Good morning, friends! I hope you had a lovely weekend. This morning, I want to talk about meal prep overwhelm, and how my “un-meal prep” method can help.

 

 

But first – couple notes from the weekend….like adding pull ups back into your training program (woohoo!)

and your training partner bringing you the best post-workout ever, a monster doughnut from Voodoo Doughtnuts!!

Warm walks around the res…

and losing all my monies at poker night

(and being way too excited about it LOL)

 

 

So yesterday when I had a couple extra hours, I meal prepped, and you guys — I use the term meal prep very loosely, because you don’t have to spend your entire Sunday cooking food for the week ahead. Meal Prep Overwhelm is a real thing, but it doesn’t have to be your real thing.

Does Meal Prep Overwhelm You? How I Un-Meal Prep Instead

In this post, I’m going to show you a step-by-step breakdown of how I Un-Meal Prep to get ready for the week.

Note: this is for those of us who are limited in time, either because of infinite commitments, passion for something else, like work or family, or who find themselves eating out or “whatever’s” on hand, and wants to stop. 

Throughout this process, I’m also going to share my “Big 3” tips for making meal prep a breeze.

Step 1 – Assess the Situation

As I go through my week, I make a note of what staples we already have for the next week.

BIG 3 TIP!

And before I go any further, one of my “Big 3” tips is — TAKE. SHORTCUTS.

I know I might get judged for it, but I’m not going to apologize for taking healthy shortcuts where I need to. Right now, I spend about 10 hours a day on my business, and my clients are a very big priority of mine. If that means taking a few shortcuts in order to still be able to properly fuel my body, I’m totally cool with that.

My shortcuts:

• pre-cooked rice
• frozen veggies (not all, but many)
• pre-cut, pre-washed veggies (my weekly veggie trays)
• jarred dressings and sauces with clean ingredients
• deli meat, protein bars and jerky sticks as emergency snacks

Of course, every week I buy fresh veggies and milk, but in particular, i take note of the following staples:

 

My Weekly On-Hand Meal Staples – that I tend to have on hand

• chicken, beef, bison, pork, fish, shrimp in the freezer
• frozen veggies – especially cauliflower rice, tri-bell peppers, and asparagus
• pre-cooked white jasmine rice
• Japanese sweet potatoes + regular potatoes
• Canned tomatoes + jarred marinara sauce
• Chicken stock
• Garlic
• Coconut oil
• dried cherries
• walnuts
• Salad dressing
• protein bars – power crunch + quest (or quest knockoff) + Lenny and Larry’s cookies
• Beef jerky
• Something sweet 🙂 (ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, or sugar cookies)

Step 2 – Write it Out

After assessing the situation, I write out my meal plan for the week.

Now, here’s my next “Big 3” tip:

eliminate as many choices as possible.

Last week I talked about how being a minimalist helps me reach my goals in many facets of life. Streamlining meal choices absolutely falls in this category.

You guys, I eat the exact same thing for breakfast and lunch every single day – all week long. No, I don’t “get bored of my meals,” because here’s the key factor:

I eat something I actually enjoy!!

Choose a breakfast you find really tasty – and that works for your plan. Now do the same for your lunch. It’s dinner where I switch up my nightly meals.

Personally, I’ve been eating the same breakfast and lunch for weeks now, and I understand that’s not how many people’s preferences operate. It’s not that I don’t choose to enjoy my food. It’s just that I’m in full on get shit done mode during breakfast times and lunch times. 

Now, I don’t claim to be a psychologist, but I believe that since I find my work to be truly fulfilling, satisfying, and yes, very difficult at times, that I don’t need to seek that excitement in my breakfast and lunch.

If you find you’re constantly bored with your food, I would encourage you to see how you could garner more fulfillment in your daily life, either through work, a creative outlet, a new hobby, etc.

Ok — back to writing it out.

