Simple Ways to Plan and Prepare Meals (Even When You’re Busy!)

You want to eat healthier, but you’re super busy.

You eat out several times a week because that’s what you have to do due to work and social commitments.  But you probably realise it’s not working great when it comes to your health and fitness goals.

You want to eat well for better health and ditch your regular routine of picking up dinner on the way home….. (along with saving time and money.)

I get it!!  I’ve helped a lot of people with this!

Below is a simple strategy that I’m going to share with you to plan and prepare healthy meals for the week.

You don’t need to completely abandon your regular meals out. You can use my strategy to help you eat out just one or two fewer times per week. It’s up to you.

As with any lifestyle change, start gradually so you can build consistency. The key here is to make it easy, doable and rewarding enough to do again and again.

Let me walk you through a simple meal prep system, and how this can work for you.

PLAN MEALS FOR THE WEEK

I prefer to do this on the weekend and make sure I schedule a food delivery to home for Monday.  Alternatively, write a list of what you need and call into the supermarket so you’ve got it for the week ahead.  (If you don’t have enough food storage containers for your meals, it’s worth picking up some of these too.)

To get some inspiration look through recipe books, visit popular chef websites or even look on pinterest.

Pro Tip:  Consider doubling the recipe(s), so you can prep and cook once, but have twice the meal at the end. The extras can be taken for lunch, or frozen to pull out the night before a busy day, so you just need to heat it up when you’re ready.  (Just remember if you’re doubling a recipe, to double the amount you buy from the shop!)

Pro Tip: If you’re not a fan of washing and chopping veg you can pick up pre-washed and pre-chopped, or even frozen. It makes your meal prep even easier but you pay the price for this as it’s more expensive..

PREPARE MEALS FOR THE WEEK

Once you’ve already chosen your recipes and have your ingredients, let’s get started on prepping.

At this point, depending on time, either prep the ingredients, or pre-cook the entire recipe. Sometimes just washing and chopping produce and putting it in containers is a huge time saver for weeknights.  Or, you can go through and make a whole meal, and divide it up into portions and refrigerate or freeze. It’s really up to you, because the more you do now, the less you’ll have to do when you’re hungry.

AWESOME MEAL PREP TIP

There is one meal that is easiest to plan and prepare in advance. It’s one that’s also often the most difficult to eat at home if you’re busy…

…Breakfast!

Planning some overnight oats is a great start to any day. Simply place ½ cup rolled oats, ½ cup your choice of milk, 1 tbsp chia or flax seeds into a container with a scoop of protein powder (optional) or make 5 for the whole week. Then place the lid on, shake them up and put them in your fridge. In the morning you can quickly heat them up or even eat them cold (the oats will have absorbed the milk). Top with berries, chopped fruit, nuts or seeds and enjoy.

Alternatively boil some eggs for 7 minutes and rinse and cool with cold water then peel and place in the fridge so you can just grab and go when needed.

This may take some getting used to, so if I can help, please reach out and let me know.  You can always join my free Daily Greatness Group on Facebook