Recently I detailed the beginning of my healthy living journey. One of the things that I mentioned was that I will be implementing healthy meal prep to assist in my weight loss. At about a week or so into this journey, I can say that this meal prep has been one of the best decisions that I have made. The best part is that it is now only healthy, but simple. I don’t have to think about lunches and snacks during the week. Meal prep can seem intimidating, but I promise, it is so easy and you can do it too!
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Healthy Meal Prep For Weight Loss
Before starting my healthy living journey, meal prep really intimidated me. I have never been good about keeping to a meal plan or schedule. I have tried in the past to make a monthly menu, then a bi-weekly one, and I never stuck to them. I did pretty well with freezer meals for a while but never kept up with that either.
Doing a healthy meal prep flat out intimidated me though. I kept thinking, what if I decide I don’t want these meals? What if I get bored with this food? And of course, there is the fear that it will all go bad before I eat it! With all that thinking aside, I did decide to just try it. I decided on one week’s worth of food. That way, it would all get eaten, and I could do something different the next week!
Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep
I started with the first and most important meal of the day, breakfast! I am not a big morning eater. If I could just survive on coffee alone until lunch, I would but that is terribly unhealthy! So I decided that my best bet was to prep up some super healthy smoothies!
I got some frozen fruit, a bag of spinach, and some Chia seeds and separated everything out into individual bags. Those went into the freezer. In the mornings, all I have to do is add some almond milk and yogurt into the blender with my baggie and blend! I did end up adding in some banana some mornings as well to make the smoothie a little sweeter.
These smoothies were so easy, super tasty, and can really be customized any way you want! I will totally be making more of them when my basket is empty again
Healthy Snacks
Next, I prepped up my snacks! I got these really great meal prep containers from Amazon for pretty cheap and started making my healthy meal prep snacks! For my snacks, I decided on fruit! This would be a good easy snack, and would help keep my sweet tooth at bay! I really found that I am more likely to eat the fruit if I clean it, cut it, and prep it into trays all at one time. That way I can just grab a tray and eat it instead of cleaning and cutting every time. My daughter and son loved these as well! The fresh fruit ended up lasting a good week, and nothing went bad!
Healthy Lunch Meal Prep
Lunch was the last venture into my first week of healthy meal prep. I was going to cook an entire chicken in my slow cooker, separate it out, and use that as my protein. Unfortunately, the grocery store was totally out of whole chickens the day I went! So, I ended up going with eggs instead. My lunches consisted of boiled eggs, broccoli, and sweet potatoes. I was actually really impressed with these lunches. They were filling enough, and I didn’t feel gross and bloated after eating them. Plus I loved being able to just grab one and go.
Healthy Dinner Meal Prep
So I decided not to prep my dinners. The reason behind this is sometimes my husband has to unexpectedly work late. Things come up and dinner plans get changed. Although I did not prep them up, I did make a 1-week meal plan that ended up working very well. It was pretty flexible too, allowing for the unforeseen circumstances that come up (often). Basically, I just focused on lean protein, a salad, and a cooked vegetables. For dinner time, I have been trying to avoid starch and carbs, and so far so good!
What Do You Do?
I think for my first week, I did a pretty good job with my healthy meal prep! I would love to hear what you do as far as meal planning and meal prepping. New ideas would be a huge help to keep me motivated in this healthy living journey. Bonus points if they are kid-friendly ideas!
Jessi is the creative mind behind The Coffee Mom, a popular blog that combines parenting advice, travel tips, and a love for all things Disney. As a trusted Disney influencer and passionate storyteller, Jessi’s authentic insights and relatable content resonate with readers worldwide.
I have been meal prepping lately and I love how simple it is to just grab a container and go! I don’t do dinners either for the same reason as you! My meal prep for lunches are rotisserie chicken, corn & sweet potatoes!
Ug, I have no motivation for meal prep. I think I’m going to do it, and I get all excited in my mind, but it’s tax season, I’m a bookkeeper, and it’s not going to happen. I feel so guilty about it too, because I buy all those individually wrapped pre-cut fruits and veggies that are terrible for the environment. We started Hello Fresh too… Which also seems pretty terrible for the environment, but at least my husband and son eat cauliflower now. 🙂
I feel ya! I always ended up not following,through for,the longest time. I’m also sure you are crazy busy and will be for a while! Hello Fresh is really a great option too, I love them even if you are right about all the packaging
These are all great tips. I totally used to do all of this, it just made my day easier, when it came to picking and choosing what to eat. I just grab and go! I need to get back into the habit of this.
