The old adage by Benjamin Franklin, “If you fail to plan, plan to fail!” is such a cliche yet certainly true when it comes to meeting your fitness and nutrition goals. Being a busy mom always on-the-go, getting the kids to and from all of their activities is extremely time consuming, so meal prepping not only keeps my nutrition in line but saves time and money as well. I usually don’t have time to cook a full meal by the time I get home, so meal prepping eliminates the stress for us all. I usually keep certain things on hand at all times such as bone broth, greens, boiled eggs, cut up veggies, brown rice, homemade pasta sauce and various protein bars or energy bites. I also usually have one or two large cooking days per week, making bulk items as well as putting individual meals together. This way I can put a healthy meal together in minimal time, with minimal effort, toss a pre-made plate, in my cooler bag and go! I also started placing leftover meals in the individual meal plates, thereby reducing the amount of containers that end up getting overlooked, pushed to the back and eventually wasted.
I usually cook around 6-8 chicken breasts per week, some of which I may shred for chicken salad or other items such as Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites , some I may chop for a salad and some I leave whole for individual meals. I also cook two pieces of fish per week, usually either MahiMahi or Wild Caught Salmon and sometimes some red meat as well. I will usually choose 2-3 different carbs and 4-5 different vegetables which gives me enough variety to create different combinations yet not too many that they go to waste. There’s usually enough to spare so Tippy, our tortoise gets his veggies too!
Some of the snacks shown here are No-Bake Chocolate Protein Balls, Banana Coconut Bread, Wild-Caught salmon salad stuffed eggs, chicken salad lettuce wraps, Cranberrry-Orange & Chocolate Raw Protein Bars , cut up apples with gluten-free crackers, cheddar cheese cubes, and peanut butter and Greek Yogurt.
Made with salmon, boiled egg, onion, lemon juice, celery and spices.
Made with organic chicken breasts, red quinoa, shredded carrots, celery, red grapes, walnuts, lemon juice and spices. Layer over brown rice and black beans.
Here are some examples of my meals:
4 oz. chicken breast, corn, brown rice, 1/2 sweet potato, fresh zucchini and yellow squash.
Grass-fed strip steak, mushrooms, brown rice, steamed broccoli and fresh yellow squash.
Boneless pork chop, 1/2 sweet potato, fresh, raw green beans, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and cucumbers.
Baked MahiMahi, brown rice, fresh, raw green beans and cherry tomatoes
Fresh raspberries, blackberries, pomegranate, Greek yogurt, raw honey, granola and pumpkin seeds
I put this snack plate together when I was fighting off a bad cold – I call it my antioxidant plate.
Fresh spinach, shredded carrots, dried cherries, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, chicken breast a boiled egg and fresh bell peppers.
No- mayo chicken salad, fresh mixed greens, gluten-free crackers and protein bites
These are just a handful of examples. Be creative, plan according to your goals and you will be on the fast track to success!
