Meal Prepping 101

Eliminate the stress and time of having to cook every single night by meal prepping!  It saves you time during the week and helps keep you on track with healthy eating!  Wether you are a student, you work full time or are a stay at home mom, it can be hard (I mean seriously impossible) to cook all of your meals at home every single day. This is where "Meal Prep" can quickly become your best friend! Without prepping your meals ahead of time you are most likely to eat junk food if you're too busy or on the go.

The amount of prep you do, depends on how much time you have to dedicate to prepping and your personal preferences.

I prep twice a week, Sundays and Wednesdays. I create a meal calendar depending on our schedule for the week and make a grocery list. I cut up all my fruits and veggies and precook all my meats (except fish and steak) and large meals like Meatloaf or Casseroles.

What the heck is Meal Prep??

It can mean different things to different people. For me it means cooking in bulk and creating grab and go snacks throughout my day. My most important prepped meal is lunch. I am a snacker and if I do not have a prepped ready to eat meal I will raid my pantry, fridge and pretty much munch on anything I can find. 

You may choose to prepare only lunches, grab and go snacks or all of your meals if you have the time. 
Chances are it will be a little bit of trial and error to get settled into a routine that suits your lifestyle and preferences. 

If you always find yourself rushing in the morning and your breakfast consists of a cup of coffee and a pop tart then prepping breakfast will help you. Or if you work late hours and have a difficult time cooking dinner on a nightly basis then maybe Dinner is where you start. 
There is no right or wrong. 

3 Days of Lunch

Before you Start

The first thing you need to do is invest in some good quality containers - these can be tupperware or glassware. Make sure they are microwave/oven safe and BPA free if you choose plastic. Also getting the same size containers will help you stack them and prevent having to play fridge Tetris. 
I prefer glass containers myself for large quantities and also have special 3 compartment containers for lunch that make it easy to separate and take on the go. 

Planning

The first thing you need to do is PLAN.

If you have never meal prepped before it is so easy to become overwhelmed!  Cooking for an entire week is a pretty big job and even the best of us can struggle with that. My best advice is to take it slow and sticking to a few days at a time to help you get you used to the process. Take a look at your weekly family schedule and plan a food calendar around it. 
I like to start with my proteins and create several meals around them. 
Chicken Breast for instance can be used for so many different meals and leftovers can be recycled into lunch the next day. Salads, Stir-fry, Tacos, Breakfast Omelets.. Oh the possibilities. 
As I mentioned before I like to prep on 2 different days. One of the reasons why I do this is because I don't want to have food spoil. So also keep in mind longevity in the fridge. Fish for instance I cook the day of so it is fresh, but Overnight Oats will stay good for a few days. 

Prepping

Grocery shop for the week. 

I love going to Farmers Market on the weekend and save on fresh produce. 

Now, how you choose to prep your meals is up to you. 
You can:1. Cook enough protein, veggies, starches to eat for the week 
(keeping these items basic will make them more versatile to use during the week)
This way you will get larger quantities of food and can put together meals everyday. 
OR
2.Cook several meals to generate enough to alternate for the week (five/six days of dinners) 
This way you will have pre packaged individual meals. 
OR
3. Cook your meals throughout the week based on your schedule and prep your breakfast and lunch the day before. If you know you will have time on Monday to cook dinner but not Tuesday then cook Monday and prep for Tuesday as well.  

Cooking 

1. Cut and Prep Fruits and Veggies (I do this while my protein is cooking) 
2. Cook as much of your protein that you would like to have for the week

• Grill chicken in bulk with a variety of seasonings to switch up the flavor during the week
• Use your crockpot!  Probably my favorite way or food prep. Meatballs or shredded chicken is a breeze. 
• Hard boil enough eggs for the week for a grab and go breakfast snack. 
• Roasting or grilling veggies in bulk.

