It’s time to get organized around meal prep.
As busy mom’s, we all know that preparation is essential in everything. I’d have to say, one of the most important components of being successful in terms of weight loss or keeping a clean diet is PREPARATION and PLANNING. The more prepared you are, the less “decision making” you’ll have and I promise this will help you to stay on plan. You see, our brains are only capable of handling so much and by the end of the day, after making thousands of decisions, we tend to fall apart. This is why the late night snacking tends to be an issue for so many people. As the old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and I couldn’t agree more!
The good news, moms out there, is that I have plenty of ideas to help on that front. Consider this your back-to-school meal prep 101.
I make Sunday prep a priority, spending a few hours that day preparing for my week ahead. I don’t necessarily make all of my meals each Sunday, but I do make a number of things that I can use to assemble the meals for the week ahead. I typically do my shopping on Friday or Saturday and then any small job that can be checked off the list should be accomplished on Sunday when you can grab a few hours in relative peace to know out your list.
Here are some examples of my tried-and-true go-to items to make in advance:
- Egg muffins with veggies (click here for recipe)
- Oatmeal muffin cups
- Hard boiled eggs
- Chopping raw veggies (Ziplocks of raw veggies that are ready to grab)
- Roasting veggies
- Salads
- Crock pot chicken (click here for recipe)
What I consistently hear is … when I have my food either with me, or prepared ahead of time, I stay on track and eat really clean. When I have to “grab on the run” I tend to choose the wrong things, and they tend to be way to high in calories, fat and carbs. Everything on this list above is not only healthy, it’s easy to make and serve. Hard boiled eggs, oatmeal muffin cups and egg muffins and perfect grab and go for breakfast. Veggies in a zip lock bag make great snacks and salads with fresh greens, veggies and lean protein are perfect for lunch.
Moms: for yourself and those kiddos, you need to prepare lunches the night before, because the mornings are hectic enough as it is. Choose healthy options and load up your pantry so that assembling lunches is a breeze and not an early morning headache.
For dinner, crock pots and instant pots are your ally! Some of them allow you to prepare a balance meal in under :30 minutes and it’s not just chili or pot roast. These tools help with easy, quick and healthy family meals.
Finally, I recommend that busy working moms consider taking advantage of meal prep from local favorite of mine: Chef Craig of Craig’s Kitchen in Waldwick, NJ. You can reach him here.
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