Want to cut your dinner prep time in half? Keep reading for my tips on how to cook smarter, not harder!
Cooking dinner on busy weeknights can be a lot.
But it sure helps if you've prepped some veggies on the weekend, and you have a few staples on hand such as frozen rice, salsa, canned beans, coconut milk and marinara sauce.
Not only does this make meal prep faster — but it also helps you get more veggies and plant foods onto your plate so you can feel your best.
Meal prep vs. busy weekends
I get that weekends can be busy.
Maybe your kids have sports and other activities.
Or the weekend is when you brave the parking lots and make your Trader Joe's or Costco run.
And the last thing you want to do is set aside time for meal prep.
But hear me out.
What if, instead of thinking of meal prep as something we “have” to do — such as laundry or taxes…
… We shifted our mindset and thought of it as a form of self care.
Because after all, it is!
Mindful meal prep
Take your meal prep a step further by infusing it with some mindfulness.
For example, if you're chopping carrots, really pay attention to what you're doing. Use all of your senses to notice how the carrots look, feel and smell. Pay attention to the sound of the knife cutting through the carrot and hitting the board.
As you're putting the carrots away in a water filled container for future use, think to yourself: these carrots that I'm chopping up are going to support my eye health.
Same goes for the lettuce and leafy greens. Pay close attention to what you're doing, as if you were filming a close-up for a documentary. And think to yourself: these leafy greens are filled with all kinds of antioxidants to help me have a healthier heart, reduce inflammation, decrease risk for cancer.
If you're rinsing and drying berries for the week ahead, think to yourself: these berries are strengthening my family's immune systems… and helping my skin age with poise and grace.
As I tell my clients and More Veggies Cooking Club members, doing just 30 or 45 minutes — even an hour — of meal prep on the weekend can cut your weeknight dinner prep down to 10-20 minutes.
So I get it. Sometimes you won't feel like doing it.
But remind yourself that meal prep is a form of self care.
And not just that — your weekend meal prep will help you cut your dinner prep time in half during busy weeknights.
So take a deep breath, get some prep done, and know that the future you will thank you later.
Weekend meal prep checklist
Don't know where to start?
No worries!
Here's a quick list of the meal prep tasks I do pretty much every week:
- rinse, dry and store leafy greens
- make berry cups for easy snacking
- slice carrots and celery sticks
- make a batch of rice or quinoa
- make a batch of air fried tofu for easy bowls
- whisk up a quick dressing or peanut sauce
I hope you found today's post helpful. Let me know what you think by heading over to Instagram @thehealthycookingcoach— I'd love to hear from you.
Need more support for your healthy cooking journey?
Get on the waitlist for my monthly membership: the More Veggies Cooking Club
Each month, I provide new recipes and step-by-step cooking videos to help people learn more about healthy cooking and add yummy recipes to their rotation.
If you could use some more support for your healthy cooking game, sign up for the waitlist and I'll let you know when enrollment opens.
