We’re half way through the April 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge. How have you been going with your food preparation each week? Have you found that being organised and doing a little bit before the week starts helps to make it easier to follow a healthy eating diet plan?
If you haven’t tried any of the food prep suggestions yet then give them a go this week and see if they help make meal times easier to organise.
- Do your basic food planning steps to start with – work out exactly what you will have in your weekly Meal Plan. What do you already have in the freezer? What ingredients can you use up from last week? What do you need to start from scratch with?
- Choose recipes that you’ve made before on the days you are pushed for time so that you aren’t spending extra time trying out a new recipe. Save more involved recipes for weekends or days you’re not as busy so you can enjoy the cooking process and have more time to work them out.
- Make recipes like the Tahitian Lime & Coconut Balls or the Choc Dipped Banana Coins in larger quantities so you can keep them the freezer to snack on in between meals.
- Have your other snack items easy to access in the cupboard – nuts, seeds, dried fruit, herbal tea, popcorn etc. Making it easy to see and grab these ingredients from the cupboard when you need a snack will help you avoid choosing unhealthy snack options.
- The Speedy Apple Tart or Baked Honey Custard can be prepared ahead of time and pop in the oven before dinner to that they’re ready to go for a healthy dessert.
- Healthy snacks like the Apple Cinnamon Confit or Cottage Cheese & Blueberry Delight can be made earlier in the week and then stored in an air tight container or glass jar in the fridge. You can make extras of these recipes and enjoy on your breakfast cereal the next day too.
- Make the Chicken Coconut Curry, the Creamy Pea, Mint & Asparagus Soup and the sauce from the Ratatouille on Wholemeal Pasta a few days before you are eating them and then store in the fridge or freeze in portions to just defrost (if needed) and heat up for dinner.
- As with previous weeks prepare ingredients for salads and wraps ahead of time and store in the fridge to cut down assembly time when you are making these types of recipes.
- Prepare the Vegetarian Lentil Burgers ahead of time and cook, then store in the freezer or fridge until you’re ready to enjoy this meal.
- Prepare the Berry Bircher the night before and if you like, in a larger quantity so you can enjoy this for more than one breakfast or share with the whole family. Bircher is a great recipe to take to work too if you have an early start or for a healthy snack. Just place in a lunch box container, top with some fresh fruit and yoghurt and combine at work when you’re ready to eat.
- If you’re having the Healthy Mummy Smoothies for any of your meals then ensure you have the ingredients to make your favourite combinations easy to access. Get the blender out the night before and just add everything in the next morning, whizz and your healthy breakfast or lunch is done.
- Remember to make extras of the recipes you really enjoy and freeze these so your food prep for the following week is already started.
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.
