7 Tips for Meal Prepping (For Those Who Hate Meal Prepping)
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Previously on the Embrace Your Real podcast, we touched on the topic of nutrition, how it guides us in getting the body that we want, and the important role of meal prepping in making sure we are nourishing our body.
Some people though thinks meal prepping is boring and an added task! And so, in this episode, I am back again with 7 more tips on meal prepping for those who hate doing them. Tune in to learn how can you make meal prepping more simple and enjoyable for you to tick off your weekly to-do list!
What I discuss:
Use salad dressings…even if you aren’t making a salad.
Commit to meal prepping the one meal you struggle with most.
Meal prep and freeze the meals for days when you don’t feel like cooking.
Prep your carbs and protein…and then figure out what you’re going to do with them.
Get the right tools.
Don’t meal prep yourself…
Meal prep on and off.
If you loved this episode, you might also enjoy…
Episode 357 - 7 Ways to Simplify Your Weekly Meal Planning
Best Macro-Friendly Snacks On The Go
5 Macro-Friendly Snack Boxes You Should Try
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Macro Counting Made Simple: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go. [00:00:21][20.7]
[00:00:27] Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast. I'm so excited about this episode because this is a topic that so many people ask me questions about because I get it. It's one of the most complicated and it's one of those topics that, man, you either love it or you hate it. And I don't think that there needs to be this black and white with this when it comes to meal prepping. I think that if it's not of interest to you, like you don't really genuinely enjoy cooking, that you can still learn some habits and you can still implement some things that will help you into making sure that you're consistently, you know, setting yourself up for success. And I do believe that meal prepping can really help allow us to reach our goals. It can make nourishing our bodies with what it needs a lifestyle. And so that's why in today's episode, I want to kind of just give you some habits that you can start adopting if you really do struggle with meal prepping or you're just needing some inspiration. [00:01:24][57.4]
[00:01:25] You guys know, if you've tuned in for any length of time that I'm a huge believer in adopting habits that you see yourself doing, you know, five years down the road, ten years down the road. And so that's why in today's episode, I'm going to be giving you seven tips for meal prepping for those, especially who hate meal prepping. [00:01:39][14.1]
[00:01:40] Before we dive in, I wanted to share this review. It comes from spt0121. She gave a five star review and said Best podcast ever. I'm recently coming out of an exercise and meal planning slump. I stumbled upon Julie's podcast and wow at the difference. It's crazy how every week her podcast seems to hit just the places I need inspiration in my life. I'm also just finishing up my first week on Movement with Julie, and after spending the past year using a popular fitness app, I'm so glad that I made the switch. I'm feeling happy, strong and confident. Thanks, Julie. [00:02:12][31.7]
[00:02:12] Oh my gosh. This just gave me so many just butterflies and I'm just so grateful for you guys. Like these types of reviews. They mean the world to me because my hope and prayer is that every single episode, you either feel empowered, you feel educated, you feel encouraged. And so if I can do that in any way, shape or form, it just means the world to me. So thank you so much for taking time out of your day. And I'm also so grateful that you're enjoying the Movement with Julie. If you guys are not already training on Movement with Julie, we have so many updates coming for you guys in the coming months and I cannot wait. So what are you waiting for? Head over to sale. That's s-a-l-e dot movement with Julie dot com and you can get 50% off your first month as a new subscriber. [00:02:52][39.8]
[00:02:53] Also, if you could scootch over to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and review, that would mean the world to me and our team. Or if you tune in over on Spotify, you can rate the podcast. And that also helps us just in terms of ranking and allows other people to see the podcast. And so we can grow this audience. These episodes are completely free for you. It's just my hope in prayer that I can somehow make a difference in your life. And my goal is to make a difference in as many women's lives as possible. And that is one of the best ways to kind of spread the word is by leaving that rating and review so that other people can check that out. [00:03:27][34.0]
[00:03:27] Okay, so let's dive into the seven tips for meal prepping, especially for those who might hate meal prepping. Number one, really utilize salad dressings even if you aren't making a salad. So one thing that I have found is that salad dressings are so extremely versatile and they can really dress up way more than just a green salad. I personally have been diving into the primal kitchen salad. I've heard about them. I've heard about them through, you know, tons of different companies, whether it's Thrive Market or at Sprouts or Whole Foods. But I've never really spent the money on them. They can they kind of are spendy. But I will say the quality of them, the quality of the ingredients, the quality of the taste is so good. And I have personally just been loving them also because they're made with avocado oil and they just have some really fun flavors. [00:04:10][43.0]
