Start food prepping. Instead of packing Tupperware of full meals, start cooking or prepping foods you can use for the weeks' meals.
It's perfect because it allows more variety with meals - I'm not eating chicken, rice and zucchini for lunch each day. I can take a couple of my prepped foods and use them to make a bunch of different recipes. Here are the 5 foods I've been prepping lately:
1. Salads
Get a tub of mixed greens from the store, bell peppers, onions, grape tomatoes and maybe some berries. Cut up the bell peppers and onions so they're prepped for the week. The cut up onions can come in handy for other meals. I use mustard and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette as a dressing.
2. Crockpot Chicken
4 chicken breasts, 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1 onion soup packet. I cook this all and separate it out into 3-4 oz portion size containers. It will make about 6-8 servings depending on the size of the chicken breasts. BOOM! Now you have your protein cooked to add to any meal.
3. Roasted Veggies
Use the cut up onions and bell peppers and add in some zucchini and sweet potato. Roast them with some olive oil and you can add this veggie dish to your meals during the week. You can make onions and zucchini on the skillet withe the leftovers later.
4. Spaghetti Squash
If you haven't gotten an instant pot by now, stop what you're doing. Go to amazon. Order a 3 quart for $50. Saves your life with spaghetti squash. Literally takes a max of 15 minutes to cook a squash vs. the 5 years it takes in the oven. And who wants to use their oven in the summer time??? Yea, no one.
5. Green Beans
I LOVE green beans. Sauté onion and garlic and throw in the beans to steam. I drizzle Braggs Aminos on top.
Honestly, everything else you prep is pretty easy. Oatmeal takes a minute. Greek yogurt is already pre-packaged in a little cup for you. Rice can be thrown in the rice cooker and be done in 30 minutes. Protein shakes and bars come in handy to hold you over from crossing into the hangry zone. Eggs take 5 five minutes - and you can prep some hard boiled eggs. Pizza takes 5 minutes to order...jk lol...kinda.
Eating healthy doesn't just happen on its own. You have to make it happen and that means planning ahead. Knowing what you're going to eat for each meal and snack saves time, money, and most importantly, keeps you in charge of your nutrition and calorie intake. Meal prepping isn't for everyone, so try food prepping to make it simple and easy to eat nourishing, whole foods.