Quick & Easy Meal Prep Ideas + My Top Tips!
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- If meal prep is supposed to make life easier, why is learning how to meal prep SO daunting? Instead of chasing an Instagram-worthy fridge, try these easy meal prep ideas & tips to kickstart the year!
After a decade of hustling to meal prep for the week, I’ve learned that we all need to meal prep a bit differently, depending on our individual needs. In this video, I’m sharing my top meal prep tips and strategies - whether you’re learning how to meal prep for beginners, on a budget, or if you’re a seasoned pro.
Plus, I’ve got 3 healthy meal prep recipes to share that are designed with simplicity in mind: a quinoa breakfast bowl recipe, a veggie-packed one pot spaghetti dish, and a flavorful garlic chicken rice bowl!
Comment below and let me know: How do you keep meal prep easy and sustainable?
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0:00 Meal Prep Tips Intro
1:07 Tip 1: Don't Stress!
2:01 Tip 2: Work With Negative Patterns
3:27 Tip 3: Know Yourself
4:39 Tip 4: Prep Basic Components
4:53 Quinoa Breakfast Bowl Recipe
5:41 One-Pot Spaghetti Recipe
7:47 Garlic Chicken & Rice Bowl Recipe
9:37 Tip 5: Let Go Of Recipes!
RECIPES from this video:
► QUINOA BREAKFAST BOWL bit.ly/3qVOEPW
► ONE POT SPAGHETTI bit.ly/3qavmra
► GARLIC CHICKEN RICE BOWL bit.ly/3qiKUt3
Relevant Resources:
★ Inner & Outer Wisdom: How to listen to your body • Day 1: Is “listening t...
★ 15-Minute Easy Weeknight Meals • 15-Minute Easy Weeknig...
★ 3 Healthy Chicken Meal Prep Bowls • 3 Healthy Chicken Meal...
★ My Easiest Meal Prep • My EASY Meal Prep + AN...
★ How to meal prep without losing your mind • How to meal prep witho...
★ 15-Minute Pan Seared Salmon Dinners • 15-Minute Pan Seared S...
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► GLASS STORAGE CONTAINERS (13-PIECE SET): amzn.to/2HDMbRX
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► RACHAEL RAY BLUE COOKWARE: amzn.to/2sJysCh
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DISCLAIMER
The information provided on this channel is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional. You should not use the information on this channel for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or for prescription of any medication or other treatment. Consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise or supplementation program, before taking any medication, or if you suspect you might have a health problem. - Jak na to + styl
What’s your biggest challenge with meal prep!?
That I have a tiny fridge and no freezing possibilities. So I can only meal prep for maximum of 2 days, which is still better than nothing but I wish I could prep more and safe more time!
Making thigs my whole family will eat. I don't want to prep 3 different meals for each person. What my husband eats vs what my toddler eats and then my food, I just can't make 3 different meals each day for each meal
Just 'doing' it...
Finding the time and energy when constantly rushing around
Doing the dishes afterwards. 🙈 I absolutely hate dishes!
Something I started doing (which got at something I struggled with: finding the motivation to chop veggies) is to chop more than what I need when I'm cooking, so I can have a "day off" from prepping vegetables. So, I'll chop extra onions/zucchini/garlic/whatever that I'm using for one meal, then use those veggies in a different meal over the next few days.
oh thats brilliant! Love that!!
You can also chop a big batch and freeze them! Obviously you can also buy them frozen to begin with, but I like being able to choose the size I chop them, and also freeze the veggies I use together often. I do this a lot with carrots, celery and onions all in a bag in the freezer for easy soups!
I do this all the time too!
Meal prep has made my life so much easier, but I definitely don't do the perfect little containers for every meal. Basically I just think of it as, whenever I cook I do it like I'm cooking for a family of 4 (we're only 2). Then I put the leftovers into containers similar to the way meal peppers do, but instead of doing it all in one go it just means I cook a few times a week instead of every day. Those leftovers make up our lunches and I also prep huge batches to freeze of child, curry, pasta sauce, soup, etc. Makes it so much easier than cooking for 4 hours every Sunday.
Would love a video of freezer meals or food prep for if you're expecting some sort of life event that will keep you from being able to easily cook (like a surgery, a new baby, house renovation etc). If you have a video like this already perfect!
love your approach! It's refreshing to watch someone that really wants to help and not sell you on a quick "fix"
SOOOO happy to see you again in 2022, Alyssia! Thank you for keeping it real and consistent with your messaging. These recipes are perfect for introducing more veggies into my family's meals this year (a goal for me)!
ADHD makes meal prep difficult for me. Things are a little different for me that when I was in my 20s with less financial stability. Now that I have money to spend on food, I had to revamp my entire meal planning.
ADHD brains tend to get things done when the task is New, Interesting, or Urgent.
For me, meal prepping and eating balanced meals just gotta to be interesting enough to be new and not urgent enough where I am ravenous.
I go through phases where meal prep works for me and other phases where I just need quick foods to whip up. I rarely make big batches of food because my brain likes New and Interesting food most days.
For Snacky Phases, I always have on hand carrots, celery, apples, nut butters, chips, bars, single containers of cottage cheese or yogurt, string cheese, etc. This takes care of food when I find food to be Urgent (must sustain!)
For Meal Prep weeks, I have about 20 meals in my head that I like to make (which is enough variety for me (New) and individually chop up the ingredients (as I am Interested enough to do them) and stick them in the freezer. I have on hand, all the pantry items I need. That way, I have the foundation of my meals ready to throw in a pot.
If my kitchen is getting too full with food, I go on a No Spend Challenge (when the mood strikes (Interesting!) and make all sorts of crazy dishes with whatever is in the pantry.
Also, music playing always keepsy brain stimulated enough to stay in the kitchen long enough to make sure my food is cooked well.
I love all the systems you've put into place! I was just diagnosed with ADHD last year and have been learning some systems like these for myself-yours are very helpful :) Thanks for sharing. 💙
You could add in seasonal veg only weeks
So good to have people like you motivating to eat healthy. Loved the quinoa idea. I made the spaghetti and veggies came out so good. I added some vegan meatballs I had in the freezer and whole olives. I am ready to work tomorrow. Thank you.
Monday video yes I love earlier video in the week.
Hi Allyssia!!! Life has been crazy!!! I just love your meal preps. I've been helping others find ways to meal prep that work for their family and refer them to your channel. Thank you!!!!
thank you so much! Sending love Tammie!
Thank you!
Alyssia, I was curious if you are open to a suggestion: making another college meal prep, using only a microwave? I moved in today and Lord it is so different and hard not having a normally equipped kitchen nearby! Thanks for the video!
Just wanted to suggest watching See Mindy Mom if you haven't already. She has some microwave videos that might help you as well, but of course one from Alyssia would be great as well! :)
@@alwayslearning9272 thank you!
Really love this recipe so much. I would definitely love to make it. It's looking certainly fabulous and tempting.| Indeed easy to follow with all simple ingredients and your presentation is fantastic and attractive. Thanks for sharing this recipe. 💖Stay connected.💖
Let go of the attachment to recipes, been preaching this since I've come to understand nutrition more from the ground up mindset! So refreshing to hear this from you!
thank you :)
Garlic Chicken ...Quinoa? Sounds yummy :) Having the grain pre-prep'd will definately help!
Me and mealprepping is prepping the meals and not eating them in time . I can't think in advance very well.. but this week I started to meal prep my lunch for work.. which is like a graze box.. vegetables sticks, breadsticks with hummus and yoghurt dip 😋.. for me this is huge and I am even liking it.. it also helps me to eat less and stop when I feel it's enough..or slow down when I munch without my mind.. I have to try this for my evening meals too..and see if it works..
I just recently found your channel and love it 😍👍been binge watching lol
oh yay! Thanks and welcome to the channel :)
Happy new year Alyssia! Have you considered doing TED talks? Your advice and tone are very helpful and easy to understand, and it's life changing stuff!
I really appreciate that, Cat-thank you!! It is on my list of "dreams" to do a TED talk :) one day I may get brave enough to actually apply 😆 thank you for the encouragement!
For me, meal prep is more about getting dinner on the table in a timely manner after work & having lunches for work days - these are my pain points. So an important component is planning - what meals can be thrown together quickly on a work day or prepared partially in advance? What can I intentionally make more of so I have leftovers to use? I agree, preparing protein components is key for time saving. I find the carb/starch less critical. Some veggies need to be partially prepared for those quick meal days, but I find veggies easy otherwise 🤷♀️ As you say, we are all different & need to find what serves us!
Thank you. Biggest challenge is what to prep. 😊
Totally! It's tough to figure out how to keep it creative. I end up doing the same things, often.
Alyssia, your noodles look simply gorgeous. It reminds me of spaghetti or chow mein.
thank you Byron! I love both of those dishes!!
The biggest challenge is actually buying, carrying and finding the products you need lol 😂
The recipes look 👀 so gorgeous and delicious. I love quinoa you can literally eat it with anything. One time I actually melted Nutella chocolate and ate it with bananas and strawberries 😌 your pasta looks like something you get at an expensive restaurant.
Thank you! Funny how the pasta can look so fancy and is really so simple and inexpensive :)
Hi Alyssia,
I can never get my Quinoa to look like yours does. Not sure why. I follow the cooking instructions and it ends up either still hardish or a texture I find unpalatable. Do you use Black rice at all? I love it. Thanks for your help
Do you ever toast your quinoa? I have found this to really help get rid of the bitter taste. I don't do black rice often, it's a little firm for my taste! I prefer basmati :)
My biggest struggle is my poor health combined with fussy kids! I don't have any idea when I'll have bad days and not be able to cook, so I keep easy cook foods around, but then the meal prepped good often goes bad over the flare up. The guilt at wasting food got to me so I stopped prepping, but we're eating less veggies etc and now I'm guilty about that too...!
that sounds really tough-and as you shared, the guilt only compounds the suffering. I might offer starting with that-the guilt. I imagine the whole experience might be very different with out the self-criticism-what might it look like to offer yourself kindness, compassion and understanding during those hard times, rather than beating yourself up? I know it might seem like it doesn't "solve" the problem, but I have found, in my life personally, that judgment really held me back quite a lot. Sending love
@@MindOverMunch Thank you, it's definitely something I'm working on! I really appreciate the understanding 💜
I am exhausted all lf the time. A food processor is my best friend. It does 90% of the work. I buy a bunch of onions, peppers, carrots, etc and do them all at once and freeze them. My veggies arent pretty, but they're chopped and available to use whenever I need to cook. Before I would just skip veggies entirely.
Meal prep for me is less about preparing weekly meals and more about preparing to make cooking easier/faster whenever I have the motivation and energy to do so.
I love my food processor, too! Love that you freeze veggies-great tip. I take the same approach: preparing to make weeknight cooking less stressful!
Letting go of attachment to recipes is definitely what I struggle with. I say as I'm trying to write the ingredients for each recipe 😅
yes! The recipes really stress me out-that's why I've had to learn to cook without them!
I started to meal prep. I didn’t do the hole meal. Just veggies.
That's awesome! A little goes a long way :)