When people think of being creative, they tend to think about creating arts and crafts or things you can sell. But I have learned that being creative extends to every facet of our lives. And your nutrition is no different!
When I first embarked on my nutrition journey, I dove in headfirst. I thought the only way to succeed was to spend an entire day preparing all of our meals for the week. This meant making cute little egg cups for breakfast, cooking loads of meat for dinner, and fixing salads and snacks for the workday. Any you know what? I ran out of time, patience, and containers. Within a few weeks we had all but abandoned the whole meal prep idea. It was not realistic for us to spend one of our precious days off entirely dedicated to making food for the week. It didn’t save us the time we had hoped and became a chore we dreaded.
We have our staple veggies, but we also try to eat what’s in season. This gives us variety in our diet and allows the farmer’s land to maintain balance.
However, I did learn how important it is to plan things out, which has led me to be much more creative in how we prepare our meals each week. Because as much fun as it is to eat at different restaurants, it isn’t helping us reach our goals financially or physically! Everyone has to find what works best for them, but with a little bit of time and creativity you can prepare for the week ahead and give yourself nutrient dense foods! Here’s what a typical week looks like for us:
First, we set aside a small amount of time each Saturday morning to attend the Farmer’s Market. We have met some really great farmers who provide us with really great produce! Not only do we know exactly where our food is coming from, but we also know that we are supporting local families. This is has been important for us beyond just the great food we are getting. Since we are new to the area and there is a global pandemic going on, we haven’t been able to meet many new people since moving. The farmer’s market has given us a sense of community in a time that that has been hard to find. (I encourage you to find out more about the impact of your food footprint here!) And when we shop at the farmer’s market we aren’t as tempted to pick up extra items we might find in the grocery store :).
Taking a little time to prepare our fruits and veggies saves us tons of time in the long run!
Next, I spend about an hour washing and cutting the veggies we bought. In order for us to meet our fitness goals, we weigh and track all of our food, which can be time consuming. Even if that’s not your goal, having cut and washed food ready for any meal cuts down on prep time later in the week and makes meals go much smoother. In that hour of time, I am able to prepare veggies for 6 breakfasts as well as salad veggies for lunches throughout the week. This has been a huge time saver! When we wake up in the morning, all we have to do is heat up the pan and throw the veggies right in and boil some water for our eggs. So easy! And when lunch time rolls around we can grab our bowl and fill it with veggies and our salad is all set. Or we can make our lunch for the next day after dinner. Either way, the chopping and planning is taken out of the equation!
Finally, I look at the veggies we have left and the meat we have in the freezer and I plan out our dinners for the week. By having a simple plan of what we will be eating, I can take a peek first thing in the morning and pull out meat to defrost. Then when it comes time to prepare dinner that evening, I don’t feel overwhelmed with decision making! I don’t know about you, but by the end of the day my decision-making abilities are drastically reduced. So, no plan means grabbing the take-out menus! And those take-out menus are not getting us to our goals. Instead, we grab our Pinterest recipes we want to try or bust out our cookbooks and plan our week ahead!
Sheet pan dinners are a staple in our house. They take little time to prepare because you just throw everything on a pan, add some seasoning, and you’re done!
Now, everyone and every family is different, which means we have to do what works best for us. Maybe meal prep looks like making all your breakfasts ahead of time so you can just heat them and run out the door in the morning. It might look like making a double batch of dinner each night, so you already have your lunch prepared for the next day. It might look like having bowls of fresh fruits and veggies at eye level in the fridge, so you have easy snacks to grab when you get hungry.
Whatever you can do to take a step towards better health and intentional living is going to make a positive impact on your life. So, start with one step. Choose one small thing you can do each day this week to live the live you’ve always wanted. For us, it’s having an abundance of fruits and veggies prepared. What could it be for you?