It’s August, and from all my interactions with other women, it’s crystal clear that there’s one thing on everyone’s mind – gearing up for back to school. And after being in vacation mode for weeks or perhaps months, getting back to a more structured regimen can be challenging. I can tell from the countless number of food journals I see at work, that despite the best of intentions, eating healthfully takes a backseat to everything else that’s going on. We’ve all been there, and it’s easy for guilt and shame to take over. Instead, I say let’s practice self-compassion and take baby steps. The key is to start developing healthy habits beginning TODAY…not tomorrow or after the kids go back to school. As you know, habits take time to develop, so you have to consciously put some effort into it early on. However, once established, you’ll no longer fall victim to the lack of willpower or bad decisions, as actions will become automatic. I’m sure all you creatures of habit know what I’m talking about.
Several years ago, I made it a goal of mine to make meal plan/prep a habit, and every weekend I purposefully set aside some time to turn it into a reality. With repetition, that term that I heard preached by many nutrition experts finally became a part of my own lifestyle. Now, come Saturday or Sunday, I automatically head to the kitchen and let my hands do their thing. You can see a glimpse of all my past meal prep here. Thank goodness! Because truth be told, if I didn’t meal prep, I’d still be eating cereal all day long (hello, most of my twenties). Now that I’m done being all preachy on its importance, let’s talk about how to start with meal prep. Remember how I said to take baby steps? Very important. Because if you try to accomplish too much from the get-go, like prepping 10 different vegetables at once, you’ll burn out and want to throw in the towel altogether. Instead, start small.
Here’s what I suggest:
Prep a few vegetables (perhaps 3 to start) Cook 2 different protein sources Prepare a batch of grains (whole grains or gluten-free) and/or a starchy vegetable
Once you’ve got these components prepped, you can assemble them any way you’d like and even slap on a fancy name – “nourish bowl.” As I had mentioned in this previous post, the only requirement is that the bowl contains a well-balanced combination of all 3 macronutrients: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Your bowl may not always be glamorous since most of the time it’s just dumping all the ingredients together into the same vessel, but it sure is satisfying!
To show you an example, here’s what I prepped. Depending on how much time I have over the weekend, I will expand upon this most basic routine.
3 vegetables (well, technically-speaking, these are fruits): tomatoes, 2 different varieties of summer squash, bell peppers Roasted chicken Cooked barley and roasted sweet potatoes
I also like getting some convenience items since I don’t have time to make everything from scratch. This week I got hummus, canned wild Alaskan salmon (love this! You can find it at Costco), sauerkraut, and frozen vegetables Now onto my no-recipe nourish bowl creations…Remember, you can assemble them however you’d like. These are just for inspiration ;). For more, check out my “Nourish/Power Bowl” Pinterest board.
Nourish Bowl #1
I usually cook a huge batch of beans once a month and freeze smaller portions in individual containers. The night before, I pulled one of these containers from the freezer and placed it in the fridge to defrost. So convenient! To make this bowl, the only extra “work” I had to do was mash an avocado. So so good! This one was my favorite 😉
Nourish Bowl #2
I was definitely in need of some probiotics so into this bowl went sauerkraut. And yes, I eat A LOT of avocado…and eggs…and sweet potatoes…
Nourish Bowl #3
I suppose I could’ve chopped up my vegetables a bit more finely, but hey..I needed a quick meal. Nothing fancy and maybe a little random (the Hungryman was not a fan of salmon + hummus..I liked it #toeachhisown), but it served its purpose.
Nourish Bowl #4
With the help of frozen vegetables, this barley stir-fry came together so quickly. I added my last batch of zucchini, and of course, a sunny-side up egg with a generous drizzle of sriracha.
Snacks
Tomatoes + cheddar cheese (I heart you, Cabot!) // Peppers + hummus // Sweet potatoes + almond butter [Tweet “Quick and Easy Weeknight Nourish Bowls via @mjandhungryman #thereciperedux #mealprep “]
There you have it! A week of wholesome, real meals. Totally doable, right? Another bonus is that clean-up is a cinch! You just have one bowl and fork to wash. But be warned- you’ll have to deal with opening/closing a lot of containers. Don’t worry. You’ll become a pro at that too ;). With time, you’ll become more efficient and will be able to prep more ingredients in the same amount of time. Habits…very powerful stuff!