[00:04:10] One thing that I have been using recently in my chicken salad, it's a pesto mayo. I know it kind of sounds funky, but I'm telling you, Oh my goodness, it is so good. I just tried it a few weeks ago. My mom was in town and she is she was like, Hey, have you ever tried this? Like no, let's give it a try. And it was so, so good. Also, they have this sesame ginger salad dressing that I use anytime I'm using or cooking like Asian bowls or Greek dress. Greek dressing for Greek bowls. I mean, the options are endless. [00:04:39][28.8]
[00:04:40] So for example, you can cook up some rice in a rice cooker and then cook up, you know, a bunch of ground beef. And that typically either that or chicken. That's typically what I have a lot of. Like if you look at my fridge at any given moment, you'll see I have a ton of fresh cooked either ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken and or shredded chicken. I always do that, just plain shredded chicken just because it's so easy. And I'll talk about that later. But what's so easy is you can put it all together. [00:05:06][26.3]
[00:05:06] So, you know, for an Asian bowl, you can throw in some broccoli slaw or something else that is, you know, veggies, whether it's zucchini or peppers. You can put some ground chicken, some ground turkey, some rice, avocado, and then you can throw in some of that sesame ginger dressing and sometimes even add like extra ginger or garlic powder and salt. And you'll have yourself, like, literally a 2 to 3 minute meal that is so delicious. Or, for example, a Greek Bowl. So you could toss together some rice, some ground chickens and feta cheese, cherry or grape tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, dress it up with some Greek dressing. And again, another, you know, 2 to 3 minute meal that is so delicious. [00:05:42][35.8]
[00:05:43] I've also been doing this with pasta, not just rice. So I have been loving these refrigerated pastas, like, I don't know about you, but I grew up in an Italian family. And any time I would go to any sort of family event, my grandma, my aunts, my uncles, they would have like, you know, endless amounts of dishes that are already cooked. And one thing that is huge in our family is the refrigerated Italian pasta dishes, right? So you throw together some, you cook some pasta, then you do some Italian dressing, you do some grape tomatoes, and you do some cheese like some mozzarella ball cheese. Oh, my gosh, it's so good. But you can use a lot of these dressings in, you know, these pastas as well. And that can really help just kind of spice things up. And also, it's like I said, you know, 2 to 3 minute meals that are so delicious. [00:06:29][45.8]
[00:06:29] So I want to encourage you the next time that you are going to the store, head to the salad dressing aisle, head to either the regular salad dressing aisle or if you're looking for kind of a Greek yogurt based. My favorite Greek yogurt based dressings are Bolthouse and you can get them pretty much anywhere. I know that we have them at our local Kroger. You can get them at Target. I don't know if you can get them at Wal Mart, but they are so good and they have so many flavors as well. [00:06:52][23.3]
[00:06:53] Number two, commit to meal prepping the one meal that you struggle with the most. So if you are like super overwhelmed with meal prepping in general, then I want you to start with one meal first. So whatever meal you struggle with most, that's what I want you to focus on in your meal prepping. So if that's breakfast, like that's the most difficult meal for you to commit to, then I want you to kind of prep some macro friendly breakfast for the week. Most of us just think about, you know, meal prepping dinners, but maybe it's not dinner that you struggle with. Maybe you love cooking dinner, but it's lunch or breakfast where you really struggle. Or maybe there is like one or two days of the week that you just you always tend to to get off track, whether it's your kids have lessons or practices the same night. It's life is hectic, schedules are hectic. Or maybe it's one night of the week that you have like late meetings, whatever it is. Maybe that is the meal that you should focus your energy on when it comes to email prepping so that you can set yourself up for success. [00:07:47][53.9]
[00:07:47] Or maybe you don't struggle when it comes to meals. You struggle when it comes to snacks. In fact, this is one of the things that I have found many people struggle with. They're like, okay, I am pretty good at finding meals, but it's the snacks that I really struggle with. So maybe you're not needing to meal prep or put so much emphasis on meal prepping meals, but more so snacks, so figuring out some macro friendly snacks. I have a list of snacks that are like great road trip, macro friendly snacks. So if you guys are traveling this summer, this is a great blog post. I will link it in the show notes so that you can easily go check that out on my website and then also just head over to Pinterest and type in like healthy snacks or macro friendly snacks. Again, we live in an era where there are endless options and I'm so grateful to be living in this time because it's so helpful when it comes to just you feeling burnt out or not getting inspiration like Pinterest can be so helpful in terms of that. [00:08:41][53.3]