3. Snacks- Separate in baggies and labeling them works best for me. 
My boyfriend goes to work when I stay home so I pre-pack his lunch and snacks the evening before and keep in a lunch bag in the fridge so he can just take it with him when he leaves at 6 am. (I am not awake enough to do it then) 4. Don't forget your Freezer! Pre-packing crock pot meals that you can freeze until you need it during the week is a life saver. Imagine having everything you need in a bag that you can just put in a crock pot when you go to work and have a delicious meal when you get home. 

Remember, do what works best for you!!!!

If cooking everything at once on Sunday is too much because that's your day to spend time with family, then divide your prep to two days, its what I do! 

I had to start somewhere and a little bit of meal prep is still better than none at all. Even if that is just chopping up a few veggies or grouping things in containers, you will feel so much better about cooking your food if you have it organized ready to go!

California Chicken Salad

Do you ever just have these cravings and you can't quite figure out how to satisfy it? You pretty much start eating everything in your fridge, your pantry, your snack drawer and then you are so stuffed but still have a hankering for something.

I felt like that recently and actually it was during Hurricane Matthew so we were working with a lot of food in the house since I stocked up on all my necessities.       

No worries the Hurricane did hit florida but central florida was lucky and we only had some rough winds and heavy rains for a few hours. 

Anyways, I decided to food prep the day before to make sure we had meals we could eat cold incase we lost power. One of the things I made was plain shredded chicken in the crock pot. I figured this could be eaten cold with a salad or turned into chicken salad with the help of some mayo and other items I had in the fridge.   

That is how this delicious Salad was born. I was on an epic eating rampage and decided to make this salad which helped quench my craving and save the day.                                         

The funny thing is that there was this meme going around and it described my mood perfectly. It was almost like my brain was in survival mode telling me that I had to eat because there is a chance that won't happen again if this Hurricane hit. I clearly don't have a survivalist brain because rationing would make more sense instead of gorging myself with all the food in my house.  So this salad came to be because lately I have been on a grape kick. I think I have been purchasing 2lbs of red grapes a week. This seemed to have started when I stopped drinking wine. I figure grapes are healthier. So all my fruit servings of the day are grapes. Frozen or cold doesn't matter. I also had this shredded chicken. Mayo and I am a really big spice and herb advocate. I believe in "the more the merrier" when it comes to seasoning food. There is just something about flavoring plain food and changing the taste just by adding some guilt free items like rosemary or tarragon.  So with just a few ingredients I made my new favorite lunch snack. Its simple to make and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. It really only lasted that one day and all 4 helpings of it were amazing. 

California Chicken Salad
aka "Hurricane Matthew Salad"

4 cups shredded cooked chicken (this was about 3 breasts)
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 cup chopped celery (optional)
2 cups halved seedless red grapes
3/4 cup Olive Oil Organic Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped Tarragon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper



Directions are simple... Combine in bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. 
Which in my case was immediately. 
I have to say however, the second and third serving were amazing after all the flavors came together while they were chilling (haha) in the fridge for a few hours. 

Core De Force - Marital Arts Program

AHHH New Workout!! 

Listen I am not really one to get excited over a workout program... Okay thats a bit of a lie, I get giddy every time something new comes out for me to try, BUT this is totally different than anything Beachbody has ever done.  This Program is based on MMA training !!! I have actually taken real MMA classes before and that stuff is NO JOKE! I had my butt handed to me by a 12 year old boy who was half the size I was. 
This is going to be amazing and I am excited to tell you more about it!

CORE DE FORCE is the first program from Super Trainers Joel Freeman and Jericho McMatthews. 

Here’s how it works: each workout is broken into 3-minute “rounds” — just like a real boxing match. In those 3 minutes you’ll alternate between addictive Boxing, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai-inspired combinations, bodyweight training, and cardio spikes that kick your fat burn into overdrive. But all that punching and kicking doesn’t just burn calories. Each move, whether it’s a jab or a knee, is rotational, giving you a 360-degree core workout that will tighten up your entire midsection. All you have to do is hit it hard 3 minutes at a time and before you know it — you’re done!

