Put Some Food Prep in Your Step

Good Day Mates!

So, this past weekend I celebrated my birthday with my family. My mom and sisters came, my brother-in-law by oldest nephew and youngest niece were also in attendance. It was a good time. We went bowling. My mom even participated the ENTIRE time! It was great! And she broke 100, WHAT!?  We laughed, we danced, we bowled and ate cupcakes. Fun times.

The older I get the more I appreciate my family and the more they fill my heart with love and joy.

Tomorrow Jon and I will be celebrating our dog-ters 10^th birthday. Jack is just the best dog ever and we get her a cupcake and sing happy birthday to her every year. I can’t believe she is 10. It certainly doesn’t feel like we have had her that long and she still acts like a puppy. She’s just the best! So, everyone say happy birthday to the birthday girl!

Last week I wrote a little bit about spring cleaning your pantry/ fridge. Now that you all have tackled that….’cuz I know you jumped right on it! LOL I want to touch on food prep.

When most people think of food prep they associate it with body builders. While the body building community does use food prepping to gain muscle and prepare for competitions food prepping is a technique everyone can do. Utilizing food prep is a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle, avoid mindless eating and save time. Yes, I said save time. Now I know we have all seen the posts on Facebook and Instagram of a table full of prepped and packed food. It can look overwhelming and make you just scroll past but have no fear. It’s not as labor intensive as you may think. I food prep every Sunday. For me late afternoons on Sunday is my time to cook. I cook a lot of food so I don’t have to make anything additional for my meals during the week. Sometimes I do have to make additional veggies but that doesn’t take up much of my time.

Prepping meals typically takes me an hour, tops! If I am spending more time than that I am doing too much. Not every meal has to be fancy it just as to be eatable. Well, at least that is my theory. I save my culinary skills for dinner. For my other meals, I keep it simple. When it comes to prepping food, you need to choose how many meals you are going to eat per day. For myself, I eat 5 meals per day. I do this so my metabolism keeps moving. I was born with a slow metabolism and then when I was deep in my eating disorder I just destroyed it. Now I have to make every effort to keep my metabolism burning and churning. You don’t have to prep for that many meals.  My husband, for example can’t find time to eat that many meals. He keeps a totally different schedule than I do so I only prep lunch for him. He then takes a protein shake and a small snack. You can food prep to fit your life style. I have a desk job so it’s easy for me to eat my meals and work at the same time. Once you know how many meals to prep for each day you can purchase your food accordingly.

We have a membership to the bulk stores Sam’s Club and Costco. We buy large amounts of organic chicken, Fish and Shrimp. We also buy large amounts of veggies there. Buying in bulk saves money and trips to the store. If you don’t have a membership to one of these places I highly recommend it. They have a lot of organic and gluten free options. Plus, they give samples so you can snack while you shop! It’s a win win!

The basics of food prep is to eat several small meals throughout the day to keep your body fueled. If you’re the type of person that skips meals or forgets to eat until your starving food prep maybe your answer. You want to try to have a protein, carb and fat in each meal. I cook my protein in a fat, either coconut oil or olive oil so I stray away from adding additional fat. Plus, my protein typically has some fat on its own. I sub my fat for veggies. I think it super important to get my greens in so I typically opt for broccoli, green beans, spinach etc.

On Sunday morning, I set everything out that needs time to defrost so I can cook everything up in the afternoon/evening. Just like I buy in bulk I cook in bulk. I use the oven and stove at the same time. I have as many burners going as I can and I put as many pans in the oven as possible. This is how I get my meals done within an hour.

While the oven is preheating, I’m prepping my trays and pans. I also chop up anything I need.

Once everything is done I let it all cool for about 30 minutes to an hour before packing. I heard on food network one time that you shouldn’t pack your food while its hot and place it in the fridge.  I forget why exactly but that stuck with me. Plus, if you are packing broccoli wait until its cool! If not, when you open that container the next day it will smell like fart city! That’s just the truth! And let me tell you, it’s embarrassing if you eat at your desk. 

I pack 4 meals to take with me during the day and I make the 5^th at home each night. Well. My husband does make dinner sometimes but I have to watch everything I eat so I find it easier to be the main cook in the house. Here are what my meals look like.

As far as portion sizes I measure my protein and try to get 3-4oz of protein per meal. As for the veggies I eat as much or as little as I want. When it comes to starches I try to stay around ½ cup. You can play around with your portions and see how you feel and how your body responds and adjust accordingly. I know you don’t want to hear that and you want a magic formula for food prep but everybody is different and requires different amounts. A great place to start is the app My Fitness Pal I mentioned a few posts ago. It will give you a place to start with your portions.

My chiropractor recently commented about what I eat for breakfast. “So, you go right for the protein huh? You just dive into some turkey?” My answer, yes. I have to eat on the run. Once I get home from the gym in the morning I have enough time to get ready and get out the door. While it is frowned upon for digestion to eat and drive it’s really my only option unless I want to get up even earlier. ::Sigh:: I have to give and take somewhere and I need all the sleep I can get. That being said, I can’t really eat eggs on the go so I choose something I can stick on a fork or eat with my hands. Basically, my truck is my transportation, my dining room and sometimes if I’m really tired It’s my bed. We’re best friends.

I hope this has helped if you would like to start prepping your food for the week. If you need any help please contact me via the blog, Instagram or via e-mail. I will be happy to help you make a grocery list and start prepping your food!

Ok I love you all buh bye

Hey! Stay tuned. I’m putting together the blogs Pinterest page. Woo Hoo! This will make it even easier to get to the blog, see recipes I recommend and get fitness ideas.