[00:08:41] Number three meal prep and freeze the meals for days that you don't feel like cooking. So maybe you don't need to regularly meal prep because you only find yourself sometimes in a pickle. Well, if this is the case, maybe you can do like a once a month or twice a month time where you're cooking like a couple asanas or casseroles or dishes that you can easily freeze. And so that way, on the days or on the weeks that you just feel like, Oh man, it's going to be hectic or stressful. You pull it out of the freezer, you let it thaw during the day, and then then you're able to reheat in the oven and that we are still able to have, you know, a macro friendly home cooked meal. You can really freeze so many meals and so many snacks, too. [00:09:18][37.4]
[00:09:19] So again, going to Pinterest, going to the Internet, just kind of looking at some inspiration. There's so many like one sheet meals also that you can easily freeze and then you're able to just pop them back into the oven to reheat. I've also seen people freeze like breakfast burritos, soup, stir fries, so many things. So again, if that's, you know, maybe picking one or two days on the calendar per month where you're prepping some meals for the future, trust me when I say your future self will definitely thank you for that. [00:09:46][27.4]
[00:09:46] Number four, prep your carbs and protein and then kind of figure out what you're going to do with them. So I need you to simplify your meal prep and give yourself some flexibility during the week. Also, this really does make cooking way easier, but also it makes you feel like you're eating something freshly cooked when it's not like necessarily prepped, you know, like it's ahead of time prepped, but it's not completely prepped. So that I don't know. I have just found, like if I prep every single meal when I go to open it and it's already prepped, I'm like, ooh, you know, some days on Sunday it sounds good. But then come Thursday, you're like, No, actually that's not good. So I personally batch cook again. I've talked about this before. It batch cook your proteins, batch cook your carbs, kind of make them plain, and then you're able to spice them up during the week. So if this is your, you know, cooking your veggies, this is cooking your chicken or your ground turkey or your pasta, whatever it is, rice, quinoa, things like that. And you can put them into a container like one for their carbs and one for protein and kind of portioned it out ahead of time. But then you're also able to then take it and take the pre portion food and then you're able to like, spice it up. So this is a great hack for people who are low on time, but you still want to stay on track. So again, taking that batch protein or taking that batch carbs or veggies or whatever it is and pre portioning them out, kind of cooking them plain or cooking them with some seasoning that, you know, you can add some other seasoning to later. But that way you are able to make sure that you have it pre-portioned But then it kind of still feels and tastes fresh when you take it out that night and you can get excited about it because you can throw it together in a 2 to 3 minute or 5 to 10 minute meal instead of taking, you know, 30 to 40 minutes cooking it all the way through for like raw meats and things like that. [00:11:36][109.8]
[00:11:36] Number five, get the right tools. The kitchen tool is what I'm talking about. So for those of you who absolutely hate meal prepping, it could just be a couple of things. Number one, you're not in the habit of it. And whenever we're not in the habit of something, everything sounds so much bigger than it actually is. Or two, you genuinely don't like to do it. And I get that because I again, I've talked about this before. Like I it's not doesn't come natural to me. And so for me, it's just it's more of a hassle. And so it's something that I really have to work at. But having a few things in the kitchen can be life changing. So I kind of just want to share with you a few things that I have personally gotten over the years that I have found super helpful in terms of just my meal prepping journey and just being overall consistent in it. So number one is a rice cooker, so this can cook rice for honestly the entire week in 20 to 30 minutes. So dump the rice, put it in water and you have your carbs for the week, even if you forget to meal prep or you don't have time meal prep. Having a rice cooker can really make cooking in real time extremely easy. Number two, if you do not have an air fryer, I slept on the air fryer for so long. I know that there are a lot more popular, but I don't think I got an air fryer and I think I got it maybe two years ago. But they were more popular, you know, 3 to 5 years ago. I remember seeing everybody have them. And I'm just like, no way. Like, there's no way that I'm going to use that. And I'm telling you, oh, my gosh, you can fill that puppy up with some veggies, cook them in 10 minutes or less. You can cook salmon, you can cook chicken, you can cook mozzarella sticks. I mean, pizza's in there. It's amazing. You can cook so many things and it takes, you know, 10 to 15 minutes. So, again, chopping up the veggies, tossing them in there, adding some some avocado oil or having adding some olive oil in there. Oh, my goodness. You're going to thank me. I also have this delicious. It's basically chocolate and fluff. So chocolate chips, peanut butter and fluff, if you guys don't know what fluff is. I grew up in the East, I grew up in New York. And everybody I don't know, maybe it's maybe it's an East Coast thing you're going to have to tell me. But I grew up on peanut butter and fluff sandwiches. I grew up in. I'm a nice kid, so I don't know, maybe that's not a thing anymore. But I grew up on fluff and peanut butter sandwiches, and