Meal Prep Tips and Tricks
It's a common misconception that Intuitive Eating and meal prepping can't happen together. It's just the opposite! Taking some time to plan and prep some food for the week ahead can be one of the most loving acts we can do for ourselves. Meal prep can be a great self care tool to support our wellbeing.
So many emotional overeating moments can be a result of coming home exhausted and not having anything ready to eat, then a binge begins, nothing satisfies and you are left feeling guilty.
For many of us, meal planning can bring back memories of rigid dieting days when we planned out what we could eat for the rest of the week on Monday, only to be failing by Wednesday or Thursday.
In Intuitive Eating, it's important to ask the question "What's my intention in doing this?"
If your intention in meal prep is to control your food, deprive yourself of foods you love or be able to calorie count for the week, let's talk one on one.
If your intention in prepping some meals for the week ahead is to lower your stress levels, be able to relax and enjoy your food finally, start your meal prep NOW!
I'll be honest with you when I first started weekly meal prep with my husband, it felt like a lot of work! But we were both working outside of the home at the time and had a little one in school.
The before dinner meltdowns were real- and not just for my son! I was HANGRY also!
It took some getting used to a new routine of meal prepping with our schedules. But after some time, it now feels more stressful to NOT to do the Sunday meal prep.
I love having food ready to go for the week ahead, it’s one less thing on my list to think about.
Here’s our routine: on Sunday afternoons, we prep 10 lunches for the week ahead (5 lunches x 2 people). We also have dinner menus planned for all evenings. This is what works for us, your situation might look different, the key is finding what works for YOUR life. It may take some time to figure out what works for you and your family.
Here’s an example weekly menu to get started:
Lunch: Grilled Chicken, sweet potatoes and a veggie (usually Fattoush salad) and a serving of fruit- grab an apple or your favorite.
Afternoon snack options: Hummus and cut veggies, almond butter and apple, overnights oats or 2 hard boiled eggs with sprouted wheat bread and some cut veggies.
Dinner: We vary our favorite recipes for dinner. But basically dinner is a protein, 1-2 servings of veggies and a carb, like sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa or sprouted wheat bread.
Need recipes and further instructions on how to make all these meals? Here are the recipes!
Fattoush Salad: Tomato and Cucumber salad
Hard boiled Eggs and Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot
