Why I Meal Prep (and a Sugar Free Diaries update)

Hi Friends! Today I’m going to talk to you about one of my favorite things – meal prep! When I graduated from college and started working full time, I was hit with a harsh reality: working full time leaves you very few hours in the day to work out, cook, clean, and spend time with friends and family. I have to pack my lunch every day and T and I like to eat dinner at home on weekdays, so that is three meals a day I needed to provide for myself and two meals a day for T (he eats out with coworkers for lunch).

This seemed very overwhelming. For a few weeks I had the intention of cooking a home cooked meal every night but things always got in the way. A meeting would run late, I’d have an appointment after school, or a friend would invite me to hang out, and before I knew it I’d get home late and end up ordering take out for dinner and throwing together a peanut butter sandwich for lunch the following day. Not. Good.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” – Benjamin Franklin

I realized that because I wasn’t prepared, I was wasting a lot of money and wasn’t eating as healthy as I would like. Enter meal prep.

I started off small and just start prepping our breakfasts. On Sundays, I prepped smoothie bags and made breakfast sandwiches to freeze for the week. Then I started on lunch (I started with these mason jar salads) and dinner. Meal prep quickly became my best friend.

When I shared my meal prep on social media, I got countless questions from friends and family members about how I do it. I realized that everyone is just as busy as I am and meal prep would benefit a lot of people. So, I decided to talk more about meal prep on the blog. I am going to start posting tips and tricks that I am learning as well as recipes that T (big meat eater) and I (mostly plant based eater) both like or will accommodate both of us. I have been meal prepping for almost three years now, and I’ve learned a lot that I want to share with you!

I have seen a lot of you are starting Whole 30 in January and I think meal prepping is an easy way to stay on track! Meal prep is for anyone who works full time but wants to eat healthy AND be able to workout or have a social life after work. It’s for the busy stay at home mom who has a million errands to run and kids to take care of and doesn’t have time to make three meals a day for her entire family. It’s for the college student who is trying to juggle studying, eating healthy, and having a social life. Basically, meal prep is for anyone who wants to eat healthy but doesn’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen each day.

I created a Pinterest group board just for meal prep recipes and tips. If you would like to follow the board or be a contributor, you can find my Pinterest profile here. Before I start sharing my tips for being a successful meal prepper, I want to share a few things you might need to get started:

1) Meal Prep Containers – you will be storing and (maybe) reheating your food in these  so you will want to get some good (BPA free) containers

2) A refrigerator large enough to store food in

3) A few hours every weekend

Really, that’s it. It’s easy! Stay tuned for my first food prep blog post next week!

Sugar Free Diaries Update:

I know I haven’t done a Sugar Free Diaries update in a while but I promise I’m still going strong! I felt like posting each month might be a bit boring (if you liked the monthly posts, please tell me and I’ll continue them) so I decided to switch to an update every few months.

The holidays were hard. Very hard. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a few slip ups, but they were only on the actual holidays. On Thanksgiving, I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with my sugar free apple crumble. On my birthday I had a chocolate bar, and on Christmas I had some Christmas cookies. I will say though, even though there were a few slip ups, I ate SIGNIFICANTLY less sugar than I would on a normal year.

It showed me how much sugar is consumed during the holidays not only on the actual holiday, but also on the days SURROUNDING the holiday. There was still so much sugar in the days leading up to Christmas I had to turn down, but I still consider the holiday season a success and will refocus myself for January and onward. I have a sugar free Pinterest boards with healthy desserts and sugar alternatives. If any of you had resolutions to cut out sugar for the New Year, please let me know!