Food Prep: One of my keys to success!

Let’s face it, we have all forgotten to meal prep at one point or another. Besides the hunger pains and searching takeaway shops for a healthy option to get on the run, it is a massive inconvenience to our day as well as of results that you may be working super hard on achieving! Failing to prepare is failing to succeed! As a general weekly rule of thumb we do a big cook up on Sunday and Wednesday night and this will last our family through for lunches for the week. We cook up all of our meats, and add our vegetables fresh! Depending on what is on the menu, some weeks the kids will have chicken wraps, where I make these fresh, however add the cooked chicken into them. Or sometimes they will take mini quiches, that I prepare on a Sunday. Usually I will have a salad with either chicken breast, roast lamb, boiled eggs or chicken stir fry,  quinoa salad or turkey san boy choy. Whatever it might be, we cook it in advance to ensure we are always ready to go and have healthy, nutritious meals on the go. Along with the main lunch meals I bake a banana bread, blueberry bread, brownies and muffins for the boys school lunches so that the mornings are as easy as possible. It won’t happen overnight, but eventually a routine will form and you will never want to live without it! It also saves on grocery bills, shopping time and kitchen prep! In order to make week nights even easier again on me, we have a spreadsheet plan for all of our family meals for the week, including any meals that can be used for leftovers- for example, if we have vegetable spaghetti one night, the following night could use that sauce for eggplant lasange! Perfect, easy and saves having lots of wastage! I have also found that doing our weekly grocery shop online means we save money as we don’t get things we don’t need, we ensure nothing is forgotten that is required for the meals, we don’t waste an hour doing the shop and its delivered to our door- very handy! Some other tips that make my life easier:

• Keep fresh vegetable stock in the fridge, it lasts in an airtight container for 6 weeks. This can be your base for your meals, it is made from scratch from nothing more than vegetables, Himalayan salt and water!
• Use ingredients like garlic, ginger, chilli and fresh herbs in meals to ensure they taste delicious.
• Have a weekly outline for the kids lunch boxes, starting with their lunch, then a morning tea snack, then fruit or vegetables.
• Print off the weekly meals and have it on the fridge so we all know what we are having and when.

Quite often I see so many women say that ‘fast’ week night meals include a jar of stir fry sauce, pasta sauce, or store bought packaged meals. These all contain really high sodium and sugar content- which can have some serious health effects! Rather than buying a store bought sauce, make it from scratch over the weekend, and store it in the fridge, or make a big batch and freeze any leftovers you may have. Sugars are hidden in marinades, sauces, takeaway meals and many other store bought produce. If you are looking for a plan that can help you with your nutrition, meal prep and what you should be eating and when, then my #tbtprogram nutrition clean eating guidelines are the right product for you. Remember, prepare to succeed!