Set aside prep time.
Plan, shop & prepare meals. Allot at least 2-4 hours of your day.
Make important decisions.
Determine how many and which recipes you will choose. Do you want a different meal each day or are you okay with repeating meals?
Choose recipes with overlapping ingredients to cut costs and waste.
Pay attention to how many servings each recipe makes.
Plan 3 balanced meals for each day of the week and include snacks.
A balanced meal is heavy on the veggies, contains lean protein and also small portions of whole grains.
Make a grocery list and go shopping.
Having a list and a plan is a great way to prevent the impulse buying of high calorie foods.
Have all of the necessary tools at hand.
Make sure you have all the tools you will need to prepare and portion your meals.
Make a cooking schedule.
Slow cooking meals should go in the oven or crockpot before you start on those simple quick cooking dishes.
Pre-portion foods as you prepare them.
Pre-portion foods so that you don’t have to worry over how big of a slice or piece you should eat.
Package individual portions of snacks and meals in separate containers for easy grab and go eating.
Label each container with what’s inside and/or what day of the week you want to eat it.
Only refrigerate what you will eat by Wednesday and freeze the rest.
You can thaw a meal in the Fridge on Wednesday night to eat on Thursday night. Raw vegetables and boiled eggs can stay in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
