We have all heard that saying before. When trying to lose weight and make healthy food choices, planning and preparation is important. Meal and food planning consists of choosing what you will eat prior to needing to make it.
Below is an effective way to meal plan.
Make a list of:
· Two breakfast food options that you will make available for the week
· Two to three lunch options for the week
· Two snack options to have available to grab on the go
· What meals you will have for dinner each night that week. Write the meal on your calendar also so you don’t get off track.
You do not need to decide which breakfast, lunch, or snack you will have for each specific day, just what options you can choose from. It is important to determine what dinner you will have each specific night to keep preparation to a minimum.
After you have made this list, make your grocery list based on it. You can even utilize a grocery pick-up or delivery service so you do not face any temptation to buy foods off your plan just because you walk by them in the aisle.
Once you have your groceries, you can do your meal preparation. Meal prep does not need to be long or complicated.
Here are some tips for efficient food preparations:
· Before putting your groceries away, wash and chop all your fruits and vegetables. Store them in glass mason jars so they are ready to go for dinner prep, lunches, or snacks.
- Bonus: Fruits and vegetables last about twice as long in glass containers as they do in the plastic grocery containers.
· When you cook any meats, cook them for all your recipes for that week. For instance, if you are making a recipe on Monday that requires ground beef and Thursday’s recipe includes ground beef as well, cook all of it on Monday night. Then on Thursday, all you will need to do is complete the recipe.
· Crockpot meals can be compiled prior to the day you plan to use them and stored in a gallon sized plastic bag. They can be stored in the fridge or freezer. When you are ready to use them, simply empty the contents of the bag into the crockpot.
· At the start of the week, pre-portion all your snacks into plastic bags or containers. For instance, you can measure out single servings of almonds into bags or portion out cottage cheese and fruit slices into containers. This will make healthy snack options much easier.
Just remember, anything you can accomplish beforehand will improve your likelihood of success when your day gets busy!
For more information about treating obesity, visit www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