Your meals and snacks look very appetizing. If a plan is going to work it has to satisfy and your meals look great to start.
I have yet to see a meal prep this good! I always see the the generic chicken and rice recipes, but I am tired of eating the same thing each day. These look refreshing and a nice change of pace. I’ll be incorporating these in my meal prep. Thanks xx
I really need to do a better job at meal prepping. Especially for dinner time. Next week I will grill some chicken.
Meal planning is something that I have yet to master but I’m trying! It’s perfect for making sure that you’re eating healthy and that you never miss meals too!
I’ve been meal planning for a while now, when I don’t do it everything goes to hell. One thing I haven’t tried has been meal prepping, like you were, I am intimidated by it. At least in large batches as such. I do prep some of my hubby’s lunches but I never thought to also do it for myself. I think this is something that I am going to have to look into doing. I admit I’m not a breakfast eater so a smoothie would be the way to go. I love that you prepped them in advance. I think I am going to start doing that too.
The hardest part for me eating healthy is how much time it can take. The only way to do it consistently is by prepping as much as possible!
Your smoothie prep bags are genius! I wish I had enough freezer space for that as it’s totally something I do. I generally prep my lunches but not snacks or dinners. I should do snacks!
I was focusing on meal prepping this week, too! I like having a general idea of not only what I’ll make, but also when I’ll make it. Seems weird, but there have been times when I’ve cooked dinner early in the day just to have it done when I have the time…planning my day like that really helps me feel less rushed and stressed
I love having fruits as snacks that’s why I stock up on a lot of them. It’s really healthy and it’s super yummy too! I think these are great ideas for meal prep!
Thank you! Yes fruit always makes it happy and helps with my sweet tooth
for me, the key to weight loss has always been meal prep. I love those containers. They’re so easy to keep everything together and fresh!
Meal prep has been key for me as well
I am not a big morning eater and usually skip out on breakfast which I know is bad for me and I need to do something to change that! I like the idea of prepping meals beforehand to encourage healthy eating in advance.
I’m the same way girl, I am not a morning eater lol I had to make myself start having breakfast but the smoothies have been the best
Meal prepping is so important. I can lose so much more weight/fat when I do this. Otherwise, I am more apt to skip breakfast or grab something quick for lunch!
Meal prep always really intimidates me, but to be honest, I’m already pretty good at freezing bags of fruit for smoothies, so I’m a third of the way there!!
Weekly meal prep is 100% the way to go, in my opinion. When you’re single, it’s a little bit easier to plan out longer stretches of time, but a week is perfect for me when I’ve got work and the kids to think about. It’s all about getting into the habit!
I think this is a smart this to do! the more prepared you are the more successful you will be
I’m the worst at meal prep. I do try to keep healthy options in the house so I have things to grab for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I also make dinner that will last me for a couple of days or that I can take for lunch. I need to get better a finding snack options though since I tend to either not eat snacks at all or graze.
I meal prep every single week without fail. It helps that my husband is totally on board with meal prep Sun and healthy eating.
I was just talking to my daughter and her boyfriend about prepping meals. It helps me keep my weight loss on track.
Lately I’ve been pretty terrible with meal prep. I think once baby arrives and I have some more energy it will be much easier for me. I’m actually looking forward to it!
Those are a bunch of healthy foods! Kudos to mommies who are really into selecting healthy food for their families.
I have these containers. They really help with portioning out leftovers so we can have healthy lunches prepped and ready.
Having meals prepped makes such a difference in our home. We are a busy family and if I don’t have a plan I usually opt for something easy, even if it’s not the best choice.
Well, this is such a great idea! Time is precious and this idea will let us save precious minutes in our lives! Awesome!
The growing pains of meal prepping. I tend to do a lot of meal preps with the assistance of Pinterest. On Saturday evenings I search for new meal ideas, and then on Sunday, buy the ingredients, and prep most of the meals then. It truly does help and work out for me to do the research in advance as I hate eating the same meal for more than 2 days.
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