One of the many things I struggled with for years (and continue to fine tune), is food prep. I have to be honest and say before I was married it was worse. My dinner often consisted of eggs and toast and I think my lack of planning and proper fueling lead to many weary moments. Let’s face it – the standard “3-meals-a-day” bit doesn’t work for all of us. How our day is structured, AND how much effort we are willing to put in, can often affect how well we are able to bless ourselves with good nutrition.

If you are someone who seems to have enough time to plan and prepare meals, this post probably isn’t for you. If you have plenty of delivery options available to you and it fits your lifestyle (and your budget) this also isn’t likely for you. For me, my food prep time is extremely limited the days I go into Boston… difficulty factor is increased by the fact that I am extremely hungry and have all the *wrong* energy when I do get home — even if we did have decent take out options (we totally DO NOT), *eating out/ordering in* is not how we want to live our lives right now. We know that we eat MUCH better (healthy and tasty) when we eat at home, and the impact on the pocketbook is equally compelling.

I have to give credit where credit is due – Weight Watchers has had a major impact on how I plan meal preparation. PLANNING has been one of the absolute keys for success on my WW journey.

///As an aside, I have been a WW member since April 2012 – I’ll likely write about the entire WW journey in a “lifestyle” post. For now, I’ll share that I have been a “Lifetime” member (meaning I reached my goal) since Nov 2012 and continue to go to meetings weekly and stay “on plan” as much as possible, because evidence shows MAJOR backsliding when members get to goal, think they are “cute and cured,” and stop going to meetings///

Here’s a bit of a summary of what has worked for me – perhaps something similar works for you??? Please share tips!!

“Meals” to plan for:

• Healthy Snacks
• Commuter Fuel
• Lunch – mine and hubz
• Dinner

How to Set it Up:
When planning for the week, I look at all days upcoming, and I consult with the Hubz… does he have golf this week? (will he want to eat at the course? If so – “yea!”); does he have any other evening commitments or lunch dates? Do I have any other evening commitments? I also consider my day – I am home Monday, then go in Tues and Wed, then home Thu. On my days from home, I am less drained (haven’t dealt with the effects of getting into the city, etc) and I can start meal prep at 5.30 (instead of 7!)… I plan to prepare a slightly more “involved” meal on those days (but nothing super fancy) – but I might try a new recipe. On Tues and Wed, I am simply not in good form when I get home. For those days I plan either: a meal I can do total no brainer (tips & salad, or gringo burritos); or I will pre-prep a crock-pot item or casserole (hubz will pop in oven before I get home). <I use a number of sources for recipes, but mostly skinnytaste.com and WW cookbooks, since they have nutritional info and points all spelled out.>

While our (hubz and mine) breakfasts are different, we each eat the same thing during the week (pretty much) – so this part is easy.

Lunches can be a challenge, but we have come to several combos that we like.
I often have dinner left-overs for lunch (which is TOTALLY fine with me) and hubz usually has a sammy and soup, or something like that.

///For me, all of the above planning has to be done before my designated shopping day/time, so I literally have to set time in the calendar to do this planning. Food planning is not a 10 minute activity for me, and I don’t do it well when tired, drained, or pressed for time. Know thyself and be kind!! : ) ///

::Execution::
pre-prep? –
Once I have mapped out all the meals and activities, I look to what should be done ahead of time, in a large chunk of time (like the weekend). I likely have to throw the casseroles together before hand, and sometimes throw my breakfast parfaits together all at once.

grocery shopping –
<note: this text was written before the current Market Basket debacle (non-locals can read about it here). I mean no disrespect to the boycotters and stand-off. I think my love/hate relationship with MB is still warranted.>
I definitely need to shop and have to factor in damn Market Basket’s ridiculous hours. [Where I grew up, (CA) grocery stores are often open 24 hours. When I was in college (Santa Barbara) I would shop after being at the library until 10, and sometimes after a restaurant shift, as late as 11pm.] In the last few months, whenever possible, I have been shopping on Thursday night. This is a major game changer. The store is pretty empty (not wall to wall ppl) and IT’S STOCKED – (almost every time I shop at MB on Sat or Sun they don’t have something on my list…) Shopping on Thursday is also awesome because it’s not weighing on me for the weekend AND it’s a work-from-home-day, which means I am not as drained from the day, nor am I trying squeeze it into a small space of time (Boston days get me home at 7 and damn MB closes at 9 -> having dinner AND shopping between 7 and 9 is stupid if not necessary).

• Monday – I cook dinner (sometimes a new recipe) and we eat at a normal hour
• Tuesday – something brainless or prepped
• Wednesday – ibid
• Thursday – same as Monday
• Friday – we often do something other than eat at home of Friday -> head up to ski club and eat on way, go out, order in, etc

oft-neglected FOOD-related stuff
* work from home lunches – I am not as deliberate because I am home – which is dumb!! I sit and work, and work, and the next thing you know you are starving and if nothing is prepared, I grab whatever is convenient. “Whatever is convenient” might mean crackers and other processed food crap (of which I can eat an entire sleeve before I make myself a sandwich)!! I’m much better to prep my food in some way early in the AM, as if I were going into the office.
* weekends – the schedule is often loose / not regular so I can have trouble with this too. I am just not as apt to plan when the day is more free-flowing/less stuctured. I might plan an “office overhaul” for those days, but I need to be sure the food is worked out in advance also.
* social gatherings – I can’t say this is so much neglected on my part, but it is something I need to be deliberate about when looking at the entire week. If I ever feel that the options at an event are going to be a miss on the healthy scale, I pre-think something. Things I’ve done:

• offer to bring a dish (something known to be good fuel)
• eat something before getting there!!
• drink water (a full glass) between every drink,and before I begin munching

This can all seem like a lot of work, but I really believe NOT doing all this is WAY harder since I end up:

• drained
• cranky
• not healthy
• not creating what I “want” for myself

I am in the midst of putting together a weekly template / map that reflects everything above. Please enter your information below if you’d like me to send it to you when it’s finished!

And please – enter comments below on what’s worked for you in terms of food prep and planning! I’d love to hear from you.

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