No more excuses! You can meal prep in an hour times! All it takes is a trip to the grocery store (the worst part to me) and having all you need to have meals for a week!
This will help you stay in line with dieting or just eating healthier. I will state this before we jump in. Today I am showing you two options of carbs and less carbs. Ladies hear this if you are doing any type of moderate exercise, hot yoga, or workouts YOU NEED CARBS!!! Carbs, healthy carbs are good for you and fuel your body for the workouts! Do not forget carbs are good for you if you eat the right ones! If you are on a low carb diet I do have that option thrown in today but today only! I eat carbs because I workout on a 3 to 5 day a week basis and I need those carbs for ME because it fuels me! But I will say this everyone is different and moderate how you see fit that works best for you!
Now lets get started! Ill start by showing you what I used first!
My first group of meals ( top left ) consisted of 4 to 4 1/2 oz chicken breast, mashed cauliflower chedder and bacon, frozen green beans and taco seasoning for the chicken breast. This food group is my low carb low fat high protein group. If you are low carb you could throw in a high fat item to make up for the lower fat count. This good group is 255 cals, 8g carbs, and 37g protein. The portion sizes: Chicken is 4 to 4 1/2 ozs 130 cals 31g protein, the mashed cauliflower is 1/2 cup 90 cals 6 carbs 2 fiber 4 protein, green beans 2/3 cups 35 cal 6 carbs 2 fiber and 2 protein. The taco season is a freebie.
The next set of meals (top right) and seasoned with my go to low sodium seasons (bottom left). This food group is higher in cals and in carbs but still all good calories and carbs, so no worries! This is the food groups you need to stick closer to if you are exercising regularly. Ill state this here. I know some do not agree that you can exercise and low carb, you can but for ME I need fuel for my workouts and this is all my opinion. This food group is Total of 340 cals, 44 carbs and 42 protein. The portion sizes are: chicken breast 4-4 1/2 ozs, rice 1/2 cup 180 cals 39 carbs 2 fibers 4 protein. Carrots 3/4 cup 30 cals 7 carbs 3 fibers 7 protein. Chicken 130 cals 0 carbs 31 protein.
The bottom right picture is Olive oil mayo and mustard. I am a dipper so I like to have pre-done containers for dipping. The olive oil mayo 1 tbsp. is 45 cals and 1 carb. The mustard is a freebie! Yes you read that it is straight zeros! (Come to momma lol).
I prepped all the items while the mashed cauliflower cooked in the microwave for 13 minutes. The chicken breast I seasoned with all my seasons and added the taco seasoning to 3 of them. The green beans and carrots were one cup of water and the whole bag to boil for 6 minutes. ( Be careful your water will boil out of your carrots faster and burn to bottom of pan I speak from experience).
I did not use my favorite meal prep containers to show you that you can use what you have! I use the 3 compartment meal prep containers because I DO NOT like my food touching. Any Rubbermaid containers is plently of room to store all your food in and to keep it fresh. I pre cut my chicken before I put it in my containers because we do not always have a knife! The last container is my second favorite because of several reasons. One its top is divided and seperates the food. Second because its lid is a ice pack you can freeze and snap on before you leave if you will not have anything cold to store food in on the go. Its a Fresh fit brand and its my favorite!
Here are a few answers to questions I have got before and along the way have asnswered for myself.
- How long will food stay good in the refridgeator? I am VERY consertative on this matter. I am not one to leave food long stored unfrozen. These meals will freeze very easily and setting out early morning will be ready to heat from a frozen state by lunch. If you are not going to freeze and plan to eat all that week I say no longer then 5-6 days.
- How long do you heat the food for? From a semi-frozen state 1 minute and 20 seconds usually gets it. From a cold state just out of the refridgeerator 1 minute usually gets it.
- How much does meal prep cost? Today I went to the grocery store and got a bag of chicken with 6 breast in it, a whole chicken to cook later, a piece of salmon, lots of bags of frozen veggies, two different boxes of types of rice, carrots, celery, apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, watermelon, quest chips and quest protein bars. I left for under 100 dollars.
All this meal prepping took place during half of a toddler nap. From start to finish 1 hour and I was done. That was cooking and getting it all in the dishes. This involved a toddler waking and ready to eat as well.
Last but not least! Do not forget your fruits. These can be snacks. I love apples after 8pm. Go back to my clean eat post and this one and start to combine it all! HYDRATEING is so important to! Drink lots of water!
Please do not hesitate to message me for questions! I love meal prepping! It helps me stay on track.