Meal Prep 101

Meal prepping doesn’t have to be difficult at all.  Most people have the notion that every meal should be fancy or that your weekly food will be bland and it doesn’t have to be.  Meal prep is there to save you time, money and your sanity. The reason why I do it is because I’m 1) lazy and 2) I want to achieve my fitness goals and 3) I’m too busy during the week to stop and prep my meals for my family and myself. I’ve tried to “be organized” during the week and every single time I “try” to something happens at work, with Haidyn or life in general and I fall off. And I don’t know about you but once I fall off of my goal, it’s hard to get up again and fix, so ultimately I just give up. I hated that cycle.   Here are some tips of how I get through our meal prep.

1. Get inspired. Jot down some ideas for lunches and snacks throughout the week.  This is my go to. I’m inspired throughout the week for what food we might want to cook. Whether it’s by searching on FB, IG , YouTube or even Pinterest. ( My favorite is Tasty or Buzzfeed!)  I always try to keep lunches and dinners very simple, but I make sure that they’re always full of flavor.  I’m most inspired by looking at we already have on hand. I don’t like to waste food , so this gives me a chance to get rid of what we need to eat as well as plan for the next weeks. So look through your panty, fridge and freezer and plan your meals around the food you already have. Don’t go buy an entire fridge full of food if you don’t have to. I actually keep a food post it on my desk at work so that when inspiration hits I jot down my ideas right then and there.
   
   
2. Plan it out. This is the most important right after you’ve been jotting down all these ideas throughout your week. Make sure you’re going to the store of everything that you need for that shopping week. Eating clean means that a lot of your food will be fresh, so I shop for two weeks of our meal prep and coordinate from there. I opt for the produce I know will last longer than others. Every meal is strategically planned out so that I don’t forget to buy something and I don’t wander aimlessly through Costco because we know that’s dangerous. Meal prepping has saved me money in buying groceries for my family. I’ve spent average $150 on groceries for us for 2 weeks. Yeah, that’s pretty freaking amazing.  
   
   
   
3. Don’t over complicate. Meal prepping is supposed to be easy from the meals to prepping them. Our meals aren’t extravagant at all. You can even use leftovers or prep some food the night before.  I plan for Waymon and myself for our food throughout the week. Haidyn typically has our leftovers for lunch. I plan for 2 snacks, breakfast and lunch. Dinner is whatever leftovers we have on hand.  We choose two different entrees for each other for lunches and change the snacks throughout the day every week. We have the variety that will keep us sane, but keep the simplicity in chicken and rice in the mix.
   
4. Get in a routine. Every Sunday morning we wake up ready to get our prepping going. Two hours is all we need to get all of our prep done for the day. We choose Sunday, but choose the days that make sense for you and your family/lifestyle. Haidyn loves to get her apron on Sunday mornings and mix, chop (pretend) and season anything and everything I will let her do. She’s getting her hands dirty and loves it. Waymon is the master at getting everything prepped for placing our food in the containers. Everyone knows their role and we roll with it. See what I did there ;) It's not always pretty , but the mess is worth an easier week!
   

Now, that I meal prep I can honestly embrace my inner lazy girl, spend time with my family and save my sanity because I took the 2 measly hours it takes to meal prep. Seriously guys, what is 2 hours out of a Sunday/Saturday?  The most I’ve spent on meal prepping on a Sunday is maybe 3 hours and that’s because I was just messing around half the time. Can you blame me though will the free time I’ve freed up for myself?