Quick & Easy Meal Prep Hacks
Meal prep is easily my most invaluable habit for getting and staying healthy. You’ve heard of the saying “failing to prepare is preparing to fail” and when it comes to food choices it's so true! We can set the intention of eating healthy but when that hunger hits it's all too easy to order a quick indulgent meal off UberEats than to take the time to make a healthy home-cooked meal.
The best thing is meal prep doesn’t have to take a lot of time and effort! Here are my top tips:
Ingredients over meals
Prepping ingredients instead of meals means you have endless flavour combos to choose from throughout the week. What I recommend is to split your ingredients up into cooked vegetables, raw vegetables, protein, starch/grains and condiments. This way you’re fuelling your body with all the nutrients it needs and making life that much easier. Every week choose:
3 vegetables to cook (e.g. cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini)
3 vegetables to have raw (shred some carrot, chop some kale, dice some avocado)
1 protein source (I loooooove chickpeas but I like to mix it up with tofu, pinto beans and lentils)
2 starches and/or grains (black rice and potatoes are my favourites)
1 condiment (this can be made from scratch or store-bought - just opt for the least processed one you can find that you know you’ll enjoy)
You can play around with the amount of each you’d like to best suit you and your health goals and mix it up from week to week to diversify your gut flora.
Plan
Now that you know which ingredients you’re having, write down your grocery list and slot out a day and time to pick up your groceries. When you get home, lay everything on the counter and begin prepping! Steam or roast the veggies to save time and make use of your kitchen appliances. A good blender and pressure cooker go a long way!
Don’t forget your snacks!
You’re human. You’re going to feel like mindlessly munching sometimes so prep snacks to resist eating the whole block of chocolate calling your name from the cupboard. Bliss balls, oat cookies, veggie sticks and hummus or rice cakes are all great options! The snacks are pouring over at my Recipe page so take a look for some ideas!
Not only will meal prepping save you time and money but it’ll do so much good for your health and wellbeing. We almost always reach for the most convenient options so having these healthy nutritious foods readily available is your best bet for adhering to a healthy diet.
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