Write out the following:

• Your breakfast for the week (try to choose just one)
• Your lunch for the week (try to choose one to two – my go to is kale salad w/ chicken, poppyseed dressing, dried cherries, and walnuts, but sometimes I’ll have zoodles w/ turkey meatsauce – and a side carb if needed)
• Your dinners for the week (I like to follow the new meal, new meal, leftovers, new meal, leftovers sequence, in order to switch it up, while still making use of my time.)
• Your snacks for the week (try to choose one to two – I will typically have some deli turkey around 4p when I’m hungry, but it’s not dinner time yet.)
• Your dessert, if you have one for the week (right now I’m loving Lenny + Larry’s cookie w/ a glass of milk, or some Halo Top ice cream.)

Step 3 – Make a List

Take your meal plan that you wrote out from Step 2, and determine which ingredients you don’t have already, and need to get in order to execute your meals for the week.

Now I usually have some or most of the items in my On-Hand Meal List. If I’ve run out of something, I’ll add it to the list, add anything else I don’t have onto the list, and can pretty much assume there are a few things I’ll buy every single week

What I buy every single week:

• Kale salad mix
• Zucchini
• 2% Milk (I like Fairlife)
• Chicken breasts + bison
• Eggs + egg whites
• Veggie tray
• oven roasted Applegate deli turkey

K — list made. Onto Step 4.

Step 4 – Get the Foods

Shop! I typically go to a combo of one or more of the following:

Costco, Target, Trader Joes, and Sprouts….but we have a Whole Foods opening up down the street next month!! That could be dangerous 😉

You can see my Costco staples here, and my Trader Joe’s staples here, but I’ve likely modified them a bit, since those are about a year old.

After getting the foods – I do nothing.

If I were to come home and immediately start cooking, I’d overwhelm myself. And since the point of this post is to eliminate that meal prep overwhelm, I give it time. Take a break, for however long you need, an hour or two, a day, etc. Then come back and cook what you need to cook.

Step 5 – Un-Meal Prep

Ok…now finally on to the un-meal prep!

First, I don’t save Sunday’s only for meal prep. I save a couple hours when we don’t have anything planned – whether that’s Friday night, Saturday morning, or Sunday afternoon.

As I mentioned above, I don’t cook directly after shopping. In fact, I typically wait until the next time I need to use the stove/oven/etc.

For example, I need to cook my chicken breasts to top my salads for lunches. The salad part is already taken care of, thanks to Big Tip #1 – shortcuts. The kale salad is already mixed up – all I need to do is sprinkle on the toppings and chop (I use the OXO Salad Chopper and it’s a life-saver — if you want to do the kale salad thing for lunch, I *highly* recommend — and if you want to see the complete kale salad making process, let me know below.)

Anyway, let’s say I’m using the grill or George Forman to make burgers for dinner that night. While I’m making the burgers, I’ll make up my quick marinade for the chicken – or I won’t. Sometimes I skip this step because, #eliminateoverwhelm – and just season it.

After the burgers are done cooking, I’ll throw on 4 chicken breasts. Done and done- lunches for the week are taken care of.

At this point, since I’m in the kitchen anyway, I’ll probably make my breakfasts for the week – browning the bison meat, assembling the scrambles, etc.

Don’t make it harder than it needs to be!

Last “Big 3” Tip 

Ok, I’m going to end this post with my 3rd “Big 3” Tip….. with some tough love.

You ready?

Remember: you’re an adult.

You make your own decisions. Own them.

Plan ahead of time. Know what you’re going to eat. stick with it. Or don’t. But adult up, and take responsibility for your choices.

This doesn’t mean you have to follow your plan to a T. If you do, kudos! You’re probably feeling great right now!

But if you don’t, that’s your. choice. Whether you choose to pack some healthy meals for your all-day errands, grab something out that aligns with your goals and plans, or throw all caution to the wind and get whatever you’re craving, regardless of your goals and plan, OWN IT.

And own it beforehand. Either you make a decision not to get a doughnut, or you make a decision to get a doughnut. It doesn’t magically appear or not appear in your hand. You chose it, now own it, and most importantly – be OK with your decision, regardless. 

Please let me know if you want me to elaborate on any specific point of the process! I’d be happy to share more of the how-to aspect.