The idea of meal prepping did not come to my mind until when I noticed that I had added lots of weight after child birth and my life became so busy. Then I began to look for how to do some thing to get back on track and make things easier for me and my family. It wasn't easy at first, because I was used to eating all kinds of unhealthy foods which in my mind, tasted better, easier to make and of course cheaper. I struggled a lot until I discovered some Blogs like organize yourself skinny, eats and exerciser, Canadian food guide and a host of others. I started by using the Canadian food guide and lost over 22kg in 5 months. I felt so good with myself. So I began planning my meals ahead of time to make it easier for me since am a full time Mum and I work full time as well. So some of the things I did to make it easier for me and my family to maintain this healthy life style/ eating are listed below.
I will start by defining what meal prepping means to me. It is a process of planning and preparing foods/ meals ahead of time to make feeding easier, healthier and more enjoyable. It involves preparing foods that will last at least a week and, dishing them in proper portions in microwaveable reusable dishes. It can be preserved in the freezer, and be taken out when needed. This makes it easier for one to just pick out the food you need without worrying on daily basis on what to cook and how to cook it.
How do I go about this: First and foremost is to make a Menu making sure that I include both fruits and vegetables plus all other delicious foods that are high in fibre, and also contains the basic food nutrients that will make a balanced meal. For example; I may plan to make oatmeal, boiled eggs, and smoothie for breakfast. Rice and beef stew with veggies for lunch, granola bar for afternoon snack. For dinner , I may make baked sweet potato(yam) with chicken thighs or drumsticks and broccoli soup, I will have tortilla for bed time snack.
Since I have made my menu plan it will give me an idea of the thing that I will add to my shopping list. When my list is ready, I try to go shopping the day before my cooking day, usually on Fridays or my days off. This will give me enough time to prepare the things I will be using for the cooking. Because I prepare all the ingredients, and seasoned the meat or fish the day before, the main cooking does not take me more than 2 hours to do everything including tidying up the kitchen.
On the day of the cooking, usually on Saturdays, I bring out the meat/ fish that I seasoned the day before at least 30mins before cooking, to bring it to the room temperature. I make sure I multitask, so that if am using the oven to bake or cook, I make sure I add other foods that needs baking( depending on how much the oven can take at same time). This method helps me save some money and time as well. Once the meals are ready, I dish them out according to portions(see Canadian food guide for portion sizes). I use re usable dishes that are microwave safe, label the foods making sure I put the date on the label as well. Put the foods away in the freezer, but will leave the ones that I will be using the next day in the fridge. Once am done with my meal prepping, it feels as if a heavy weight has been lifted off my shoulders. So all I need to do is just to pick out a ready made food, warm it up and serve. This makes life easier for me.
I hope that these few tips will give you an idea on how to go about making your own meal prep plans and making healthier options. As always, enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment