Hey there reader,
This week I received an email from a reader asking for tips (and recipes) for someone's first meal prep day. She understood the importance of meal prep but was feeling stuck on "how to start."
Knowing where to start is a common challenge for many people with meal prep, so I thought it would be helpful to share my ideas with everyone.
First, let me say I understand.
Meal prep can seem overwhelming. Sure we all want a fridge full of healthy, delicious homemade foods, but where do we start?
In my opinion, meal prep is probably the single most important strategy when changing to healthier eating habits, so I think it's super important to find a system that works for you.
First, I recommend checking out (and saving) these blog posts I put together on meal prep. They provide helpful beginner tips and ideas.
Beginner's Guide to Meal Prep
5 Ways to Keep Meal Prep Simple
Here are a few more easy meal prep tips and recipe ideas. By the way, I do some or all of these every week.
Start with snacks.
Most snacks are easy to prepare:
- Wash and cut up veggies for hummus.
- Wash fruit.
- Portion out nuts, crackers, etc.
- Cut up some cheese.
- Cook up hard-boiled eggs.
Snacks take me about a 1/2 hour to prepare, and then I have snacks ready for the entire week.
It also helps to have snacks organized in the refrigerator or pantry. I use a bin, and this way, everyone knows what and where the snacks are for the week.
Make a batch of shredded chicken or beef to use in 2-3 dinners during the week.
Meal prep does mean preparing every single thing on your meal plan ahead of time. It doesn't even need to be complete meals.
Make up a batch of shredded chicken and then use it in subs, salads, or stir it in some macaroni and cheese.
Check out all of my favorite shredded chicken recipes. All of these are made in the slow cooker and will cook while you're doing other things.
Make a batch of steel-cut oats for the week.
You can make oatmeal on the stovetop or in the slow cooker. After it cooks, you can store it in the refrigerator or freezer to heat up during the week.
Here's the best steel cut oatmeal recipe.
If oatmeal isn't your thing, then make an egg bake or some breakfast burritos. Burritos take a little longer to prepare, but an egg bake is super simple and will keep it all week in the refrigerator. Either way, these recipes are easy and don't take a lot of time to make.
Mason jar salads are da bomb!
I highly recommend keeping lunches simple by making mason jar salads or any premade salad. If you don't want to eat the same salad every day, switch it up using different dressings or ingredients.
You can even simplify it even more by picking up a rotisserie chicken for recipes that call for chicken. Or use lunch meat.
Again, these are easy recipes that can be prepared on Sunday for healthy lunches all week.
Here's my favorite mason jar salad recipe.
My biggest piece of advice is to start small and just get started.
Pick a meal (breakfast, lunch, etc.) to prep ahead of time, and then the next week, add to it. Start with the meal that you struggle with the most.
For example:
- If eating a healthy breakfast is a challenge, then make some oatmeal or an egg bake.
- If dinner is your weakness, make some taco meat or shredded chicken for dinners during the week.
- Whip together mason jar salads or a batch of soup to enjoy for lunch all week.
Keep it easy!
I guarantee that once you experience the benefits of meal prep, you will want to continue with it.
Talk to you soon.
Tammy Overhoff
If you haven't already, check out the Organize Yourself Skinny eBook and 30-day Workbook bundle for more information on meal prep and other weight-loss strategies, four weeks of make-ahead meal plans, exercise challenges, and habit challenges.
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