Get organised for the second week of the April 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge with these meal preparation tips to make your healthy eating lifestyle really easy to stick to.
However you’ve filled out your Week 2 Meal Plan, there will always be some things you can prepare ahead of time and make meal times much faster and stress free.
- Start by sitting down and deciding what you’d like to have for each day of the week. Are you going to repeat some of the dinner recipes at lunch so you can have easy to heat up leftovers? Are you going to add in some of your favourite recipes from previous Challenges that you know the family love? Will you keep things simple and just have a few snack recipes on hand so you can make larger batches and store extras in the pantry or refrigerator so it’s easy to grab a healthy snack?
- Go through your pantry, fridge and freezer and see what you may have leftover from Week 1 or from other meals you’ve made in larger batches. If you have them available, then add these to your Week 2 Meal Plan rather than making something brand new every day.
- Also check your refrigerator, freezer and pantry for ingredients that you need to use up. Don’t waste meats, fruits and vegetables as they’re not specifically in your upcoming meal plan, add them in. Swap chicken for beef, swap carrots for capsicum, swap sweet potato for potatoes etc. If you have a huge bunch of spinach still sitting in the crisper then add it to one of your Week 2 recipes rather than buying a new ingredient.
- What have you got on during the week? Are you at work, have appointments, picking the kids up from school and taking them to sports lessons etc? Work out when you’ll be at home and when you might need to be prepared with healthy snacks on hand. Make up some zip lock bags or small lunch boxes of snacks that you can just grab and pop into your handbag when you’re leaving the house.
- Are there nights you might not be at home for dinner or won’t have much time to prepare a meal? Then highlight these on your Meal Plan and use something you’ve frozen for dinner e.g. soup, curry or pasta sauce.
- Make a large batch of the Chocolate Bliss Balls to enjoy as snacks and share with the family rather than reaching for something that’s not that good for you in between meals. Store these in an air tight container in the fridge or if you make lots, store in the freezer to defrost as you need them.
- Get the ingredients for the Wholegrain Porridge Delight, Chocolate Oats & Strawberry Muesli and the Chia Pudding with Fruits & Yoghurt ready the night before you plan to eat them. These recipes are great if you soak them overnight and then you can just assemble in the morning. For the Wholegrain Porridge Delight you can cook this the night before if you like and then just reheat with a bit more milk to make a smooth consistency in the morning.
- You can prepare the Creamy Cheese Dip or Raspberry Dip ahead of time and store in the fridge in an air tight container, ready to enjoy when it’s snack time.
- If you are having any of the desserts from the Meal Plan then prepare these in the afternoon or when you have some more time available and they will be ready to enjoy after dinner.
- Make extras of the Pea Pesto as there is a recipe using this in the following week’s Meal Plan or so you have extras to enjoy for breakfast on more than one day.
- Move recipes that might require a bit more preparation time to the days you have more time e.g. on the days you’re not at work, don’t have 100s of jobs to do at home or on the weekend when you can take some time out to enjoy cooking and make something tasty for the family.
- The Turkey Meatballs and Lamb Rissoles can be prepared ahead of time. You can make the meatballs and cook, then store in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the whole meal or make the sauce as well and freeze in portions to enjoy when you are short on time in the evening. The rissoles can be made and then frozen cooked or uncooked, ready to prepare with the rest of meal.
- For any of the salads, chop as many ingredients as you can and put aside in individual containers in the crisper so that when you are making these meals, you just have to cook the meats, assemble and dress.
There are so many ways you can get started on your food prep before each week of the Challenge starts. Taking the time to see what’s involved in the recipes you’ve selected will enable you to work out whether you can pre-slice, pre-marinate or pre-cook any of them and make following a healthy eating meal plan super easy.
Click here for time and money saving tips when shopping for the Challenge and other organisational tips too.
