meal prep

plan each week

Intentionally stocking your refrigerator, pantry, and freezer with nutritious foods provides healthier options when the craving for a snack or meal hits.

Preparing quick healthy meals and snacks will become less of a hassle when you have nutritious ingredients at your fingertips.  Once your fridge is cleaned and organised you will soon realise how much easier it is to grab a few ingredients and whip something up

It is a good idea to pick a day and time each week that fits in with your schedule for you to do your meal prep. It may be easier to plan what your going to prep. Start by looking at what ingredient you have on hand, what you can easily pick up and what type of meals you want to be eating for that week.

It is also a great idea to work out what fruits and vegetables are in season, as this is when they taste their best and are selling at the best price. Figure out what you can create and cook that is in season will save you money and time searching for it!

I like to meal prep on a Saturday or Sunday, depending on clients I have or my kids sports. I usually am looking at what I can make, with hubby’s help, and we try to make meals for at least 2 nights/dinners, for the busiest days of the week.

I am all about healthy habits. Having things that we do as a daily routine means we are being consistent in our health and self care. When we implement food prep and planning each week, we take control of what we are eating and how we feel.

Being organised also means you enjoy your meals more because you don’t have to stress or worry about what your eating or what to cook each day.

Step 1 Start -

Get yourself a meal planner either a downloadable one such as this one, or grab one from your fav stationary store! Another option, one that alot of my Improve Yourself Cleanse clients use, is the Plan to Eat website or app.

Ask family members if they would pitch in cooking, one of the weeknights! This is a great option to not only take the pressure off of cooking every night, but it also helps improve other family members cooking skills. I know that when my kids move out of home, they have learnt the foundations of how to cook for themselves.

Step 2 -

Planning your meals can be fun because you can get excited about your meals, take the ‘chore’ away from cooking!

Make sure your meal plan provides easy-to prepare recipes and make your weekly meal plan suit you and your family, your budget and your time commitments.

Step 3 -

Create a designated meal prep day. I shop at the Farmers Markets on Saturday mornings, so Saturdays work best for me. Saying that, we also do a some on Sundays too, or if we are too busy on Saturdays. I believe that if you have a designated day, you are more likely to stick to it each week, creating a locked in habit, and making your upcoming week organised.

Step 4 -

Get your fridge and pantry clean and organised! This is my fav thing to do BECAUSE I then know what is in my fridge and pantry, I can write out a list (or keep it in the notes section on my phone) anything that is needing to be replaced or topped up, I suggest putting all the healthy produce and snacks at the front of the fridge and pantry where you can see them and any ‘unhealthy’ foods hidden at the back.

I would also like to add, that if you don’t have many ‘bad sugary foods’ or ‘unhealthy’ food in your home, you take out the temptation to eat it!! When we get a craving for something sweet, we know we have to go into the kitchen and make ourselves something. It means we are more likely to eat some fruit or nuts because we don’t have the packets of chips and blocks of chocolate to indulge in. Remove temptation!

Step 5 -

You don’t have to create involved, detailed meals. Healthy eating can be as simple as a salad or veggies and some grilled fish in home made crumbing. Choose meats and seafood that can be grilled or pan fried quickly and pair with one a healthy and simple salads or vegetable dish and some healthy fats like avocado etc.

Step 6 -

Sometimes you won’t have time to prepare full meals during your allocated prep session. This is where you can prepare certain ingredients that you can have in advance. Spend some time making things such as, big dry crunchy salad with a separate home made dressing, Cook some sweet potato or pumpkin in coconut oil and add some Himalayan salt and herbs and pop in sealed container. Chop vegetable sticks and have then in sealed glass jars, make some hummus and guacamole for snacking, adding as salad dressing or popping on top of rice crackers with salad. Cook up a cup of brown rice and quinoa and when cooled pop in sealed glass container to add to your weekday meals, such as salads, curries, soups etc

Step 7 -

If time permits, plan to make enough for dinner to use in leftovers for lunches the next day or the day after. This saves time and money. Whenever prepping for meals, think cook once, eat twice, whenever possible!

Step 8 -

Fresh is best! I cannot say this enough!! Meet the people at the local farmers markets, get food delivered from local fresh growers or join a co-op!! You will notice a difference in how long it lasts and how much better it tastes!

Need more help ?

If meal prep, or creating healthy meals each night has you overwhelmed, then you may need the help and support from a Nutrition + Health Coach. To see more of the online health packages offered click here or maybe you would prefer one on one support so you have some accountability and can reach your goals - click here

Meal Prep Ideas

Nut butter

Choose what ingredients you want in your nut butter. You can choose the common ABC spread, almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts or you may want to make up your own combo.

Try to pick organic.

So many nuts to choose from! Or, go for seeds!

Ok this is super easy, are you ready?

You can either make your nut butter with raw nuts, roasted nuts or activated nuts.

Either use a food processor or high-speed blender to blend and create a creamy, delicious nut butter. Be prepared to watch and wait for the nuts and or seeds to turn to butter. Sometimes it can take 10 - 15 minutes, depending on the quality and speed of your blender.

You can add ingredients towards the end of the processing. Options are flax seed, hemp seeds, chia seeds, dash vanilla bean paste. (Personally and because we make them so often, we just use nuts and it always tastes great)

If you have digestive issues, roast your nuts and remove skins before blending or better yet activate them first.

Add the nut butter to your smoothies, to your coconut yogurt bowl or as a healthy satay sauce. Lot’s of options.

