Gotta Prep For The Meal Prep

Meal prep. It’s all over the internet. Before, it was just known as ‘packing your lunch’. It’s gotten intense out there–there’s diagrams, everyone has the best routine, and creating weekly menus are no big deal. It’s a lot. The first step is figuring out what you actually want to eat and I’m assuming you want to eat healthy because no one ever really prepped for a pizza or a Whopper. Those things just sorta happen.

Thank you internet for this deliciously unhealthy prep

My active prepping (not just packing my lunch for the next 3 days) began last year. I’m still not a pro. Before that I would pack most of my lunches and snacks for work in an effort to save money. I thought I was doing pretty well too. This intense meal prepping I do now makes that look like basic bitch work. I sit here and laugh at my old self. I knew nothing.

Some weeks I have 4 breakfasts, snacks and lunches prepped Sunday night. Other weeks, it’s Tuesday and I’m like “Cutting vegetables for snack?? Ugggghhhh….”. Again, it goes all back to ORGANIZATION. Some people have it and some people don’t but most can learn. Containers have been a big help and I really love the Sistema brand (you can find at Macy’s and Bed Bath and Beyond). There’s an oatmeal container that I take with me

Sistema containers. I’m obsessed (and no they don’t pay me to say that but I wish they did). Oatmeal M-F

every morning and can pack for the week on Sunday so they’re all lined up and ready to go. I just add blueberries before I leave in the morning.

I usually start planning on Saturday what I want to make for the week so I can cook as much as possible on Sunday if I’m actually home. It’s good to have all the ingredients ready to go so all you have to do is cook on Sunday and it’s only a couple hours of your life. I must say, it is a lot easier to just take out a container and heat it up when I need dinner on Monday or Tuesday. That also means I have time after work to workout or write instead of going home to cook for 2 hours. 

Grocery shopping is usually done on Saturday and sometimes I do little things like roast vegetables, brown ground turkey and/or make a pot of rice. Then, when I have to start prepping on Sunday I’m not so overwhelmed with everything I have to do and it’s easier to just throw things together in a container and label. My labeling system right now is a Sharpie and a piece of masking tape but I would love Sistema to create containers with erasable labels on them (HELLO, ARE YOU LISTENING?!) I found if they’re labeled I can tell what meals are missing that I have to make and also know right away what I’m going to eat and when.

If I was using a lot of peppers & onions during the week, I chop them all and keep them in this container. Chopping is so tedious and annoying so you only do it once! (container by Sistema, of course)

We should all be able to cook ahead of time because it’s pretty appalling how many companies are out there that will meal prep for you and the amount of people who pay them to put food in containers! But I applaud those people because they found a niche and then went for it before the market was saturated–that’s what business is all about–getting ahead of that curve and profiting from it. You think I still have time to get in on it? I wouldn’t mind staying home all day and cooking and then delivering meals to people. 

So if meals are $8-12/meal and snacks go for $8 then that means for your 5 day work week (5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 5 dinners, 10 snacks) you pay about $230-260 a week. That’s $1,000 a month for food!!!! I just died. That’s the same price as eating every meal out. My monthly grocery budget is about $225—delivery ends up being 5 months of food!! Wow. I watch people at work constantly ordering food which is 1. extremely expensive and, 2. extremely unhealthy. It’s insane how much people spend on food and how easy it is to cut that cost with a little prep and a little organization. Breaking up the week to start is an easy way to do it: prep on Sunday and do meals for Sunday-Tues then start adding on days. Once you get an idea of how best to do things and if you have enough container to store everything (you never have enough containers) then it gets easier. 

My interest in meal prepping also began because we were trying to make a conscious effort to not eat out in order to save more money to put towards the wedding fund. Our average is about $225 per month for 2 people depending on the month and we still eat out averaging about $200 per month as well. And I always feel guilty when we do it, but damn, that wedding money Big Mac was worth it sometimes. Speaking of Big Mac I can’t remember when I last had one. Sometimes you gotta treat yourself. Maybe this week..

Off to do some prepping for the week. Wish me luck!

 

2018: Time To Find Your Fit

We’re back talking about fitness which is only appropriate for the month of resolutions also known as January. As per StatisticBrain.com, in 2017 21.4% of people resolved to lose weight/eat healthier and 5.5% resolved to work out more often. That mean a little over ¼ of our population made fitness resolutions. I wonder what gym attendance looks like in March though…every year it’s the same thing: make a resolution, break a resolution, resolve to do better next year, fall of the wagon. Repeat.

I’ve tried so many different programs throughout the years since I was in High School. I tried the Zone diet which got big via Jennifer Aniston in the late 90’s. It worked and it was probably the thinnest I ever was but I’m not sure if it was because I was making my own dinner of ground turkey, lettuce, some vegetables, and a couple macadamia nuts or because I think I had Mono at that time and didn’t know it. Looking back, it might have been the Mono.

In the last couple years I’ve started to discover what works and what doesn’t but still haven’t perfected it. I usually end up losing a few pounds and my clothes feel better, but then a few weeks of bad eating later and little to no exercise, I’m back to where I started. It really does starts with clean eating and I’m trying to perfect my meal prep so I can be the best I can be but some weeks it’s hard. Life gets in the way.

I’ve tried Juice Fasts (didn’t last very long). Although I do recommend a veggie/fruit juice scheduled for 1-2 days, you’ll be amazed at how good you feel afterwards when your pipes are all clean. And no, I haven’t experienced the rumored ass explosions. People are just scared of fruits and vegetables. Just make sure to do it a day when you’re home because you are drinking your calories and over extending yourself wouldn’t be wise when you’re eating less than 1000 calories. But also you’ll be close to a toilet. Just in case.

I tried having protein shakes throughout the day but just powder and water makes me feel sad and I need to be close to a blender to make a substantially satisfying shake so it’s unrealistic for when you’re at work. Which ends up being at least ⅓ of our day. I find the people who usually drink 2-3 shakes a day are the ones who fall off the wagon HARD—you need to chew! Our mouths were made for that. 

I recently tried the Chris and Heidi Powell’s Extreme Transformation idea of prepping your meals for the whole week so you’re in control of what you eat and based upon a Macro counting program. That worked well but I am surrounded by Tupperware!

Tupperware everywhere! And this is a light day!

Containers EVERYWHERE! Gonna circle back to this though for a more in-depth discussion of this program soon. I am really impressed by this program.

I’ve done the Ab Roller, Sweat Belt, Pole, Pilates, Ballet, Kickboxing. I sweated to the Oldies with my mom and Richard Simmons when I was younger. I ran at the track and my stamina increased during that time but I HATE running and running in a circle was sooooo boring. Dance videos–I felt great but probably looked like a fool and none of those routines are actually helpful on a real dancefloor.

Work out for 17 minutes! No, work out for 90 minutes! Bike, walk, run, crawl. Fitness is everywhere and I feel like I’ve done it all. But I will continue on my journey until I find the perfect routine for me. Even if I have to Frankenstein it myself. So that’s what I’m dedicating the next few weeks to—Let’s Find Our Fit.