There is nothing more frustrating than spending a bunch of money on fresh fruits and vegetables for the family to snack on only to have it be ignored day after day until it goes rotten. Opening the fridge, taking out the grapes, pulling them off the stem and washing them may seem like a quick and easy way to get a snack. Unfortunately for my kids….grabbing a granola bar out of the pantry won over in the convenience department every time.
In order to make healthy eating a habit…especially with kids….and busy, tired adults, it needs to be extremely simple. It needs to be more simple than grabbing a pre-packaged snack from the cupboard.
A few years ago I discovered a solution that has drastically increased the amount of fruits and vegetables my family eats. As soon as I bring produce into the house I prep it for snacks and put it in the fridge:
- I wash the strawberries, cut the stems off and put them in a container
- I pull the grapes off the stem, wash them and throw them in another container.
- And I create snack bags or containers with baby carrots, some celery and snap peas and pop them in the fridge.
The entire process takes me about 20 minutes each week and it is now just a part of my grocery shopping routine. Fruits and vegetables are a grab and go convenient snack in my house!
This is my version of meal prepping….produce prepping!
What is meal prepping
Instead of washing, chopping, cooking and cleaning up daily….with meal prepping you get all of that done in one day and just grab & go the rest of the week.
Meal prepping may sound intimidating and like a ton of work but it doesn’t need to be. The beauty of meal prepping is that you can adapt it to suit your needs. For me, I just use it to prep healthy snacks for the week.
How to easily meal prep
Here are a few other ways that you can use meal prepping to make your life more healthy and convenient.
- Make a big batch of rice on Sunday. Use it as a side dish at dinner on Monday, in stuffed peppers on Tuesday and finish it off on Wednesday with chicken fried rice.
- Toss a bunch of chicken breasts in the slow cooker then shred it all up and toss in containers in the fridge. It can then be used in tacos, sandwiches, wraps, and in salads for days.
- Or if you want to get really preppy….grab your meal plan (listen to episode 35 for more on this) and prepare those meals for the week on Sunday. On busy weeknights all you have to do is re-heat and eat.
There are lots of ways to use meal or snack prepping to make healthy eating convenient and delicious. It all depends on how much time you want to set aside each week to do it.
As I said, snack prepping takes me 20 minutes per week. Prepping rice or chicken may take up to an hour and meal prepping a week of meals will likely take you an afternoon.
Whichever way you use it, you and your family will benefit from the effort in many ways
Benefits of meal prepping
- Meal prepping makes healthy eating convenient and ensures you have healthy options on hand when you’re hungry
- It eliminates decision fatigue. If you are hungry for a snack, having a pre-prepped container of fruit on hand means no thinking…..just eating.
- You will save money and reduce food waste. No more clearing the fridge of rotten veggies that were ignored all week. Don’t toss it…buy it…prep it…eat it!
Don’t be intimidated by the words meal prep any more! Take it and adapt it to suit you. In the end you will save time, money, stress and eat healthier…willpower not required