I come out to Colorado and I'm talking to people and I feel like any time I say, Oh yeah, I used to always have fluff and peanut butter sandwiches. They're like, You had what? I've never even heard of this, but it's called marshmallow fluff and you can still buy it. I believe it's in the cooking aisle. I don't think it's by the peanut butter. I think it's by like the baking aisle, but it's marshmallow fluff and it's so good. So one thing that I use the air fryer a lot for is a dessert. If I'm not like, in the mood, which in the summertime, I have to say, just having the cold ice cream is like one of my favorites. But come fall and winter, I do this. It's chocolate. This summer's one time is like the best I can describe it. So basically what it is is it's a Joseph lavish bread, which you can get pretty much anywhere. You can also get it on Amazon. I love those, by the way, if you are not already having those in your day to day, it's definitely a staple. I use it a lot for pizzas, I use it for wraps. It's just it's such a good staple and the macros on them are awesome. So I use a Joseph slash, I used to call it lavish and then people are like, no, it's a lavish, so lavish bread. And then I do peanut butter, some chocolate chips, some fluff, and then I kind of fold it up into like almost like a burrito or like a one times I fold up like the sides and then I stick it in the air fryer, Put that in there for 7 to 10 minutes. Oh, my goodness. It is so, so good. So that's one thing that I use the air fryer a lot for. But I mean, the options are literally endless when it comes to the air fryer. Another kitchen essential is a crock pot or instant pot. So the recipes, again, endless online. You can toss all the ingredients and leave it for work. Come back, have a nice homemade. Macro friendly meal. Protip You can even cook shredded chicken in the crock pot or instant pot. I personally I've talked about this a lot, but you can, you know, dump chicken in there. You can do some a can of salsa, a packet of taco seasoning. It makes for the perfect shredded Mexican chicken. And it is so good. I also have a recipe that my step mom uses a lot. It's green chili chicken. So basically all it is is some chicken breast and then green chili like dumped 1 to 2 cans of green chili. I also dump some. I personally love the corn, so I put some, you know, southwestern corn in there. And then I also put some salsa. I leave it in the crock pot all day. And you have the best green chili chicken. It is so, so good. Another kitchen essential is a hard boiled egg maker. So if you really want to make simple breakfast, hard boiled eggs are so good. In terms of protein rich, it's a great option for you to just grab and go. I also love making like egg salads. You can also put I mean, again, the options are endless when it comes to the hard boiled eggs. We just got one a few months ago. We had been eyeing it forever and we finally pulled the trigger. And I have to tell you, it is so good. I'm going to actually link all these things in my Amazon storefront, so I will be sure to link that in the show notes below so that you can easily go check it out. I'll make a folder that says Kitchen Essentials, but I'm telling you, I think it's dash. Add this dash hardboiled egg maker is freaking awesome and they make the best hard boiled eggs in like, I think it's 10 to 12 minutes. It's awesome. It is such a game changer. And then lastly, having some sort of like travel blender. I don't know about you. I don't know if you guys even knew this existed. This is another game changer, especially for those who work in the office. You're not home a lot. You're on the go. It's like battery operated. It allows you to really make like a mid-afternoon protein smoothie wherever you are. So what you can do if you have access to a fridge. So if you work in an office, you can toss in everything that you want to blend. Just put it in in the actual can and then obviously the base of it, you're not going to put it in refrigerator, but you're going to take that out, put it in the fridge, and then when you're ready, you can take that out of the fridge and just blend it and, you know, mid-afternoon protein snack, it's awesome. So there are so many other tools. I'll again be sure to link my Kitchen Essentials Amazon storefront so you can go check those out. But I'm telling you, just having it, you don't even need all of these things. Having a few of these things can be a game changer. And then over time you can build kind of your your kitchen tool essentials. [00:17:53][377.0]
[00:17:54] Number six, don't meal prep yourself. I've talked about this on some past podcast episodes, especially the one that was talked about last week. But really meal delivery services can be super beneficial. I know that some people, you know, obviously it's it's not as budget friendly. So if that is something that you're really mindful of in this season of your life, then again, going to really making sure that you have your kitchen essentials, you're being super intentional with your meal prepping. But I also know that sometimes we need to prioritize things to save ourselves time so that to you, there are so many companies out there that make macro friendly meal prep that you can literally just, you know, order for the week or order for the month and then you have them shipped to your door, which is awesome. So whether this is like premade meals or it's like Green Chef or Home Chef, so many again, so many different options there. So if meal prepping really does sound terrible to you or if it's just not in the cards right now, but you need to find a solution to be more consistent kind of researching some of these meal prep companies can be very beneficial. And like I mentioned in the previous episode, there are so many companies out there that give you like the first ten meals free or a free trial. So definitely check that out. [00:19:06][72.0]
