Meal Prep Madness!

What is one of the bigger hurtles when trying to be healthy? When watching my family, friends, and others on a daily basis, I have noticed one of the biggest struggles everyone has in their health journey is eating properly! While I love eating healthier foods, like fruit and veggies, it has still been difficult for me because I will find myself tired or busy with no time to cook! So then I will grab easy fast NOT healthy choices, like pizza, fast food, burritos, spagettios, lunch meat sandwiches etc. NOT GOOD! So then how do we get past that?! How do we avoid those moments where we just don't have time to cook, are too tired after work, or we are simply being lazy?

MEAL PREP!!

The world of prepping my meals has completely changed the game for me. I am now prepared daily and can avoid those ridiculous choices that I though were good ideas! Endless options at my fingertips! Now I am guessing you're saying "I don't have time to meal prep!"

WELL, something that helps my prepping is first having a meal plan! One thing a lot of people do (I was guilty of it at one point too) is over complicating it. Simplify your meal plan for the week. What I do is have a few different meal plans that I follow that I rotate week to week so that I do not get bored! No one wants to get bored of their meals. Here are some of mine! I am currently using the LOVELY color coded one for my 21 Day Fix Extreme program.

Now that you have an idea of what it is like to make a meal plan, there is the meal prepping itself. As you see in my meal plans I repeat certain things daily and then rotate other things every other day. It allows for more options and less boredom. Another way that I make the repeats better is by changing things about those. For example, when I make my daily oatmeal, I change out the fruit in them to make them more enjoyable!

Some good pointers to follow when meal prepping are:

1. Choose a day to prep that will work with your schedule! Have your groceries already there and laid out! Once you get used to prepping it takes less time. Weekly shopping will also cause less waste. Invest in some reusable containers to store food as well.

2. Pick familiar and favorite recipes (healthy obviously). You will be used to it and it will make it faster and easier to do.

3. Use fresh food. Make your meal plans to match the season to save money as well. If you use the current seasons fruits and veggies, itll be more affordable and tastier!

4. Make kitchen gadgets your new best friend! I use a MagicBullet myself. You can also make great use of rice cookers and crock pots. Also make sure you have cutting boards (or plates lol), sharp knives, strainers etc to make it easier.

5. Have the family join in.  It takes me a lot longer to prep my meals when I do it alone. When my boyfriend helps, I get more options, more servings, and its so much more fun!

Now you are ready to be a prep machine! Play around with it, use different seasonings to make variety, and look up healthy fun recipes. When we made my Turkey Meatballs for a couple weeks worth, we seasoned them three different ways for variety and froze half of them. Also getting some things like Mrs Dash seasonings that are salt free, maybe some steam fresh veggies, and dried fruit will help simplify it even more. Remember when using dried fruit to use less than you might with fresh fruit. The sugar is more concentrated when it is dried out. Another thing I do is drink Shakeology on a daily basis to provide my daily nutrients and to give me a healthy snack that will increase my energy, curb some of my not so good idea cravings, and is even helping me lose weight!

Welcome to Meal Prep Madness! Enjoy it and allow it to simplify the nutritional side of your health journey! Add me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HollywoodKO474 to connect if you would like to learn more tips or have any questions!





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