Let's talk about how to make it work for you.
Let's talk about easy and simple recipes.
So these are 3 VERY broad and VERY specific topics. My goal is to make this easier for you and help you be successful at meal planning and prepping. I will cover this in 3 different post so we can break it down and it isn't so overwhelming.
Let's get started!!
Why meal prep?
Why bother?
PART 1
I actually started meal prepping about 6 years ago. When we lived in NC, I had a coworker that had children about the same age as Kaleb. One is a year younger and one a year older. We had so much to talk about. It was amazing! This was when it was popular to do 30 Day Cooking and Freezer Meals. While those are awesome, neither one of us had an extra freezer for all the food we would be preparing. So we did what we could and shortened it to a weeks worth of cooking. It was perfect! We figured out all kinds of short cuts and we would discuss what was on the menu for the week and most important was what was on sale at the grocery store. Once we had that figured out the planning would start. We had no idea that we were on to something that would be such a game changer.
The average dinner will take anywhere from 45-60 minutes or more to prepare when you get home depending how much you have "prepped" ahead of time and how complicated your recipes are. I don't know about you but after a full 8 hours at work, getting up at 4:45am to get in my workout, running 2 miles at lunch, the last thing I want is an hour in the kitchen waiting on dinner while Kaleb is STARVING and on verge of being HANGRY and Bo is ready to eat and I am tired and overwhelmed because there is dinner, homework, shower, reading and then it's time for bed and do it all over again. That used to be what it was like. It's not any fun. I had actually stopped meal prepping when I was home for a year before coming back to work in 2014 full time. Once returning, it was a MUST to return to meal prepping on Sunday afternoons (Saturdays if shopping was done on Friday).
Why bother? Well, instead of spending the average amount of time in the kitchen, I can have dinner done in approximately 15-20 minutes and sometimes less. The majority of dinner is already cooked and ready. The hardest part is finding out what the Hubby wants. (HAHAHAHA). I prepare on Sunday so that by the time we get home, whatever we are having can be heated up fairly quickly and ready to go. Long enough to change clothes and Kaleb doesn't have enough time to get HANGRY. We have done this so long that it is just a part of "what we do" each week. We discuss what we want for the week and what we haven't had in a while and also depends on the weather. Not to mention the great thing is that we save money. What I can have prepared at home is a fraction of what we would pay if we went out to eat at a restaurant and I KNOW WHAT IS IN MY FOOD! It also keeps us out of the drive through because it would be super easy to do that on nights when I'm tired.
Well, I hope this gets your wheels turning and really thinking about Meal Prep. It is a game changer and a life saver!!!!!! Please feel free to post your questions, ideas and comments. I would love to hear from you!!!
Part 2 will follow and we will talk about "How to Make It Work For You!"
No comments:
Post a Comment