Episode 23: Meal Prepping

Episode 23: Meal Prepping Episode Transcript With your Hosts Mary Preston & Keysa Amaro Hi everybody, welcome to The Real Life Wellness Podcast with Mary and Keysa. Where we talk about different ways to integrate healthier habits into your life. I am Keysa Amaro, and with me, as always, is Mary Preston. Mary, tell us a bit about yourself before we get deeper into today s topic. And I m Mary Preston, and I m a licensed psychotherapist and a life coach and I work with Mental Health Professionals who are experiencing burnout. I m Keysa Amaro, certified Health Coach, and I help ambitious moms get control of their food cravings by going beyond the nutrition to develop a healthy relationship with food and with themselves. Mary: If you have questions about any of our programs, the podcast, or anything about health and wellness, come join us in The Real Life Wellness Podcast with Mary and Keysa facebook group keysaamaro.com maryalycepreston.com

Keysa: Alright. On to our topic of the day, which is meal planning! I know, this is the podcast you have all been waiting for and are ready to jump right into meal planning! ;) Mary: We will talk about The benefits of meal planning How to develop efficient meal planning What happens if it isn t perfect Tips for efficient meal planning This topic is totally Keysa s jam and I m so excited that she gets to talk to you about meal planning! I know she s excited to share this information, so let s get started. Keysa, take it away! Keysa: What happens if you head out on a family vacation that you are super excited about, only to find out that you have planned nothing! You didn t reserve any airline tickets, you don t have any hotel rooms or a rental car. How do you think that vacation is going to go??? Probably isn t going to happen. Or maybe you set out on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park. Except you didn t look at directions, nor do you have a map or GPS with you in the car. How do you think that road trip will go? Are we there yet? comes to mind not only from the kids, but from your partner as well. How much longer do you think it would take to find Yellowstone without directions to get there then with directions? There are reasons we plan things. When we plan we make sure we have transportation, reservations, supplies, we are prepared. Planning ahead makes life a lot easier and run smoother. We plan vacations so we get to where we want to go, have a place to stay and are able to relax and have fun! We plan ahead so we don t waste time and money. My husband has a saying measure twice, cut once when it comes to home improvement projects. So, why am I talking about planning ahead? And what does this have to do with wellness? Well, Mary and I are going to be talking specifically about meal planning today. Yes, the dreaded meal planning!!!! Don t worry, we aren t going to be giving you lists of what to eat and what not to eat, and we are not giving you specific meals that you have to follow to a T. What we are going to be sharing with you are benefits that we have found and that many of our clients have found in meal planning, my process in meal planning, as well as some simple tips for you to follow to help you live that meal planning life. Why meal plan? (benefits) There are a lot of benefits to planning your meals ahead. You have nutritious food in your house to make meals You don t have to stop at the store every day to buy food to make for dinner You reduce your meals eaten out maryalycepreston.com keysaamaro.com 2

You re organized Control/reduces stress Save time Save money: A family of four roughly wastes $2275 of food a year! Reduces waste (throwing out food) Creates food awareness I wasn t always a meal planner. I have always been somewhat organized, but I didn t see the benefits in meal planning. I would head to the grocery store and buys what looked good. I would wander the isles, getting some healthy foods, but also meandering the chips, cookies, sodas, candy, and ice cream. And if I was especially hungry, I would end up with a ton of those foods that would get eaten on the way home to make dinner. I also would waste a lot of food. I would buy what looked good in the moment with no real plan as to what to do with it. So often fruit and veggies would go bad before I could make something out of them. I also would make frequent trips to the grocery store, which would add up. If you think about the time it takes to park, wonder around the store and then to check out, and multiply that by four or five. What if you only went to the store once or twice a week? And what if you only went to one or two stores? How much time do you think you would save? I started to plan out my meals because I wanted to save money and time. And this started to work! I was able to save time by not having to go to the grocery store everyday or every other day, and I was able to save money because the food I bought had a purpose...it was meant for a specific meal. I also learned how to optimize leftovers or use extra produce not needed for a dish by scrambling them with some eggs for breakfast. Now, I didn t get to where I am now over night. I started with little steps. I started planning three or four days and shopping twice a week versus four or five times a week. I then started making bigger meals in order to have leftovers. And so on. Different things will work for different people and there is no one right way to meal plan. All you need to do is start. Start with one meal if that s where you are. I wanted to share my steps in Meal Planning that I use each week. Steps to organized and Efficient Meal Planning 1. Schedule time for the meal planning, shopping, and cooking process: A lot of times you have intentions of meal planning and grocery shopping but it doesn t end up happening. This or that comes up and is more important, or you just forgot and now you are too busy. Well, this time you are going to plan it in and put it on your calendar. Make time and do it! Follow through. Once you get a routine down and you see the benefits of meal planning, then it will be a lot easier to make time to plan, shop and cook. 2. KIS(S): Keep it Simple Stupid. This is something that I have been working on lately. Your meals don t need to be Instagram worthy, professionally plated, or gourmet meals. They just need to taste good. And it doesn t take much for a meal to taste good. So, keep your recipes maryalycepreston.com keysaamaro.com 3