This program is for anyone who wants to lose the belly — whether you’re a beginner or you’re more advanced. There’s even a modifier in every workout and move breakdowns to help you master your hooks and kicks from the get-go.

CORE DE FORCE includes 4 MMA-style workouts, 2 bodyweight workouts, 2 core workouts, 1 active recovery workout, 1 quick before-bed stretch routine, a quick-start guide, a 30-day calendar, and an eating plan.  

This is going to be available late November so just in time to shed some of those Holiday lbs that I will be putting on! 

Im not myself when I am Hungry

Most days its great being an adult, but ever so often I wish I was a child and someone stood behind me mouthing "she's just hungry" when I am not in a fantastic mood. 

There is this strange phenomena that seems to occur when I am overdue for a meal.. its called getting HANGRY which is an amalgam of hungry and angry. I seem to get short tempered, moody and just outright grumpy. 
There are several other moods that my boyfriend has so eloquently named HANKY and HOODY.  
Let me explain..... 

So HANGRY is when anything and everything is irritating. It really doesn't matter who or what it is I am just irritated about it.. I would say this is the worst mood out of all three. This one pretty much is code red for -Get this girl fed STAT- 
HANKY is hungry and cranky. This particular mood is not so bad, well its not good, but its not Code Red. This one is when I stop caring and walk around with a look on my face that says don't talk to me. If you ask me a question I will most likely answer with "I don't care" and nothing anyone does will be pleasing me. 
HOODY, if you've caught on, is hungry and moody. If want to put these in order, this is the least threatening of the 3. I just am listless and quiet and don't have much to say which according to Pat this is a welcoming mood every once in a while.  Its still not a pleasant mood because I am pretty much useless when it comes to decision making and have this cloud of sadness following me around. If you imagine a sad lonely puppy sitting in the rain looking at you with those big sad eyes- yeah thats me when I am HOODY. 

Us HANGRY people never mean what we say or do, but it still doesn't count as a valid excuse to be a raging cranky pants.  You can accessorize and advertise your hunger issues with shirts, pillows and even necklaces which can serve as a fair warning to those poor schmucks caught in our cross hairs. 

If you're not sure wether or not you fall into any of these aforementioned categories there are some telltale signs that you are one of us. 
Have you ever felt perfectly fine one moment and then instantly been catapulted to the hunger pit of doom??  At that point its on and you need a meal.

Ever sat down on the floor next to the fridge and eaten cold mashed potatoes out of the container with your hands? Locate all the snack food in your house, eat it all, have a 20 minute sugar high and regret it for the rest of the day?? You're so hungry the only thing that can possibly satisfy you is potatoes topped with pasta topped with rice smothered in butter?? Once you finally get food, there’s never enough time to eat it. You’ve got to get it in your face and people wonder if you've either been in prison or starved your entire life??  You are definitely a HANGRY person.

So why does this happen?? How come we get in strange moods from lack of food? 
Well it has to do with carbohydrates, proteins and fats in everything you eat. The nutrients mainly glucose(sugars) from these foods pass into your bloodstream and are used for energy.  
You might be asking yourself (like I did) I don't feel tired when I am HANGRY.... Let me explain further.
So pretty much when you start to run out of these nutrients circulating in your blood stream your brain goes into "life-threatening" panic mode. Your brain needs glucose to do its job and if you don't have any its not happy.  Your brain might be a small part of your body but it used up to 30% of your energy to work. 

When you're hungry and do not have enough sugar hanging around to make your brain happy it becomes more difficult to focus, concentrate and pretty much be nice to people. Once that panic mode sets in your body is also going to be releasing adrenaline into your bloodstream which could cause some of those "unexplainable" outbursts of anger. 
HMMMM makes more sense now doesn't it?  

There you have it folks... You're not yourself when you're hungry because your brain needs energy and turns you into a psychopath until you feed it.