Sunday Food Prep

One of the most popular topics that shows up on my Pinterest home page is food and meal prep. Often times when I see photos like this one I get a pang of jealousy / guilt and a "Why can't I do that?!" thought flashes through my head.

Then, my eyes glaze over as I start to think about how impractical that is for me - partially because I would get bored eating the exact same food every day, and partially because we almost always have leftovers from dinner, and not eating those leftovers is not a financially friendly decision. I also choose to cook meals that my husband and I eat together (sometimes he cooks them instead!) and making a meal plan for just me just doesn't work for our family right now.

But, I do believe in the theory "Fail to plan, plan to fail" and I have learned first hand that I will eat whatever is most convenient for me to grab on my way out the door. I also have very little self discipline when it comes to portion sizes, meaning, I will eat the entire box of crackers if you leave them sitting in front of me.

So now, when I plan my meals for the week, I think about what I can take to work for breakfast and snacks. I try to reserve "lunch" for leftovers.

Each week, the choices are a little different. But it usually consists of easy to snack on, raw produce - like carrots, celery, berries and such, along with other items that can be measured and stored without going bad (yogurt, oatmeal, pretzels, etc.)

I've fallen in love with my digital food scale, by the way.

I keep my snacks in separate containers - I have a thing about my food touching... is that just me?

I recommend looking up the recommended serving size for whatever you are portioning out. This ensures you don't run into portion distortion and eat too much of any one thing in one sitting. It also gives you a reality check...

"Wow, that's really what 1 ounce of cheese looks like, huh?"

I portioned out our entire supply of produce, even if it was more than the 5 days worth I need for work. This way, if I come home for work and need a quick snack, I know I won't overdue it. If I end up using more than one of the containers to make a side dish for dinner, it's just one more dish in the dishwasher.

Occasionally, we have other food that we plan to use for dinners that can be prepped ahead of time. This week, kale was on sale, so I rinsed and chopped that up too. It will make salads so much quicker during our busy weeknights.

Be sure and look into the proper storage of your produce - some foods don't last as long if you rinse them first, some need to be stored in water, or airtight containers, or breathable ones, etc. So check into that before you go hog wild.

Preparing every meal ahead of time just doesn't make sense for us.Not only does having ready made, properly portioned containers of food help with healthy choices, it makes the morning so much less stressful when we are getting our lunches together in a hurry!