simple unless you are into cooking and have time to learn and create multiple elaborate recipes. 3. Collect recipes and ideas: Sometimes I will sit down to meal plan and nothing comes up. I am not craving anything specific, nor can I think of anything I d want to make and eat. For this, I ask my husband if he has any requests, which he does and they usually include bacon and steak. I also have a list of go to recipes that I can easily make. Over time I have a collection of cookbooks and blogs that I like to look at when I want to try a new recipe. Also, it s helpful to have a designated place to save your recipes. You can always print them out or photocopy and put in a binder, or save websites in a specific folder on your computer or phone. 4. Write down what you will eat for each meal a. You literally only need a paper and a pencil to write down what you are going to eat at every meal. You can draw a grid and write the days of the week along the side and breakfast, lunch, dinner (or whatever meals you eat) along the top. Fill in each grid with a meal. You can also google food templates or meal plan templates and find a bunch on the interweb. I will attach my template in the show notes for you. b. You can make large meals so you have leftovers. This is a great idea as it saves you time and leftovers are great for the next day s lunch or for when a quick dinner is needed. c. Look for ingredients you can use twice like onions, beans, chicken, etc. d. Take into consideration what you will be doing each day...will you be eating away from home for any meals? Do you need anything special for any meals? Will leftovers work best on some nights because you get home later? 5. Write a grocery list a. The average shopper spends 40% more when shopping without a list. That s a lot of money! Think of all of the money you could save by writing a list! b. I write my list on my phone in the notes and have it divided out by area, fruit, veggies, dairy, meat, and misc. Then, when I am shopping I can delete as I go. You can write a simple list with paper and pencil. You don t need anything fancy! 6. Go grocery shopping a. Shop with a purpose. Have a list and cross things off as you go. Once you are familiar with where things are in your grocery store, your shopping trips will become more efficient. 7. Pull out meal plan and follow accordingly a. Some people do all of their meal prep in one day. I like to do mine daily or every other day depending on leftovers. b. Sometimes I will make a quiche or an oatmeal bake for my husband for a quick breakfast in the morning. But otherwise, I cook roughly every other day for dinner. So experiment and see what works for you. 8. When you go to make your meal, pull out your meal plan and recipes and get cookin. a. Now that I have been meal planning and cooking for some time, I have go to meals that I don t need a recipe for and can just make by memory. 9. Put leftovers away in convenient containers and utilize them a. If they are for lunch the next day, put them in a container you can take with you. maryalycepreston.com keysaamaro.com 4

