There are so many reasons why eating clean and healthy meals is important. Food is the fuel we need to live and do the things we need and want to do. Contrary to often popular belief, food is not the enemy. It’s necessary and is so intertwined with our day to day lives. But it is so hard to prioritize healthy eating when we have so many other things going on. Takeout and convenience foods are just so, convenient. And delicious when you’re in the habit of eating that way. I find that when it comes to clean eating, you need to allow yourself a few days to sort of detox from junk food. Then clean food starts to taste amazing. And you start to really crave nutrients more than additives. But you’re left with the issue of making clean eating a realistic possibility. Who has time to prepare and cook every fricking meal?? Not to mention all that cleanup. Yeesh! The key is planning and organization.
Step 1: Block Out Some Time
I know that we’re all so busy that the idea of finding some time seems overwhelming. But I’m not talking about finding some crazy amount of time. Not like quit your job or neglect your responsibilities time. I’m talking about a few hours. I, for example, do not work on Sundays. So I can try to knock out a bunch of my meal prep on Sundays. I also happen to enjoy the morning time. So I don’t mind getting up early to give myself time to get things done early during the week. And if you take the time to make dinner once in awhile, maybe try to allow yourself a few extra minutes to cut up extra veggies or package leftovers. I mean, you already have to wash those dishes anyway. If you take an honest look at your schedule, you can probably find some time in there somewhere. And while you use this time for meal prep, consider the fact that you are ultimately saving time later. That’s really all meal prep is. It’s a time saver. I find it helpful to look at it that way.
Step 2: Plan
Planning is beneficial on every level. My most dreaded question is “what’s for dinner?” Drives me crazy. I don’t like thinking about it all day and having it looming over me. It’s just stressful. Having meals planned out in advance is such a load off my day to day routine. Saves time and cuts out stress. Also saves money. Otherwise, I end up going to the store all the time because I decide meals last minute. Or I wander around the grocery store seeking inspiration. I know that’s pretty stupid and I’m not proud to admit it. But it’s the desperate act of a desperate woman. When it’s planned out in advance, I can do all my shopping in one swoop and easily follow a budget. Then it’s just a matter of execution of the plan. Prep what I can in advance and roll out the plan throughout the week. Easy peasy.
Step 3: Get Honest
Think of the kinds of things you like to eat. That’s the best place to start. You don’t need to think about the healthiest things that you’re going to force feed yourself. Think honestly about the things that you like to eat. Do you like to sit down for breakfast or do you prefer to eat it on the go. Do you like sweet or savory. Hot or cold. What kind of snacks do you lean towards. Crunchy, salty, sugary, liquid etc. We need to think about this because if we don’t all try to customize a plan that we actually enjoy, we’re not going to stick to it. Eating should be an enjoyable part of life. Not a punishment or a chore. Once you’ve thought about the things you like to eat, we can start planning how to make healthy versions that can be prepped in advance. But if you go into it thinking “I love sweets, so I need to cut those out because they’re not healthy”, you are most likely setting yourself up to fail. Plenty of healthy things are sweet. You don’t need to eat a bunch of processed sugar or artificial sweeteners. Fruits, dried fruits, sweet potatoes, carrots. Even some honey or maple syrup. At first, it really doesn’t seem like the same thing at all. But foods really start to taste a lot better after just a few days of clean eating. Your body does go through a detox period if you’re used to eating a lot of processed foods. The first couple of days might be tough. Headache, antsy-ness, moodiness. It really is worth powering through those first couple days. Once you’ve detoxed, you a) don’t want to feel like that ever again and b) start to return to a natural state where real foods taste really good. On day one, ants on a log may seem like a poor substitute for a crunchy, salty and sweet snack. But by day 4, you’ll be all about it.
Step 4: Pre-Prepare
You’ve thought about what kinds of things you’re going to make. Let’s say that you know you like to eat breakfast in the car on the way to work after the gym. You know that you like to do a protein shake and oatmeal. And you bring a cooler to work with one snack and your lunch. Let’s break that down into containers. You need a couple shaker bottles for protein shakes that you can alternate and a thermos for your oatmeal if you like to eat it hot. Otherwise, a reusable for container if you like to do overnight oats. You need a small lunch cooler and reusable containers for whatever you packed. I keep baggies in the cupboard with single servings of protein shake that I can toss into the shaker bottles quickly. Then there is no mess. I make a big instant pot of steel cut oats that I put into 4 containers in the fridge to quickly reheat in the mornings. I usually keep a container of cut up veggies in a little container on my desk to snack on while I work. Or a baggie of grapes. Or dried mango. Or walnuts with craisins. Lunch is generally leftovers that I reheat in the microwave. Or a salad. Either way, it’s a medium sized reusable container. So, to pre-prepare, you need to stock up on whatever containers you are going to need. Large containers to save meals that you’ve made and smaller containers to bring smaller portions on the go. And you need to get the groceries you’ll need. Some staples that you always keep on hand. And extra things that you need for specific recipes.
Step 5: Execute and Adapt
Start trying some recipes! Just go for it. You’ll have some hits and some misses. But you need to figure out what works. If you know you like something, make a batch and divide it out into containers. Maybe you’ll find that you love how it tastes reheated. Maybe not. Maybe some things that you enjoyed fresh end up tasting soggy after awhile. It took me a couple tries to figure out how to get my yogurt parfaits to work. If the granola was touching the yogurt, it got all squishy. Ick. So I started making a berry buffer between the two. Voila. Problem solved. It seems that with most things in life, some practice is necessary to get good. Meal prepping is no exception. Weeks one and two may be discouraging. There may be bumps along the way. But the more you do it, the better you’ll get. It’s worth putting the work in and going through a few rocky weeks to end up in a routine where you’re eating yummy, healthy food and not dealing with chaotic stress to do so.