Preppy Foodie

So this is where the phrase ‘Fail to prepare, Prepare to fail’ seems like the obvious quote. In reality, using my precious weekend to prepare for the week ahead is nothing short of a pain in the backside. Who wants to give up their free Sunday to spend it in the kitchen. Especially if you can be out for a lovely Sunday walk with Milo! So at this stage of my healthy journey I think I have established a routine that works for me.

1. Sit down and plan ahead. Usually before we head out to get the food shop, we make a rough plan of what we are going to eat for the coming week. I actually believe this has been my saviour. I always hate coming home from work not knowing what I was going to make for dinner. Or having to stop at the shop on the way home, to then proceed to cook the food. In general my day to day foods don’t change drastically, so the only meal that needs consideration is dinner time. We fill out the weekly planner and hit the shops.

Dinner menu for the week!

2. Make the food list, get to the shops and get the food in. As I have said before, this is the part I really hate. Over the past number of weeks we have been out on a Friday night to do the food shop (clearly we are total party animals!). But lets be realistic, unless you are heading for a night out on the tiles, you are probably sitting in with the TV. Why not ditch the TV and be more efficient with your time. That is my mentality at least.

3. Ok food is in. Ready to prep. I keep this as simple as possible. In general we make one big dish for the week. Things like Supermice, Chicken Tikka, Bean Stew etc are the usual’s. We make enough for two dinners, one we will have early in the week and the other is frozen for later in the week.

Supermice, Sweet Potato and Green Salad

4. The next area of focus is lunch. I make a huge batch of soup. Because this soup needs to last between three to four days I only ever make vegetable, so as to not risk the possibility of poisoning myself. I am very cautious putting meat into my soup. I had a slight episode with some potato and leek soup, as I thought it was, turns out there may have been chicken in it (thanks mam!).

5. After that I do some separates. I will boil a big batch of basmati brown rice. Make some quinoa. Maybe chop some sweat potato and store in an air tight container, ready to be cooked. I will always hard boil some eggs. I love eggs and will have them either for lunch with my soup or as a snack in between meals.

6. Finally if I am feeling really energetic on my day off, I may make a healthy snack for the week. Things like energy balls, peanut butter bars, dark chocolate bark etc. Below are some of the healthy treats I have made to get me through the week. Not all weeks look like this, more often than not I graze on some corncakes, dates, fruit, eggs etc.

Hazelnut Brownie

Banana Protein Bars

Quinoa Seasame Snaps

Raw Brownies

Chocolate Bark, crack it up and have pieces ready to hit that craving!

The little green spoon: Quinoa snaps

Deliciously Ella: Raw brownies

Primal Piggy: Hazelnut brownie

Wellanicity: Chocolate Banana Protein Bars

That’s it, I don’t do a huge amount. This will usually take me a morning to get done, less again if himself is around, as he is a great little chef. He is actually better than me, as much as it pains me to admit! This system really sets me up for the week. Because I know what is on the menu each day it means I don’t need to think twice about it. Meaning I am less likely to trail off the healthy eating track!

Why not try some meal prep this week and see if it impacts your food choices. Whip up a batch of raw brownies and it may just stop you from diving into the chocolate!

Happy Eating

Milo & Me