How Erin and I Meal Prep for Healthy Eating
Erin and I are generally very busy (especially right now, trying to find a new contract!) and we don’t have time to cook dinner every night. I think this probably applied to almost everyone these days. Instead of trusting your nutrition to someone else, we like to meal prep all of our lunches prior to starting our work week.
Meal prep is a concept designed to save time, increase healthy eating habits, and save money. Meal prepping usually takes place prior to the work week, and takes several hours to complete. Usually, meal prepping consists of cooking all of your carbs, proteins, and some of your veggies for an entire week of meals. Some meal preppers portion out their cooked meals directly after cooking them, creating a bunch of individual meals ready to grab and go from the fridge. A popular day to meal prep is Sunday. Really, it doesn’t matter which day meal prepping is done. Just be aware of which day you cooked your veggies and other more perishable items in order to avoid letting them spoil.
There are a few reasons one might consider meal prepping ahead of time. The top reason we meal prep is because it helps us avoid grabbing “whatever” when hungry. We know that we have healthy food that we have pre-prepared. Not only does “whatever” usually consist of junk food in the break room and quick takeout, but it can be expensive too! This leads to the second reason we meal prep: to save money! Depending on what meals you prep, pre-preparing food can save a boat load of cash as compared to buying lunch. We meal prep because it saves time, money, and we know that we have healthy food to eat.
One of our go-to meals is chili. Growing up, my Dad made chili on almost a weekly basis. I think it’s part of my DNA now. Here is how we go about meal prepping a week’s worth of chili. Some of our other staples include:
- Mexican rice and beans
- Chicken cream and pesto casserole (or any casserole, really)
- Grilled chicken and broccoli with a side of rice
- Indian curried chicken served over rice
First we think of what we want to eat. This week it is chili! Just eating chili might be a little bland, so we put it over a bed of potatoes and add cheese, sour cream, etc. Add an apple to the meal and I’m more than satisfied! Below you will find some insider photos of our secret chili laboratory in Tacoma, where all of our meal prepping is done.
Every night before work, we simply portion out some chili and throw it in our lunch box. This ensures that we have a healthy meal to eat. I would encourage anyone to give meal prep a try!
This is a bonus picture taken from point defiance park in north Tacoma. We ran the 3 mile inner loop trail on the day we took this picture. It’s what I would imagine Narnia looks like. Plus there is a zoo and aquarium + visitor center- which I would imagine Narnia does not have.