Juice & smoothie prep

Meal prepping for smoothies and or juices can save time, money and keep you super organised! When preparing other meals you can chop up the foods for your smoothies or juices. You do however need to freeze them if you plan on not using them for a few days.

Green smoothies are the ultimate in Fast Food. They’re nutritious, easy to make and the benefits are endless.

Its best to use jars or silicone pouches, but if your worried how jars will go in the freezer snap lock bags work well and can be laid flat.

Place your fruit, vegetables, dry ingredients, powders, and greens etc and seal well. Add to freezer.

When making the smoothie or juice the night before, store your drink in a glass container with an airtight lid. Fill the container to the very top to prevent air from being trapped in the container as air will oxidize the nutrients in your smoothie (oxidizing degrades the nutrients in your smoothie, making it less nutritious.) Seal your container tightly and store in the refrigerator. Add lemon juice to your smoothie or juice. The extra vitamin C will also help prevent oxidation.

home made granola

• 2 cups almonds

• 3/4 cup pecans

• 1 cup sunflower seeds

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds

• 1/2 cup cashews

• 1 tbsp cinnamon or 1 drop doTERRA cinnamon essential oil

• 1 tsp ginger or 1 drop ginger essential oil

• 1 tsp cardamom

• 1/2 tsp allspice

• 1/2 cup honey, or maple syrup

• 2 tsp vanilla ebean paste

Place your nuts and seeds (individually, one type at a time) in a food processor. Pulse until they've been chopped to a medium (not too fine) texture.

Place the nuts and seeds into a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to your mixing bowl and use your hands to mix together thoroughly.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the granola mix evenly between the two pans in a single, flat layer.

Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir the granola. Rotate your pans when you place back in the oven. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, being careful not to burn the granola. (Note: It can quickly go from golden to burned within a minute, so keep an eye on it. It won't look any different when it's done baking and will still be soft - that's fine. It will harden once it cools.)

Once cooled pop into glass jar sealed well. Add to the top of your smoothie bowls, or with your yogurt, or add some flax seeds and quinoa flakes and make a bircher muesli.

Storing greens

When I get my greens home, I wash them in apple cider vinegar and doTERRA lemon essential oil, rinse, spin in salad spinner or leave to dry on towel. Then i pop a couple of paper towels in the bottom of a glass container, lay the greens in and then lay another piece of paper towel on top.

I like to use the pyrex glass containers because the size I like fits well in my fridge.

Spiral Vegetables

If you haven’t already invested in a spiraliser and you love your vege’s, you may want to consider getting one. Having some root vegetables and zucchini spiralised, popped into a sealed glass jar with paper towel into the fridge ready to go.

When your ready to use, add to a pesto, or a home made red sauce, or even fry in coconut oil and herbs.

Sweet Potato Toast

Sweet potato toasts are getting popular at the moment and the exciting thing is, it isn’t about bread!

Place sweet potato slices in a toaster and toast until golden and tender (this may take 2-3 cycles). Alternatively coat them in some oil and roast in oven. They come out great when you slice them in toast size, longways.

There are lots of different topping ideas, from smashed avocados to a bruschetta mixture!

Cooked Grain & Legume

Cook and prepare a grain or legume dish to be used throughout the week. Options maybe lentils, chickpeas, brown rice, quinoa, millet etc.

Once cooled, add to glass jar and add to meals throughout the week.

We usually have brown rice made, ready to add to salads, curry’s or stir-fry vegetables

Roast Veges

Roast veges are a great meal prep that can be turned into different meals. Eat them as is, for dinner, blend them into soup, slice them thinly and add egg and create a frittata. Add salad greens and a healthy dressing and you have a nice salad.

Choose your fav vege’s but also add some vegetables you wouldn’t normally eat. Try adding some tomatoes, or olives, fresh or dried herbs and a big chunk of virgin coconut oil to boost the flavours.

Making up salad dressings and jars of cut vegetables makes meal time super easy plus when you open your fridge and see it in there neatly stacked you are alot more motivated to grab and go or eat!

Chopping up some cabbage and place in container, use spiraliser for carrots and zucchini. Have a go at making a guacamole and hummus to eat at snack time.

I usually put a paper towel in the bottom of my glass containers to keep the vegetables fresh.

Snacks

For vegetable sticks to last and stay fresh, use previous pickle or olive jars, chop the vegetables into sticks, place in jar and fill with filtered water.

When you get hungry in the afternoon, it is so easy to grab a few out and dip into some nut butter, hummus or guacamole.

So many benefits of eggs and having them to snack on in the afternoon can be very satisfying!

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), which helps your body to break down food into energy, Vitamin B12 (cobalamin), vital for producing red blood cells, Vitamin A (retinol), which is great for your eyesight, Vitamin E (tocopherol), which fights off the free radicals.

Meal prep should make feeding yourself and your family easier. It gives you a head start on the week, and helps you feel more in control of what you’re eating and how you’re spending your time.

For those who think eating healthy is way too expensive, think again. Meal prepping will save you money because you can buy items in bulk and take advantage of your freezer. When you set aside time to prep your food, think big in terms of volume. 

Don't be scared to buy a few kilos of chicken instead of one. You can cook 1 - 2 kilos at a time if you want to, and freeze the rest so it will always be ready to defrost.

You can freeze fresh herbs, baked egg cups and cooked turkey meatloaf. Always stock up on staples when they're on sale, such as olive oil, spices , mustard etc. Not only will cooking your own food save you money; it will save your waistline as well.

Glass & Silicone Containers

Here is a list with links attached where I buy more environmentally friendly and good quality glass & stainless steel containers, jars etc