Don't overthink it
Do any of these sound like you?
You’re busy with work, family life, there’s that school parent’s meeting and the kids have soccer or dance class. Finding the time and the energy to put a healthy, homemade meal on the table for the family each night can rank pretty low on the list.
For some, cooking fresh food can be intimidating (I blame Gordon Ramsay) or just not interesting. Instead you might rely on a partner who cooks or services like DoorDash to bring food to your door.
Or maybe you struggle with getting a good breakfast in the morning as you rush out the door to work. You’re just used to grabbing a bagel on the way out or picking up a muffin with your coffee. But you’re starving and hangry by 11, can’t focus at work, and maybe don’t make a great choice for lunch.
Planning and preparing food ahead will help you avoid those mid-morning crashes and expensive DoorDash orders that are crushing your metabolism and expanding your waistline.
Yes, I know, that takes time, and well, planning.
But I promise, a little bit of preparation now saves a whole lot of stress later.
There’s a bunch of ways you can attack this, depending on your skill level, patience, and available time. I’ll stick to some easier “entry level” meal prep ideas, but will leave some more advanced resources at the end of the email.
Most of these should not take you more than 30-45 minutes, so you shouldn’t have to carve out a ton of time to prep these. That said, if you want to try a bunch of these all at once so you have a ton of options for the week, I’m not gonna stop you.
Here are some ideas for preparing nutritious food for the week ahead:
Hard boil a dozen eggs. Hard boiled eggs make for a great portable breakfast, easy mid-day snack, and even go great on a slice of avocado toast. Make 10-12 at a time and you’ll have at least 2 per day to keep you satiated and energized.
Make a large batch of tuna salad. Tuna salad is a quick and easy lunch, packed with protein, essential fats, and veggies. Yes, there is chopping involved. But if you do it all at once, you’ll have lunch for a week. Plan on 1 can of tuna and ¼ cup of chopped veggies, 2 tablespoons of avocado oil mayo, 1 tablespoon of mustard, and ½ teaspoon of salt per serving. (add more seasons and spices to your tastes.)
Leftovers FTW. You decide to try that “egg roll in a bowl” recipe you saw on pinterest, but you still need dinner for the next few days. Double the recipe and store the leftovers in the fridge in glass containers.
Cook up some burger patties. This really doesn’t take much prep work, other than forming the patties. 1 pound of ground beef makes about 4 burgers (¼ lb each). Grill or broil up 4-6 patties on Sunday evening and you’ll have a delicious protein everyday for lunch. Drop a patty on a salad, throw it on top of a bowl of rice with an egg on top (loco moco!) or top it with cheese, mustard, tomato and onions, wrap it in a lettuce wrap and enjoy a proper burger.
Egg cups not muffins. Muffin tins are for more than carby baked goods. Making a batch of high-protein egg cups on Sunday evening will set you up for a week of focused, energized mornings. There’s tons of recipes out there, but my favorites include a veggie like bell peppers or mushrooms, some Italian sausage and shredded cheese. These make for a great mid-day snack, when you can find time to eat lunch.
I know, meal prep sounds intimidating and time consuming. It for sure can be, if you’re prepping food for every meal of every day for the next week (that’s next level). But, it really doesn’t have to be!
Take one or two of the ideas above and try them out. See how you feel after a week of eating high-protein, nutrient-dense foods for your meals each day, rather than enduring sugar crashes after your muffin and coffee milkshake.
I’m willing to be if you take just a little time to prep a few simple things, you’ll start feeling more focused, have more energy, and may start dropping some pounds.
Oh and before I forget, here are some "leveled up" meal prep resources for you:
These are just a few small, simple ideas that you can implement TODAY to start feeling like yourself again. What are you waiting for?
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