Meal prep isn’t for everyone.
I’m SURE it’s not for me. I hate spending an entire day cooking just so I can eat the same thing every day. Definitely not for me.
That’s why I use short cuts when I deal with food. Easy meal pre prep (not “meal prep“, if you get my meaning).
These are the things I can do today that will give me a whole lot of flexibility for the rest of the week without having to eat the same exact meal over and over.
Mix and match superstars.
I get a lot of questions about how to stay healthy when there’s no extra time in the day to think too hard about food. So I’ve laid it all out for you right here.
My secrets to easy pre prep meals
This is a list of the fast and easy ways I keep myself sane and on top of my eating, even when I’m at my craziest.
Tip #1: Pre-prepare as many ingredients as possible.
That means chop ALL the veggies and keep them in Ziplocs. Or just buy them pre-chopped – I’m definitely not going to judge. Make a big pot of a starch like quinoa (my favorite because it can work as a hot side or cold salad base) but something like brown rice or a few baked sweet potatoes will work also. Make the most basic version of these things, so you can spice them up however the mood strikes you. Baked potatoes can turn into home fries. Rice or quinoa can become a stir fry. Any vegetable you’ve washed and chopped can be roasted, sautéed, or dropped into a salad or sandwich without more than a 5 minute commitment from you.
Tip # 2: Freeze as many single servings as you can.
What can you freeze? Basically anything. Take 15 minutes and make 10 breakfast burritos, then wrap them separately and freeze for an easy microwaveable morning. Make a pot of chili or soup and freeze in single serving microwaveable containers. Lasagna freezes extremely well. Make a big vegetable lasagna (like this butternut squash and spinach lasagna), leave half in the fridge for a few meals and freeze squares of the rest each wrapped in wax paper that you can pull out in a pinch. Even freezing uncooked fish and meat in single (or double) serving packages, after you’ve already seasoned it up will save you a lot of time on the back end. And BONUS, it stays marinating good and long on the defrost.
Tip #3: Meal prep your birthday or holiday goodies
One of the biggest mistakes we can make during the birthdays or the holidays is keeping sweets in one big pile. Because our minds don’t catch on that this one big pile is actually like, 17 servings. And since it’s a big pile, having 5 cookies doesn’t seem so bad when there’s 55 left in the box. Fix this by dividing everything up. Pull out those Ziplocs again and separate everything into single servings. RIGHT AWAY. 2 cookies per bag. 1 slice of cake per container. 2 pieces of candy in snack bags. Sure you’ll have a ton of little containers lying around, but your waistline is worth it.
Tip #4: Make sure there’s ALWAYS a vegetable involved in your day.
I don’t care if you end up eating a side salad every.single.day. Or if you’re the weirdo who eats salad for BREAKFAST just so you can seriously enjoy the potluck later. Do what you need to and get it done. Ideally, you’d make sure there’s a vegetable at EVERY MEAL. But start where you need to, because once is better than none. Use tip #1 to keep you on track with this. If you like spinach in your scrambled eggs, make sure you’ve always got a bag of washed baby spinach on hand. If you love broccoli, keep chopped up broccoli that’s already washed and ready to go.
Tip #4: Grocery shop like you mean it
Bottom line is this: as long as we have good things around, we’ll eat those good things. Put crap food in the kitchen, and we’ll eat crap food. I have about 10 foods that I keep in the kitchen at ALL times. These pantry staples take most of the crazy out of my food choices because they’re so easy to combine. Things like this crazy easy breakfast wraps that I can put anything into, which then goes straight into the freezer and will be there for when I’m ready for them. They’re called breakfast wraps, but I’ll eat them anytime of day. And what?…breakfast for dinner, people.
There’s also this salmon avocado quinoa bowl that’s made up exactly ONE thing that needs to be made in advance. And if I’m really feeling fancy, I’ll double the recipe for these Banana Pumpkin Nut muffins and freeze a bunch for super fast snacks (or breakfasts).
Want to go even farther? Take this week and start cleaning up your diet with the 7 Simple Steps to Eating Healthy This Week