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Happy almost autumn, organizing clients and friends!
Lately I've been experimenting with meal prep. For economy, nutritional value, and deliciousness, I prefer eating homemade food. However, when I get home from work I'm tired and just want to lie down, not leap into a cooking project.
I wondered, how might I apply the organizing principles of “done is better than perfect,” and “it’s easier to keep up than to catch up” to feeding myself well? Here's what’s been working for me.
1x/month supplement prep: I sort four weeks of medications and supplements into four sets of pill organizers.
This way, for the next thirty days I don’t need to ‘catch up’ (remember, decide, plan, find, count out, shop for, order) on supplements and medications. All I need to do is ‘keep up’ (take them each day).
1x/week breakfast prep: I make my version of Noah Galuten's 'health sludge': berries, banana, plain yogurt, protein powder, kale (you can't taste the greens), and water. I freeze the smoothies in individual cups, defrost one at a time in the fridge, then stir in ground flax seeds and chia seeds.
‘Perfect’ breakfast prep for me would mean cooking a variety of dishes each morning, but having yummy smoothies ‘done’ in advance is good enough.
1x/week dinner prep: To keep a variety of dishes on hand, I cook something new each week and then freeze it in individual portions: soups and stews in 1-cup Souper Cubes trays, then stored in Ziplock bags; bread in slices; cookie doughs in 1" balls; and cake batters in 4-3/4" round paper baking pans. (These little pans remind me of my childhood Betty Crocker Easy Bake Oven!)
This way, I 'keep up' by maintaining a freezer full of meals, versus trying to 'catch up' by having a freezer full of ingredients. Again, ‘perfect’ meal prep for me would mean preparing fresh vegetables and salads daily, but this 'done’ version means I still eat well, even when I’m tired.
Bonus: it's fun to have little desserts on hand that I can quickly bake up to serve to guests or bring as hostess gifts. Right now in my freezer I have tarts made with rhubarb and berries from my garden.
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