We've all got resolutions...resolutions to stress less, to be present more often, to read more, to save for a fancy vacation, to work out more, and the list goes on. But, statistically the most common resolution? To EAT HEALTHIER and maybe shed a few pounds. So I may be in good company when I say 2018 is the year we will eat healthy all year. This year, our family has gotten dedicated and slightly obsessed with meal prep.
Now, I've been posting a bit on Facebook about what we've been doing for meal prep on a weekly basis. I've had a few people interested in information on our process. And, by request of Trinity Yoga owner Heather Mincieli, I'm going to cover some things like what we do, what we've found works, what does not work for us, etc. By the way, Trinity Yoga has a program available to help jumpstart your path to EAT CLEAN as well as many different yoga options including toddler yoga. If you need a motivational push, Trinity Yoga is a great place to start. It's in the North Dallas area, but some of her eating programs are right on Facebook so they are easily accessible anywhere. You can find them using the handle @trinityyoga.life on Instagram and Facebook.
Now...on to meal prep. You've heard about it, you aren't sure where to start, what to do, where to go for resources...the absolute first step is to get organized. For supplies, I recommend buying divided containers (2 sets of 15 is plenty), as well as some smaller containers for sauces that you'd like to keep totally separate. These are the ones we bought on Amazon.
Once we bought the supplies, we began looking for recipes. Some of our recipes came from friends, some from Pinterest. Oh the amount of things you can find on Pinterest is mind....blowing. Have a special health concern? Pinterest is your girl. Need to eat gluten free? Pinterest is your girl. Need to get flat abs in 10 days and not sure what to do? You're on your own there girlfriend...
Anyway, we pick four recipes to prepare per week. Yup, only four. We eat those four prepared meals for six days, and give ourselves one non meal prep day to go out as a family...mostly because we like to make memories, but also so people don't call us those crazy meal prep obsessed people who have no lives that really just need tacos...I digress.
I personally prefer choosing one crockpot or soup meal, one grilled chicken bowl type meal that I can throw on something easy like the George Forman, and one or two sheet pan meals that go in the oven or mixture of stove-top and oven. That way, cooking all at once is easier. But each person and even each week is different, so choose what makes sense to you.
(This is what one week of meals typically looks like in our house...Chicken Bowls, Stuffed Peppers, Sheet Pan Flank Steak, and Crockpot Stew)
I pull up all the recipes and go to Kroger's website and actually save time there by shopping online and getting my groceries delivered. I know this is not an option for a lot of people, but praise sweet Jesus in Heaven that our address has been newly added to the list for delivery. If you need to make a list and go to the store, now is the time to do it. If you are eating for 6 days for two adults, you will need 6 servings of each meal, so keep that in mind when making your list. But what about my kids? We have one kiddo who eats solid foods, so he gets a little bit of my serving each night, or sometimes we make him his own little bento box of things we know he will eat.
Now...for the fun. Meal Prep Day. Make sure you choose a day that you can devote 2-4 hours for solid cooking (to start it might take 3-4, but it gets easier as you get the hang of it). We do ours as a team on Saturday during my five month old's naptime. The (almost) five year old can play independently for a little bit, so we get him set up on ABC Mouse or something that keeps his attention and go to town. We look at the four recipes and determine which make sense to start first (crockpot or soups, etc) or which might need to wait longer (meals that take a really long time in the oven, etc). Then, we each take two recipes and cook! Now, I'm not gonna lie, I'm a M.O.M (Master of Multi-tasking), so there are several times when I'm chopping onions that I have to stop and clap for the letter A, help paint a t-rex, or turn on some music and start a dance party in the kitchen while we work. But for the most part, the baby sleeps and the five year old is entertained. If your kiddos aren't quite able to last that long, you might tag team with your partner for two recipes, or designate someone to cook while the other watches the kiddos, and then choose someone to plate everything and get the kitchen cleaned up.
(getting organized)
(ready to go in the oven)
(another meal going in)
(meals everywhere)
The absolute best part? Once you are finished cooking, you are finito. Done...for a whole week! Using those four recipes, we alternate the two meals we eat every day. So, for example, Meals 1 and 2 would be lunch and dinner for S/T/TH and Meals 3 and 4 would be eaten M/W/F so we don't eat the same thing two days in a row.
Meal prepping has so many benefits y'all. Now, we've always been pretty good about creating meals for the whole week, planning out grocery runs, and cooking the meals during the week. But places we've struggled that meal prepping in advance has helped? Portion control. Getting home from work and being too tired to cook. Having a stressful day and wanting all of the margaritas and tacos instead of cooking. Going out to lunch because we didn't have time to make lunch again. Spending all of the money on all of the food. Meal prepping has helped us in ALL of these areas. Plus, I'm down seven pounds this month. I'll take it dude.
Oh...and quickly some things that we've found that don't work for us. Lack of planning does not work with meal prepping. You have to make a commitment to sit down and plan your meals out. You can not daydream through the grocery store and get the same results. Also, generally just from a food selection, some colder foods that mix with ingredients don't last all week. Case and point here is tuna. We had a great tuna meal a couple weeks ago but by day five I only took a couple bites before tossing it. Also, I'd recommend putting any sauces/dressings in the little containers above from Amazon so you are able to heat your food up and keep the sauces whatever temperature you might like. We've made mistakes of pouring everything on top but then it just didn't taste as well.
Oh...and quickly some things that we've found that don't work for us. Lack of planning does not work with meal prepping. You have to make a commitment to sit down and plan your meals out. You can not daydream through the grocery store and get the same results. Also, generally just from a food selection, some colder foods that mix with ingredients don't last all week. Case and point here is tuna. We had a great tuna meal a couple weeks ago but by day five I only took a couple bites before tossing it. Also, I'd recommend putting any sauces/dressings in the little containers above from Amazon so you are able to heat your food up and keep the sauces whatever temperature you might like. We've made mistakes of pouring everything on top but then it just didn't taste as well.
Finally, I'll leave you guys with some of the goodness that we've been eating these past few weeks for recipe inspiration. Always pick items you would LOVE to eat. Don't just throw in unseasoned chicken in the oven and swear you'll eat spinach and beets all day every day. It just...won't...happen. Make food that's colorful, makes you happy, fuels your body the way it needs, and makes you look forward to meal time. In the long run, it is more sustainable than any cleanse or fad.
Thanks y'all. Please remember to check out Trinity Yoga using the handle @trinityyoga.life on Facebook and Instagram. Her clean eating challenge might just become your new obsession for 2018.
Let me know if you have any questions. God bless!
Let me know if you have any questions. God bless!
