Food Prep is Key

I’m fully anticipating this week being a little crazy.  My client has some pretty insane deadlines for the end of the month and items keep getting added.  However, there are a few things that are non-negotiable to me: SLEEP (7 – 8 hours!), FOOD, & EXERCISE.  Regardless of what is going on, I need these to get through the day.

Over the past 3 years, I have learned meal prep is key to not eating out and/or binge eating.  I’ve become quite the snob when it comes to eating out as I prefer my own cooking and if we are going out it better be something to die for!

With a lot of trial and error, I think I’ve become pretty efficient with food/meal prepping.  It was definitely a struggle at first, but at some point I realized that I didn’t have to make complex recipes and FAT is critical to making a delicious meal.  The only thing required for the week were basics and doubling everything now that the husband has realized the benefits! Also, making large dinners guarantees leftovers!!

THIS WEEK

To prepare us for the week ahead, I ended up spending a solid 4 hours food prepping on Sunday.  Honestly, I haven’t spent this much time prepping in months.  Maybe if I had planned and had organized a plan of attack, it would have taken less time.

SHOPPING

CSA: We pick up our CSA share every Friday and have been doing an awesome job of using it with very little waste (the tomatoes unfortunately usually go bad before we can use them all…).  This covers a lot of our vegetables and lunches.

Farmers’ Market: Fortunately, our town has an amazing market every Saturday.  We now buy all of our meats and kind of wing it.  If there are specials on meat, that’s usually what we’ll buy.  A whole chicken is a must every week.  We’ll also get more vegetables if needed as well as some fruit.

Grocery store: Every weekend I go to at least 1 or 2 stores to pick up some essentials and miscellaneous items that we need that we can’t get at the CSA/market.  It’s usually things like chips/tortillas, avocados, coconut milk, spices/herbs, sweet potatoes, yogurt, etc.

BREAKFAST PREP

Every breakfast is basically the same for us.

Mine: 2 eggs, sweet potato, meat & some sort of tonic (I’ve officially cut out coffee due the heightened anxiety and jitters it causes)

Husband: 3 eggs, sweet potato, meat & butter coffee


This week I prepped in advance:

  • Breakfast sausage (Country Time Farm – I took it out of the casing and cooked it through so we just have to warm it up)
  • Roasted Japanese sweet potatoes (Kimberton Whole Foods – these potatoes are definitely the most flavorful ones!)
  • Cashew nut milk

LUNCH PREP

This summer is all about salads and adding whatever we want to it.  Usually, a dressing isn’t required – throw leftovers on it that are super flavorful or just add a little EVOO and lemon juice.


Available for this week:

  • Chicken (Deep Roots Valley Farm – roasted a whole chicken Sunday night for dinner)
  • Whole 30 buffalo sauce – to add to the chicken
  • Boiled beets (market)
  • Quinoa (cooked in chicken broth leftover from last week’s slow cooker chicken)
  • Cucumbers (CSA)
  • Bell peppers (CSA)
  • Tomato (CSA – I don’t precut these because I think they go bad quicker, so this does require another 5 minutes every morning. We usually cut them while we cook our breakfasts)
  • Wash lettuce, obviously (CSA)

DINNER PREP

There’s a good chance I’ll be onsite at clients all week and working late. So to make sure I don’t back out of cooking dinner I have tried to at least pre-wash and prep a few things so I don’t have an excuse.

  • Roasted garlic (CSA)
  • Riced cauliflower
  • Washed swiss chard
  • Washed and cut string beans

SNACKS

Without a doubt, we come home and eat after work.  There’s no stopping it and we don’t usually eat dinner until 7/8pm. So there are a few things to snack on.

  • Yogurt – topped usually with fruit, chia seeds, nuts/butter, and whatever else we may have
  • Pre-cut watermelon
  • Coconut fat balls (Lee from America – I tweeked these a bit for us but they are amazing for pre or post workouts and a little post dinner/dessert)
  • Chips and avocado

Lastly, I idiot proofed the fridge for us so we have no excuse…”I didn’t know that was in the fridge”, “I thought you were saving that for dinner”, “how long is that been in there”….they are never ending.

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