Food Prep vs. Fast Food - Meal Planning Tips
by Kristen Cornelis, StageofLife.com Health & Wellness Feature Blogger
Many people have a difficult time when it comes to eating healthy and sticking to a lean diet. When you have a job, college classes or kids to take care of, it becomes harder to set aside healthy meals.
But before you start pulling your hair out over this meal plan, take one day a week to sit down and prep your meals for the next five or so days. This will give you the chance to go through all of your ingredients, containers, drinks, and spices to make sure you have everything. When the time comes to eat healthy, the meals are already prepped and will be much quicker to make.
Time to prioritize
Buy containers in different sizes to help keep your meals organized. This will make it easier for you to divvy up your salads from your protein meals, for example. These containers make meal prep easier by limiting each meal size for you.
Bag your individual salads to grab when you’re on the go. Keep your dressing in a separate bag or container to help your greens stay fresh and not get soggy from sitting together over night. Whether you want to use spinach, kale, lettuce, etc. in smoothies or salads, each serving size will be accurate, given the size of the container.
Here are two fun recipes for smoothies that you can use with your family, as a post-workout fuel-up, or for jump starting your morning:
Meal prep tricks
Put coconut water and chia seeds into an ice cube tray to freeze overnight. When it comes time to make your smoothie, use these ice cubes rather than regular water. Chia seeds are meant to keep you hydrated along with the high potassium and low sodium you receive from coconut water.
Cut up your herbs (cilantro, basil, mint, parsley, etc.) and put them in an ice cube tray with olive oil or coconut oil – your choice. When it comes time to cook your meal, put the frozen herb cube in the pan to sauté your food. This will help keep your herbs fresh and ready when you need them.
Fitness Specialists
Along with the information above, I added a list of inspirational fitness experts who can help you plan your meals and stay on track! Their Instagram (an app for iPhones) names are included, but you can find them on Webstagram (the website version of IG) as well.
- Brigitte Danielle (Username: Miss_bdb) - Training for her first NCP competition at Rise Above Fitness in HB
- Betty Rocker (Username: Thebettyrocker) - Living the fitness lifestyle in Austin, Texas
- K Mae Cags (Username: Kmaecags) - Trainer at Rise Above Fitness.
If you have other tips for healthy meal planning that we should add to this article, or any questions or comments, please Contact Us
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