Monday Motivation – 5 Tips for Meal Prepping with Nurse Lauren
Hi there, Nurse Lauren here with your Monday Motivation! ICYMI – check it out: Monday Motivation – 5 Tips to Healthy Eating with Nurse Lauren. Hopefully you have followed that advice, are ready, committed to eating healthy, AND went to the grocery store! Today let’s talk about meal prepping.
Tip #1: Using the Right Containers – it is important that you have proper storage if you are going to be prepping meals for the week. Containers you can store in the fridge, heat up, eat straight from, securely lock if taking with you to work, and reusable are all important things to consider. For ideas check out this review from USA Today’s Reviewed (@reviewed) : The 5 Best Food Storage Containers for Meal Prepping on Amazon. Remember that meal prepping is good for you and can also be good for the environment… think mere reusables and less ziplock plastic bags! Check out Real Simple’s (@RealSimple) 8 Reusable Sandwich Bags and Epicurious’ (@epicurious) 5Cute, Reusable Snack Bags For Packed Lunches. Since you are already on the Epicurious site – check out all of their recipes!
Tip #2: Carve Out Time on Your Weekends – Scheduling a few hours of meal prep into your weekend routine will save you time and money during the week. Getting home from work and scrambling to get something on the table for dinner can be a hassle. It also leaves open the temptation to just order a pizza. Trying to pack lunches early in the morning while getting ready for work and getting everyone out of the house on time can led to chips thrown in a bag and adults ordering lunch out. Build meal prep into your weekend routine for healthier choices and saving money.
Tip #3: Try to Vary the Meals – One down side you might hear people talking about is that by Friday – they are tired of the same meal they have had all week. Meal prepping does not mean eating the same thing for lunch and dinner for seven days in a row. You may be prepping the same protein or grain for a week’s worth of meals but you can still vary the type of meals. Fit Men Cook (@FitMenCook ) recommends cooking chicken three ways on the same pan. For instructions read here. You can bring a salad for lunch everyday but that doesn’t mean the same one. Check out Ambitious Kitchen’s (@AmbitiousKitch) ideas for 4 Healthy Meal Prep Salads.
Tip #4: Crockpots are Your Friend! (Don’t be wary of your crockpot (@CrockPotCares) because you watch This Is Us! They are safe!) This one appliance can change your whole meal prep game. Search for easy to make recipes that can cook while you are at work and can be portioned out for the rest of the week or put in the freezer for a later date. For more inspiration check out: 20 Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes for Meal Prep Sunday from The Every Girl (@TheEverygirl_) and 15 Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes for Meal Prep from The Girl on Bloor (@thegirlonbloor).
Tip #5: Start Small – If this seems overwhelming at first, start out small. Purchase fresh fruit for the week and portion it out in containers for your snacks each day. Hopefully once you see how easy it was to grab and go your healthy snacks, you will want to prep more meals next week.
This is Nurse Lauren, contributor of NursesNOW, signing off with your Monday Motivation! Remember, healthy eating, in addition to exercise, are the keys to living a healthy lifestyle. Planning out your meals and meal prepping are imperative in helping you STICK to a well-balanced, healthy diet. You should want to be at a heathy weight, and if that means dieting to get there, that is ok. But healthy eating should not just be when you are on a diet. It’s about creating eating habits that will keep you (and your heart – more on that here) healthy. Now you have your meal planner on your fridge, and containers filled for the week! You can do it!
ICYMI – My Monday Motivation Blog posts, my Wellness Wednesday Blog posts, Nurses NOW Weekly Roundups and Friday Fives.
