Meal prep is therapeutic.
One of the biggest parts to my success is due to my propensity absolutely hate cooking throughout the week. For me, making sure I eat the food I want to eat has to be an easy choice. This is where my food prepping as an integral part to my success. This is a huge part to the program in general because we really focus on creating habits that support your goals. Every Sunday, I spend about two hours doing food prep for all of my lunches, dinners, and snacks. Each meal I make typically has at least 2 servings so I can limit the amount of dishes I need to wash or the recipes I need to follow. In my household, my partner and I have split up our meals so that we make our own dishes for 2 meals a week (typically, we both double prep on one day to have 2 servings).
So what does this look like in action? On Sundays, typically we have fish and 2 veggie sides and my partner cooks the meal. And then I will make a crockpot or a salad that proportioned at 4 servings for 2 meals through the week. This meal will made ahead of time and dropped into the slow cooker (or dressed) at the time of the meal. Any leftovers are stored in the refrigerator for the next meal. Sometimes to change it up we swap out a base (example: spinach for buckwheat noodles). On Fridays, we usually have eggs and some sort of sweet potato – whether this is potato fries or baked potatoes depending on our shopping trip. More importantly, I have the ability to eat out every week if I’d like to. But I also spend time mapping out my week BEFORE I go grocery shopping Sunday morning. This way I know what I am going to eat, when I am going to eat it, and which meals I am OK to be free from rules. These are the things that my patients learn when they go through the meal planning with me.
Now here’s a tour of my fridge! Here’s my salad for the week — since it’s summer I typically make salads — but I wait to put the dressing on until the day of our meal so that I don’t have wilted lettuce. I eat more closely to a Mediterranean diet so I like to incorporate beans into my meals. And I will substitute simple carbohydrates, like this cauliflower rice for traditional rice, to get my carb levels into a more appropriate macronutrient percentage with vegetables. You can also see that the shredded cheese in the “rice and beans” is actually almond cheese. So I kind of have more of a Mediterranean diet but went with a hybrid standard American diet. I’ve also prepped some snacks and lunches for the week along with 2 gallons of unsweetened iced tea and some desserts (cooked rhubarb; no sugar added).
It may seem like overkill to some people, but for me it’s really important that I make choosing the meals that I’ve planned easy to get. By ensuring that I have an easy to access meal I’m also ensuring that I will reach my health care goals of a healthy, long life. I know for myself, if it takes any time to cook my meals or prepare them I will end up turning to the prepackaged manufactured of processed foods. Packaged and manufactured food are really high in saturated and trans fats. These are the facts that cause heart attacks and strokes so I REALLY don’t want to eat them. Anything I don’t make I assume has this because it is very easy for manufacturers to sneak things inside food products that they don’t have to put it on the label because it’s a small amount. I don’t trust them, but I do trust myself.
So, this was a tour of my kitchen (and my fridge) and I will be providing more tips and tricks in the future. Until then love and light Spokane!
