TIME TO MEAL PREP
May 15, 2018
Pittsburgh Fitness Project
Time. I didn’t have much of it the last few weeks. I had gym events the last few weekends. Then I was on call for my pediatric practice this past weekend. I was way too tired and cranky to take time to meal prep.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO…
I was enthusiastically telling a friend about Meal Prep and all its benefits. He said, “Yeah, that sounds great, but I really don’t think I have the time.” I argued that it took us 2 – 3 hours. But we were set for lunches and dinner for an entire week. In the end, we ended up saving time between nightly preparation or even just stopping and ordering food.
The challenge came in spades then these last two weeks. Ironically, we were meeting said friend for dinner the same weekend that I had our gym event, and we had to get to Costco to stock up on Meal Prep supplies. We had about 90 minutes. The quicky solution was meatloaf, quick to throw together with lean ground beef, chopped veggies and steel oats in place of bread crumbs. It could cook while we threw together mason jar salads then a vat of soup with meatballs, also adding the same chopped veggies.
THIS WEEK WAS TOUGHER…
I was too tired to do anything. The answer was a vat of red lentils with veggies – I didn’t realize that red lentils cooked that fast. And pasta with mushroom sauce. I also cooked and shredded some chicken to use with rice or Trader Joe corn/wheat tortillas later in the week.
My meal prep time savers include having a supply of veggies to add to meals when needed. I’ll often add frozen veggies to my meal prep containers as a side dish. Then let them defrost in the container, or we cook them with rice/lentils in addition to a protein when we’re short on time. Having a supply of staples on hand like rice, lentils, and quinoa plus veggies like onion, carrots and celery works well. Stocking up on proteins like chicken and then freezing portions for dethawing later is another great time saver.
I’LL KEEP UPDATING THE FUN!
And make sure to check out our Wellness Seminar Series! They are every second Saturday of the month. We plan on discussing a full range of health topics. Each seminar is entirely FREE to the public! So come on and join us for more health endeavors!