Benefits of Food Prepping

In the past week, I’ve gotten more than my fill of turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn casserole. Was it delicious? HECK YES. And it was every single thing Thanksgiving should be.

But Thanksgiving is over which means that we’re quickly entering the days of Christmas cookies (and popcorn, and candy, and etc, etc, etc. #amiright?)

It’s times like these that I need all the help I can get when it comes to staying on track with a healthy diet.

This summer I discovered something that’s made a huge difference in my efforts to eat healthier: Food-prepping! It’s my game plan to stay (mostly) on track through this holiday season.

Here are the benefits I’ve learned from food-prepping in the past few months:

Time Savings

This mama over here will do almost anything to save some time – especially in the kitchen! I will be honest and say that it does take a little extra time up front to organize and complete food prepping, but I feel like it saves time in the long run. It eliminates the need to portion your snacks or cut them up when you’re already in a rush. Doing the work ahead of time, when you have time, eliminates the pain of trying to get things together when time is of the essence.

For instance, on Sunday evenings, I like to cook up a bunch of marinated chicken breasts to use on salads for the week. The chicken cooks while I’m making the Sunday evening meal for the fam (one of the few times I succeed at multitasking) and then I have cooked, chopped, and ready-to-eat chicken to throw on my salads every day that week for lunch. Viola!

Prepped Food Becomes More Convenient than Running Through the Drive Thru

There are few things I hate more than sitting in line at a drive thru and waaaaaiiiiiting. It’s the worst. But I’ll do it if I know I don’t have something quick and easy to whip up at home. Funny how that works, isn’t it? Suddenly waiting in a drive thru seems easier than trying to figure out what to eat and how to throw it together in my own kitchen.

Having food ready-to-eat or easy to throw together takes the guess work out of my meals. Grabbing a snack sized baggie of cut up broccoli and carrots with some veggie dip suddenly becomes easier than getting in my car, driving to the gas station, and waiting in line to buy a bag of chips to get my through my afternoon snack craving.

Food-Prepping Allows You to be in Control of Your Own Nutrition

If you’re trying to stay on track with a healthy diet, I feel like food-prepping is the tool that puts you in control. Portions are already measured and snacks and meals are already planned in advance. Most importantly, I feel like food-prepping allows you to stop asking yourself the same dreaded question: What am I going to eat today? 

Not to mention the fact that food-prepping eliminates any excuses for not eating healthy. How easy is it to open your fruit and veggies drawers and have already chopped up, pre-proportioned baggies ready for you to grab and go? (Plus, having these baggies all lined up and cute in my fridge just makes the OCD side of me extremely happy. 🙂 )

What my Food-Prepping Schedule Looks Like

Having made all of the points above, I feel like it might be beneficial to show you what my typical schedule/plan of attack is when it comes to food-prepping. I guarantee I still have room to improve or do things differently, but this is what I’ve learned so far:

On a perfect weekend, I take some time Friday/Saturday and plan out every meal for the week ahead. I’m going to be honest and say that meal planning can sometimes be tedious and excruciating, but also totally worth it. I recommend weekly to monthly meal planning to every busy mom!

Anyway, after meal-planning, I make a grocery list based on this menu, and try to hit up the local grocery store earlyish on Saturday. Basically I go earlier on Saturday so that the grocery-buying-errand is out of the way which makes the weekend more enjoyable. (You know what I’m talking about. Ha!)

Then I take about an hour Sunday evening while our main dinner dish is cooking and I get to work!

Here are a few things I prep on Sunday evening:

• Pre-marinated chicken that I cook, chop, and store for salads (I briefly mentioned this one earlier).
• Fresh veggies that I cup up and place in small baggies for grab-and-go snacks.
• Chopped up berries to go on top of my yogurt and granola in the mornings for breakfast.
• Any other fruits and veggies that can be rinsed and prepared so they’re ready to eat at a moments notice.
• Additionally, I try to think of anything else I can prepare in advance that will save me time over quick lunch hours and busy weeknights. Sometimes it’s as simple as doubling a casserole dish so that I can put half in the freezer as a back up for busy nights down the road.

And that’s basically all there is to it! Like I said, it can take a little planning and prep-work at the beginning, but getting all of that stuff out of the way allows you to make easier decisions when you’re in a time crunch down the road.

**As a final note on my food-prepping schedule, I have to give a shout-out to the hubs who washes up all of the pans, cutting boards, knives, and random other kitchen utensils I dirty while trying to prepare for the week each Sunday evening. He loves food-prep night. 😉

I’m all about balance. I love turkey, mashed potatoes, and Christmas cookies and you bet I’m going to indulge a bit and enjoy those things this holiday season. But I still try to stay on track the majority of the time, and food prepping has been an important part of getting me there. It makes my life so much easier and worry free.

How about you? What are your thoughts on food prepping?