As the Summer moves on and the Winter rolls in, soon those that worked hard for that Summer body may start to store those winter pounds. Here are my personal tips on Meal Prep and maintaining that positive weight as a lifestyle and not just as a seasonal goal. Taking the time to do meal prep for the week is a great way to save money, time, and to keep you from eating out as much.
The first thing you need to do is figure out the best day to prepare for your week. Other factors that need to be considered are which meals are you planning for, your grocery list, and tupperware containers. Make sure the containers has enough room for a 4 to 5 oz (fist size) protein portion (chicken or turkey patty), a section for your veggies, you can’t forget a section for your good carbs and finally make sure the containers are freezer safe. Determining which meal you are prepping for is going to aid in your grocery list. So you will need a prep time of about 2 hours once you have all ingredients in the kitchen and ready to cook.
Here is a list of foods that you are going to need:
~Chicken(skinless and boneless is best but not the end of the world if it isn’t)
~ground turkey 1 to 2 lbs (depending how many meals you are prepping for)
~canned or fresh tuna,
~fish is a great choice but doesn’t heat up too well in the microwave so it is definitely your choice (even if it is cold that would be a great salad topper)
~dark green veggies include the following: Spinach, kale, bok choy, broccoli and collards.
~Other veggies that are fine to use are green beans, squash, mushrooms, asparagus, zucchini, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, carrots, bell peppers (all colors), and cucumbers.
~Dark greens lettuce; red leaf, mixed spring greens, kale, green leaf, romaine NO ICEBERG lettuce. (Iceberg holds no nutritional value, its like drinking water and no vitamins)
~Good carbs such as quinoa, brown rice, baked yams, and lentils.
~A carton of eggs that are to be boiled to have as snacks, breakfast, and go with salads.
Note: When prepping for salads make sure that you only do it for 3 days and to pack the dressing separate otherwise it will be soggy and you don’t want to end up throwing any of it away.
You want to make sure that you grill, bake, or boil. No frying! When seasoning try and stick to sea salt, ground pepper, and Mrs. Dash season’s are really good. Cook with lemons, limes, fresh garlic and onion to add additional flavoring. No butter, margarine or dairy based salad dressings. If you want to use a marinade be careful of the ingredients you don’t want to be adding extra calories. There are great recipes on homemade salad dressings without all the added calories.
An idea for the ground turkey is to make them into patties it is easier to measure and know how much you are eating. One pound of ground turkey should make about 4 to 5 patties. Yams take quite a bit of time to cook so you could throw a few of those in the oven first since it will be about an hour and a half. Small or big yams will work but if you do the big ones you will need measure the amount so that you are eating the serving size. For all of the food use the serving size suggestion I wouldn’t be mad about extra veggies though! LOL
Once the food is all cooked, line up the containers and simply add the three components: protein, veggies, and good carbs. Investing in a scale would be great but if not there are ways around that and you still get the correct portion. Palm size is great to determine the amount of protein and good carbs you should be eating. So picture a plate, on half the plate should be your veggies, on the other side cut that half, in half for the amount of protein and good carb you should be eating in one sitting. If you don’t want to freeze any meals then don’t make more than 4 to 5 days worth of food. Even meal prepping for 3 days a week can still save money and time. Each container will serve as one meal it is your choice as to which meal you choose it to be. Also half of what is in the container would be able to serve as a snack as well. Get some small containers so that you can snack prep as well.
Planning your food for the day with meal prep will help you not to over eat and hold you accountable of the foods you are eating. I would love to see your meal prep pictures and ideas so please hashtag #curvychickmealprep!
I hope this finds you in good health, if not then I hope meal prep helps get you there.
Charity Lynette, Curvy Chick Fitness
Twitter: @curvychickfit
Instagram: @curvychickfitnessoffical
Photos by Lush Photos
Kitchen provided by Hip Hop Legend, Roxanne Shante
