ingredients I need, I don’t have to think of something to make each day and go to the grocery store but once a week.

Meal planning may seem very daunting, but once you get the hang of it, it is easy!  Remember to choose recipes that have few ingredients and don’t take long to put together so you’re not spending all of your time prepping and cooking.  Making recipes that have leftovers that you can eat throughout the week is also a good way to meal prep faster.  Let me know if you have any questions about meal planning and I will be glad to help you!