Meal Prep is basically how Clay and I survive every week. I usually make two or three meals for Clay to take to lunch while he is at work. It is so important to make sure that regardless of whether you are working full time, training full time, or in school full time that you are making healthy lunches a priority. When Clay wakes up in the morning I know that making his lunch for the day isn’t usually his first thought. He usually spends his morning eating breakfast, preparing for his day, and then rushing out the door. It is so nice having lunches readily available so that you can simply just grab and take it with you wherever you are going for the day.

I got our meal prep containers at IKEA and I absolutely love them. They are glass, microwave safe, machine washable, and they have an airtight seal on them. It makes it so easy to just pop the lid off and put the entire container in the microwave without dying of plastic poisoning. The airtight seal is awesome because it keeps the lettuce, avocado and any cut up produce fresh. I also love that the containers stack and store easily in the refrigerator.

Meal prep is like creating your own custom microwavable meal that you can store in the fridge, heat up whenever you are hungry, and don’t have to cook at all! In my mind it is worth it to spend 10 minutes of time preparing meals for the week, rather than wondering what you are going to eat for lunch every day. Prepping lunches ahead of time for Clay ensures that he has healthy options available that don’t require any planning or thought.

I truly believe that anyone in general will eat healthy if they their fridges are stocked with healthy food options. That is entirely the point of meal prep! When lunch time rolls around you don’t have to open up the fridge and wonder what you are going to eat. If you are taking your meal prepped lunch to work it helps you take control of when, where, and how much you get to eat. When the lunch time munchies roll around you don’t have to be tempted by the leftover birthday cake in the break room, fast food on the way to work, or processed snack foods. It is almost easier to go into the fridge and heat up your gourmet, homemade, fresh, perfectly planned and healthy meal.

The great thing about meal prep is you can literally put whatever you want in your bowl. Love rice? Have a bowl of rice. Only have time to cut up some veggies and saute them in a pan? Have a bowl of saluted veggies for meal prep. There have been weeks when Clay and I have made meal prepped bowls that have been simple salads, or even leftover dinners. The meal prep bowls pictured are simple but also have a lot of elements to them. This is a bowl that is great for fueling the runner boy when he has a long work day or a hard training day. I obviously set up this meal to not look ghetto. But real time meal prep doesn’t have to be staged, Instagramed, or michelin star worthy. Here are the deets to the meal prepped bowls pictured:

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice
1 russet potato
2 chicken breasts
1 cup chickpeas
Lettuce
Kale
Dash of Cheese
Olive Oil

Instructions

Cook brown rice in rice cooker
Preheat oven to 400. Dice potatoes. Spray pan, put potatoes on pan, drizzle with olive oil and salt. Cook for 30 minutes or until brown.
Put chicken breast on a lightly greased pan. Drizzle with olive oil and salt.
Put breast in oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove chicken from oven and shred.
Cut up lettuce and kale.
Build your bowl by adding all of the ingredients.

But again, remember meal prep can be whatever you want it to be! Our meal prep didn’t always look like this. Over time we have figured out our system and combinations that we like. If you’re thinking about trying meal prep, do it! Start small, start simple, don’t go crazy! It took me so long, so much research, and a lot of trial and error to figure out that meal prep was worth my time. So hear is me spreading the word! DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ANYMORE! GET ON THE TRENDY MEAL PREP TRAIN. Okay rant over. Bye.