Food & Shopping Prep Tips For Week 1 Of The April 28 Day Challenge

Exercise & Weight Loss Challenge, Nutrition & Weight Loss, Weight Loss Challenges

With a monthly 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge now available you have access to healthy eating meal plans pretty much every week of the year!
So now is a great time to really get organised with the right food prep and shopping tips so that healthy eating choices become a habit, your new healthy eating lifestyle, not just something you do every now and then.
healthy eating meal plan
The meals chosen for the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges are selected as they are easy to prepare, easy to shop for and easy to adjust to suit everyone’s tastes, so eating well all the time is, well, easy!
Get organised with these food and shopping tips for the first week of the upcoming April 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge:

Plan & Assess

  • Once you take a look at the Meal Plan for the week, customise each day to suit your tastes and lifestyle.
  • If you don’t like certain meats or vegetables, then look at the recipes to see if you can swap what you don’t like for something else – you usually can in most recipes.
  • If you have particular dietary requirements like not being able to eat dairy or gluten then look at the recipes you’ve selected for the week and see what you need to swap. You can usually find a gluten free option for many ingredients containing gluten these days and the same for dairy – try non dairy milks, coconut based yoghurts, dairy free cheeses etc.
  • Consider your week ahead – what have you got on? Are you working? Are you entertaining friends or family? Are the kids on school holidays? Choose recipes to suit your activities. If you have a busy week ahead with work or chores then choose some recipes that you can make ahead of time in a larger quantity and freeze to just easily grab when you’re short on time. If you are entertaining or going to a friend’s house look  for some recipes that will suit these situations – dips, healthy sweet snacks, BBQ meals etc are all great for social events.
  • Once you have your Meal Plan ready for the week look at your Shopping List and see what you already have in the pantry and fridge and what you will need to buy.
  • Think about how you can use what you already have in the fridge rather than buying specific new ingredients – don’t waste food (or your money) by purchasing new ingredients if you don’t need to. You can easily swap vegetables in the recipes for some that you already have, the same with meats.

Shopping

  • Now you’ve worked out exactly what you’re going to eat for the week and what you need to buy. Do your shopping and incorporate the Challenge recipes as you would any other meals you would usually make i.e. look for specials at the supermarket and see if you can incorporate these ingredients into your Meal Plan. If certain meats, vegetables, tinned goods etc are on special then buy them in bulk and freeze or refrigerate so you can use them for more than one week.
  • When choosing your recipes for the week see which ones you can make in a larger quantity to freeze, and then you can buy ingredients for these in bulk and have food prepared for a couple of weeks.
  • As already said, most ingredients can be swapped for something else in the Challenge recipes so if you don’t like an ingredient or it’s out of your budget then choose something that is.

Food Prep

  • It can’t be said enough – planning and preparing ahead of time will really help you to keep your healthy meal plan goals. If you have meals already prepared or the ingredients ready to go, then it makes it so much easier to choose the healthy food options throughout the day.
  • For Week 1 of the April Challenge choose some snacks that you want to try and prepare these ahead of time, e.g. the Gluten Free Hot Cross Buns, the Apricot & Almond Balls or the Choc Dipped Banana Coins. All recipes are great if the kids are on school holidays so prepare extras and store them in an air tight container in the fridge or freezer and defrost as required.
  • Look for recipes that can be made a few days in advance e.g. the Chilli Con Carne, Minestrone & Bean Soup or the Chicken & Vegetable Lasagne and make these on the weekend when you have more time. Store in the fridge or freeze to heat up when you need them.
  • It’s easy to be organised when salads are on the menu. Have meats pre-cooked or cook extra from dinner the night before and then chop vegetables and store in the fridge. Then all you have to do is assemble the ingredients in a bowl and dress. Take salads to work in a lunch box with a small container of dressing to enjoy in the middle of the day.
  • Choose breakfasts that suit your needs in the morning e.g. do you have to get the family ready and are short on time or can you spend a few extra minutes preparing something healthy? Whatever it’s like in your household you can find something from the April 28 Day Challenge to suit you.
  • Prepare meals like the Apple & Cinnamon Porridge or Bounty Quinoa Porridge the night before and then just reheat in the morning with some extra milk to get the consistency smooth. Make porridge in a larger batch and then you can have it more than once.
  • Just putting out the ingredients or grouping them in the fridge, that you need for breakfast the night before can save you time in the morning.
  • Slice and chop ingredients and store in air tight containers – even do this during the day so that dinner prep is easy.

Work out when you have more time during the week so you can set aside an hour or two to get organised for the week’s meals ahead. You will be grateful that you’ve put in a little bit of extra effort as you’ll get much closer to your weight loss goals.
Need to stock up on Healthy Mummy Smoothies? Then see our shop here
And join our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges here