In an effort to be a fully functioning adult I decided to take a stab at meal prepping for the week. Blame it on all the “productivity and efficiency” podcasts I’ve been listening to!
The reality is, we have so many decisions to make in a day, and since I’m a big hungry girl, lot of those decisions revolve around food. By the way, I hate the word “adulting,” because it’s become an over used phrase for everything. Unless you’re an infant or have a rely {a little too much} on your parents we are all doing adult things – these are called responsibilities and life. But I digress.
When juggling so many responsibilities nutrition often gets dropped to the bottom of the list. So meal prepping has become an easy way to plan for the week so I can focus on other things… like writing this blog post.
So why should you meal prep?
- Less Food Waste! When prepping my meals every Sunday, I make a point to only purchase items on my grocery list. Im also VERY distracted in the cookie isle so I will actually use Instacart to deliver my ingredients.
- Saves money. One of my weaknesses is food. And with Taco restaurants less than 5 blocks away from me, I was grabbing guacamole on the daily. It makes your hair shiny so its worth it.
- HUGE time saver. I’m busy you’re busy, why not make things easier and alleviate one thing off your plate so you can focus on being a badass.
- Helps meet your fitness goals. They say the “abs are made in the kitchen,” and this couldn’t be more true. Meal prepping allows you to control what’s going into your food. During the week I need high protein, light meals so I can run around from meeting to meeting without feeling a food coma. Luckily, I’ve been searching the Internet for healthy recipes follow my Pinterest board.
I could never do something like this alone because truth is, I don’t enjoy cooking and need constant validation on my culinary ambitions. So, I recruited Melissa because she’s the only one that got weirdly excited about the fun meal prep containers I purchased from Amazon. We put together a Pinterest board with easy, healthy recipes so we have ZERO excuses not to do this on Sundays.
Quick tips to help you plan for your week
- Pick clear meal prep containers: I decided to go with a durable glass because these are microwave and can be used in the oven. They are a bit heavier than plastic, but I wanted something durable. For my salad days I went with a fun Sistema Container. I’m committed to this meal prep shit.
- Pick a day to meal prep and stick to it! I prefer Sunday mornings, this way I can relax with vino in the evening knowing my eek of meals is planned.
- Find alternatives to dairy and gluten. Regardless of how amazing your body looks, there have been so many studies surrounding dairy and gluten. They are fine for you in moderation, but I prefer to skip them during lunch so I don’t get sleepy. Check out Nutritional Yeast as a substitute for cheese. And love bread, try spelt bread for a power boost. It has gluten but spelt keeps you fuller longer AND gives you energy.
- Make it fun! Recruit your spouse or your friend to join you. Personally I always recruit someone outside of your household you so can recipe share. In the case of Melissa and I, we are splitting our recipes and sending the second servings to each other, so we have more variety but cook less. Win win!
- Colorful ingredients: The more colorful your meal the better! Cabbage, beets, carrots, all of these veggies are packed with energizing nutrients and make for pretty photos. The latter is purely for Instagram purposes.
I made the Turkey and Red Pepper Meat Loaf from Real Simple magazine, and instead of parmesan cheese I used Nutritional Yeast to avoid a mid-day dairy coma. I also nixed the breadcrumbs overall. Caveat: I didn’t have a loaf pan so I used my silicon Easter egg pan which worked out perfectly because it made 6 mini portions! Thanks to my mom for the random Easter basket gift!
First week was awesome. It’s great to wake up each morning, get ready for work, and just grab a container filled with a healthy meal and not have to worry about what to make for lunch. I also packed a few healthy snacks so I wasn’t lured over by any office birthday cake. The best part was coming home and knowing I had a meal in the fridge waiting for me.
Check out the Pinterest board and shop the items below to save time and moola.
XO,
EV
As one of Miami’s top bloggers, Evelyn Torres has become one of the leading voices in fitness, fashion, and Miami. Brickellista started as a Twitter alias in 2009 and has expanded to become a lifestyle blog capturing a Miami girl’s perspective. Evelyn is a businesswoman, entrepreneur, brand ambassador and on the pulse of the Miami social scene.
Today as founder and Managing Director of BrickellistaFiles.com, Evelyn is not only the face of BrickellistaFiles, but oversees the strategy and direction. She is the driving force behind the brand and has built the go-to site for everything Miami.