b. I used to waste a lot of food because I would forget about leftovers and by the time I noticed them they had a funky smell of something growing on them. Now, I plan leftovers into my meal plan. The night before I grocery shop is leftover night and I pull everything out of the fridge that needs to be eaten. Sometimes I get creative and can make a stir fry or a hash or scramble out of the leftovers and sometimes I just warm them up and set them out as is. If planning an entire week of meal and grocery shopping for all that food has you completely overwhelmed, do not worry! Start from where you are and choose two or three meals to plan for the week. Maybe meal planning is completely new to you, you can plan three meals for next week. See how that goes and then after a few weeks plan for 5 meals to cook at home. After that is doable, keep adding meals until you have all of your meals planned and covered. Wherever you are, you just need to start. Mary: Mary s lazy girl s guide to meal planning: Make your meal plan the same each week. Maybe substitute one or two ingredients. The more you do it, the better you get at it, and the less time and energy it takes. My lunch plan for the week, and I mean every week, is chicken with vegetables. On Saturday or Sunday, Nathan and I go grocery shopping. On my list every week goes, a whole chicken, a jar of salsa, and sweet potato. Sometimes I will get wild and buy some mushrooms or onions or peppers. Every Sunday, in fact, I just started my instant pot a little bit ago, I cut up the sweet potato, stir in any other vegetable I ve bought, put the chicken on top of the sweet potato, pour on the salsa and add some water if the salsa was really thick. (the instant pot needs more liquid). I set it to pressure cook for 25 minutes. I walk away. I let it slow release, and I pull it out and put it in tupperware for the week. I m a bit of a hippy so I also start up a round of bone broth after it s done using marrow bones and the chicken carcass, but we can talk about that another day. Same meal every week. Super easy. As for dinners, I look at the calendar before I go to the store. I decide how many meals we need, and I only buy enough for the meals. Then I write the name of the meal on the calendar of the day of the week we ll be eating it. Again, I m lazy. We make slow-cooker meals for almost every meal. We buy the ingredients for chili. I buy pre-chopped vegetables, because I am lazy. If it says chili on the calendar for Monday, on Monday morning either myself or my husband pull out the slow cooker, add the ingredients, give it a stir, and set it for 8 hours. Dinner is done when we get home. maryalycepreston.com keysaamaro.com 5

We plan a date night once a week, which either means we go out, we get take out, or we make something other than slow cooker meal. Keysa: 5 Tips for Efficient Meal Planning 1. Don t expect perfection: This is huge!!! I think often we go into meal planning as all or nothing. We have to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any snacks planned and prepared to a T. But I am here to tell you that that mindset will just be a setup for disaster. So, drop the perfectionist mindset and know that meal planning is a process and is not right or wrong. You will make a poor tasting meal, you will forget to get something at the grocery store, and plans will change. Expect this and go with the flow. 2. Take small steps: This ties into our first tip which is not expecting perfection. If meal planning seems overwhelming and daunting, then plan one or two meals for the week. Make a grocery list, shop and then make the meal on the day planned. Make enough for two meals and you will have another meal planned. Once you are comfortable with the two meals, add a couple more and so on until you are meal planning for the amount of meals you want. 3. Schedule in time: This is SO important. If you don t schedule it in, it won t happen, believe me. There are weeks that I over plan or have a huge project to complete and I use my meal planning time for other things. When this happens I end up rogue in the grocery store and come home with what I hope will make good tasting meals for the week. By scheduling in time for planning and grocery shopping, you are setting yourself up for success. 4. Plan ahead: This ties into scheduling in time. Plan ahead your meals that you are going to make for the week. Sit down and use a template to help you organize your meals. Use your plan to make a grocery list. This planning ahead will make your day to day operations so much easier and smoother. When you have groceries and recipes when you go to make your meal, your dinner turns out so much better then when you have no groceries or recipe. 5. Enjoy the process: Have fun meal planning and prepping. If it seems daunting to you, ask yourself how you can make it fun. Turn on some good music while you look through recipes and organize your meals. Get the kids involved. Ask them what they want and take them shopping with you to expose them to what they are going to be eating. Get them involved in the process and this will greatly increase your child s interest in eating the meal. I like to turn up the tunes when unpacking groceries (my least favorite part of the process) and cleaning out the fridge. Mary: Alrighty friends, that s all we have got for you today. Thanks for being awesome as always and listening in. maryalycepreston.com keysaamaro.com 6

Tune into our next episode where we talk about introversion. Even if you identify as an extrovert I encourage you to take a listen as you are bound to interact with introvert throughout your life. And by understanding introvert traits, you can develop healthy relationships with introverts. If you d like to know more about us, and if you have any questions or comments, head on over to our dedicated facebook group! You can also contact Mary at her website at www.maryalycepreston.com or Keysa at her website at www.keysaamaro.com! Keysa: If you know someone who you think would benefit from the information shared on our podcast, please share this episode with them! We want to extend our message to, and support as many people as possible, and we need your help to get our message out. We would greatly appreciate your help in reaching out to people who could benefit from our podcast. maryalycepreston.com keysaamaro.com 7