[00:19:06] And then lastly, number seven, meal prep on and off. So don't hold yourself to a standard where you feel like you need to meal prep every single week. Maybe you don't want to always spend your Sunday afternoons meal prepping. That's completely understandable. Maybe, you know, meal prep the weeks where, you know, it's just going to be a crazy week or meal prep on the week that you're on your period because you know you're going to get really tired and you have a tendency to overindulge, like just kind of be strategic about it. But don't hold yourself to this like rigid standard, because I found that when we hold ourselves to these rigid standards, those are the times that we typically don't follow through long term just because it's not enjoyable. So really kind of check in with yourself and ask yourself, okay, what's best for this season of life? And then on the weeks that you don't meal prep, maybe you just meal plan, maybe you just know kind of ahead of time what you're going to have and then you at least have a plan going into the week without doing all of the prepping upfront. Again, if you haven't tuned into my episode on meal planning, I just talked about that. I will link that in the show notes below so that you can easily go tune in to that. But there you have it. Those are my seven tips for meal prepping, kind of giving you some things to think about, especially for those of you who guys, again, it just doesn't come natural to you. Don't enjoy it. I totally understand you. I am right there with you. [00:20:20][74.0]
[00:20:21] But let me quickly recap what we talked about. Number one, really utilizing salad dressings, even if you aren't making. A salad, like getting creative with those dressings. And again, there's so many delicious kinds, whether it's sesame for the Asian Bowl or it's a Greek one for the Greek Bowl or that pesto mayo that I mentioned so many options. Number two, commit to meal prepping the one meal that you struggle with the most. Number three, meal prep and freeze the meals for the days that you don't feel like cooking. Number four, prep your carbs and protein and then kind of figure out what you're going to do with them. You can pre portion them out, but they don't have to be completely cooked in together. So that way you can take them out. They're already pre-portioned, but you can kind of season them how you want and customize each meal. Number five, get the right kitchen tools. So really building your kitchen tool essential. Again, check out my Amazon storefront and we'll link that in the show notes below so that you can go check out all the essentials that I personally have. Number six, don't meal prep yourself. So if you're in a season of life where it is just hectic and you're like, the last thing I genuinely have time to do is meal prep to stay consistent, sign up for a meal prep company and try it out, you know, for a month or two months and see how it goes. And lastly, number seven, meal prep on and off. So don't hold yourself to such a rigid standard. I'm really just kind of ask yourself in this season of life, is this something that I can commit to? Is this something I'm excited about and then kind of go from there? [00:21:41][80.3]
[00:21:41] So again, if you want to check out kind of more tips like this, more focus on meal planning, then go check out last week's episode. Seven Ways to Simplify Meal Planning. I will link it in the show notes below. If you are hearing me talk about micro accounting and maybe you've heard that term before, or maybe you've never heard that term. I do have a macro counting made simple online academy that you can check out. Inside that program, I help calculate your macros based on your body and its needs to ensure that you are getting optimal results. I also give you kind of a step by step guide on how to make macro accounting a lifestyle. And then you also do have the option to purchase recipes, macro friendly recipes along with your program so that you can have some inspiration going into this journey. So I will link that in the show notes below. Or you can go to macro counting made simple dot com Again, macro counting made simple dot com to get instant access and sign up there. [00:22:34][52.6]
[00:22:34] I hope that this was helpful for you. I hope that this gave you some inspiration. Again, I don't want you to ever feel bad for feeling like, Man, this is the hardest part of my journey because I'm telling you, you are not alone. And that so many women and this is myself included, like it's something again that I had that I shared earlier. It's something that I've had to force myself into by establishing habits and really putting some extra effort into it. So I hope that you found this helpful if you have a friend or coworker or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link and send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your story. That is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much. I mean it sounds contacting the next one. [00:23:16][41.9]
[00:23:23] All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, A lot better. Yes, It's with within in the middle where that daily are about real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it. [00:23:23][0.0]
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