Meal planning made easy: What to do on a weekly basis
Sometimes you can find yourself not knowing what to eat during the evenings. After a long day at work the last thing you want to do is cook a big meal that takes a long time. So make it easier on yourself by following the the little bits of meal planning advice below.
Batch cook and store in the fridge
When batch cooking you want to cook for half of the week. This will make sure that the food you’ve cooked doesn’t go off by the end of the week. The food that you’ll be cooking are the foods that take longer to cook and that you’ll be eating more than once. I usually cook sweet potatoes or other carbs and some protein source. This enables you to put together a meal of a quick salad whenever you’re feeling hungry.
5 ingredient salad
The salad includes:
- 2 source of protein (1 plant based one meat based)
- 1 source of carbs
- 2 sources of vegetables
- oil and seasoning
When you have your protein and carbs already batched cooked. All you have to do is cut them up and through them in a bowl. Along with 2 sources of veg (make sure 1 is green) and lastly add some olive oil and some seasoning for taste.
This sort of meal gives you all the nutrients needed for an evening meal, lunch or even a post workout meal. It can be made in less than 15 minutes. With no cooking involved because you’ve batch cooked you can be eating as quick as possible.
Prep for half the week at a time
I believe preparing for half the week keeps your meal plan interesting. If you eat the same food every day. It can get tiring and boring. The other benefit you get from peeping for only half the week is that the food won’t go off by the time you want to eat it.
Meal planning to keep thing interesting
Writing a plan so you know what you’re going to eat at lunch and at the end of the day is crucial. To make you stop worrying about food. Because the worse thing about food is working about what you’re going to make. It can stress people out all day. Keep a book to write in so you know what to buy at the shop and what you’re going to make for the week.
As a personal trainer you get days when you’re out early in the morning and home late at night. Having to cook a meal at 9:30pm when all you want to do is go to bed is horrible. This is where meal planning makes it so much easier.
You learn to do things differently and therefore you get to know what foods go easily together and how long they stay fresh for in the fridge. Some people might relate to the early mornings and late nights, so some of these ideas will be great for you.
Start giving these a try and let me know how it goes.