My Favorite Meal Prepping Tips
Because everybody’s life is FULL. We just like to think of ours as a full ADVENTURE (snowboarding is a favorite!)
So here’s one thing I do to help nourish my family well, especially in those seasons when we’re living life to the MAX.
It doesn’t matter if it’s full of fun, full of work, or just plain ole’ full — it happens to all of us! Life starts spinning and often I find that nourishing my family well is one of the first things to drop off because reality is, it takes time. It just does.
But, if we can plan, stay flexible, and create OVERLAP, nourishing our family on those full days will feel like you’re WINNING!
Step 1. Understand OVERLAP: simply put, cook enough meat for multiple meals on a night where you know you have time to cook. For example: I cook enough chicken thighs for us to have them roasted with veggies, in tacos the next night, and the next a quick stir fry or wraps. You can do this with steak — one night you have steak and sweet potatoes and a sautee of broccoli and garlic, the next you have steak salads, and a third you have an easy 30 minute stir fry. Pork Butt in the crockpot — I think you could eat off this for a month!
Step 2. Plan: Pick a 30 minute time slot before you will go to the store to plan your week. If there’s something out of the ordinary write it on your plan so that you can see which days you have space to cook your OVERLAP. (If there is no space I would encourage you to ask yourself: is this our normal? How long will it last? Is it necessary? Is it worth it? Because nourishing your family well is a gift, one that we only have for a short while and one that goes much deeper than a full belly!) And, of course, which days you need a 30 minute meal!
Step 3. Stay Flexible: I know! You’re PLANNING. But, staying flexible MUST be part of the plan! There are plenty of days when the hour you thought you had to prep becomes 20 minutes and the 30 minutes you thought you had becomes 2 hours. It just happens. Part of being flexible is always having something on hand you can throw together quickly. Breakfast for dinner is always good, there is nothing wrong with spaghetti with meat sauce and a quick salad (or better yet, toss your spinach in the sauce and call it a day), or having something in the freezer ready to go — meatballs are really easy and you can make a variety of different kinds! (I’ll blog about it some day!)
At the end of the day: I know you’re tired but, I know you can do hard things!
Throw on your apron and KEEP GOING!
Lauren
