hey it's mariah from mariahdolan.com and ijust had a hip replacement last week. so now's the perfect time to share a strategy for healthymeal planning that'll save hours in the kitchen and keep you on track with your weight lossgoals. enter...freezer meals. these are a lifesaver if you're a busy, full-timeworking mom because you do all the healthy
easy diet shopping list, meal prep beforehand and cook the meals asyou need them. this eliminates frantic fast food runs atthe end of the workday since you know you have a healthy meal at home ready to go. so here's how you do it.
two days before meal prepping make a listof your meals. many of your favorite meals are freezablealready. casseroles, stir-frys, and crockpot meals freeze beautifully. things that don't freeze well are fresh greens(romaine, spinach etc.) and potatoes get mushy! legumes freeze well, but soak and cook themfirst (at least partially) to make sure they fully cook in the end. canned legumes workas well but fresh is healthier (and cheaper!) another great tip is to pick one recipe anddouble (or triple!) it, which makes meal prep faster. i always pick 15 recipes and double them for30 monthly meals.
the best freezer meals are the ones whereyou combine everything in a gallon sized ziploc bag then cook in the crockpot. two reasons why. none of the ingredients require cooking priorto combining which saves time and makes it taste like you're not eating leftovers! there's a link below this video for some recipesto get you going. print out your recipes look...this is a huge undertaking. food willfly everywhere. your kitchen will look like a bomb went off. save your beautiful computer,tablet, or smart phone and print off your
recipes. which leads to the next point. put your recipes in meal prep order a helpful strategy is to put your recipesin order of meats (if you eat meat.) that way you can leave your cutting boarddirty until you're done chopping all the chicken you need for the meals. then clean it forthe next meat. if you don't have two cutting boards, runand get another one! they're inexpensive and will make life so much easier to have onecutting board for meat and one for veggies. print labels for your freezer meals i have a link below this video where you candownload your copy of these labels.
you can certainly handwrite on these, butif you like ultra-organized and neat, pull your download into pdf escape and fill itin. tape labels to your freezer bags this is something that takes more time thanyou would think, so get this done two days ahead of time so that you maximize time onmeal prep day. one gallon freezer bags are perfect for crockpotmeals. two gallon freezer bags are perfect for casseroles because they can fit a 9x13"pan. one day before meal prep create a list and go shopping
preparing 20-30 meals will take all day! that'swhy it's important to grocery shop the day before. since you're buying food in high quantities,the shopping trip will take longer than average. plus, you may need to visit a couple differentstores to collect all the ingredients. i go to sam's to buy bulk organic chickenand vegetables then i finish up at our regular grocery store for the things i can't get atsam's. don't forget your one and two gallon freezerbags. meal prep day tips pick a time when you have two days off ina row
juuuust in case you don't finish on day one.you don't want all that food laying around in your fridge when the work week starts,because that'll create overwhelm. wear supportive shoes okay. i'm a physical therapist so hear meout. static standing puts a lot of stress through the ankles, knees, hips and spineand you'll be standing for hours. do yourself a favor and wear supportive shoes.trust me, when you go to bed at night your low back will thank you! eating day the day before you eat your meal pull it outof the freezer and defrost in the fridge overnight.
follow the directions you have printed onthe bag and add a healthy green vegetable or salad. that's it! no more sabotaging your weightloss goals with spur of the moment fast food binges because the kitchen is empty. if you have any healthy meal prep ideas, pleaselet me know in the comments below.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon