Eating healthy and building new habits is, let’s face it, a lot of work. Even if you enjoy healthy food, it’s a lot of dedicated preparation and intentional decision-making. To have that flow-state weight-loss routine you’ll need to be able to act in the moment, too! Meal-prep is easy on a Sunday afternoon when you have time, but by the middle of the week you may find your plan has some gaps you need to fill.
Have some go-to tactics for your fridge, and your mind!
Let’s talk through a few simple strategies to be ready for this inevitability. It’s not some deficiency on your part, and I don’t think “we’re not Superman/woman/person/dog!” is the right response here. Even superman doesn’t have time to cook on weeknights sometimes! So let’s start at the top:
- Keep your freezer stocked with veggies that you know you’ll eat pretty much any time.
In our house we keep frozen broccoli and green beans in the freezer at all times. We might branch out to a frozen brussels sprout or riced broccoli from time to time, but those two standbys are ones that I know we’ll never get too tired of and have definitely been midweek lifesavers for me. - Keep quick-cooking proteins in the fridge or freezer
Having some proteins that won’t take an hour to prepare on hand is an effective way to protect you from the dreaded “well it would be easier to order pizza” feeling! Having some quick-cooking sausages in the fridge ensures you’re able to pull them out and quickly have a filling meal on the table. And, keeping them around all the time isn’t too risky as they have a long shelf life. Things like frozen shrimp or fish fillets that can be either thawed quickly or baked without thawing at all are also easy time-savers that will get you to a healthy, less processed protein without having to wait on a delivery driver to bring you who knows what. - Eggs are one of those magical foods that deliver protein, nutrients and happiness all in one little package! Egg scrambles frequently get me through the week. They also have the added benefit of finding a purpose for some of the odds-and-ends leftovers that might otherwise just get thrown away.
The recipe pictured above is from the William Sonoma Blog. But, there are an infinite number of ways you can scramble your dinner or lunch! I like to add any small amounts of protein or veggies that won’t quite make a full side for a meal, mix them all together in a pan and voila – food in less than ten minutes! Don’t judge, but I even do this at work in the microwave sometimes. - Sometimes you won’t have what you need. Sometimes, you’ll just have to tough it out. One of the strategies I learned a lot about in the Noom app, is that when you’re confronted with a difficult situation, have strategies on hand to get you through. The one I like to focus on in these situations is “Accept and ACT”. It is not worth blowing your goals for a whole day because you may have to eat dinner a little later due to needing to run to the store or get some freezer meat thawed out. So, take a few deep breaths and accept the situation in your mind. And then – ACT! Stay strong! Lean into your mantras and keep doing the work, tomorrow you will be grateful you did :).
How do you prepare to be unprepared with meal-prep?
Let us know in the comments how you keep your fridge meal-prepped and ready to go for any uncertain moments! Do you have go to strategies for this situation?