30 Day Paleo: Day Fifteen – Master Meal Prepping

Looking to make healthier choices? Perfect! This is Day 15 of 30 of my 30 Day Paleo Plan. For more information on 30 Day Paleo as well as 30 Minute Paleo, check out the get started page. Post each day on your 30 Day Paleo journey to Twitter or Instagram and show me by tagging me with @dranthonygustin — get after it! 

Healthy eating is not always the most convenient thing – it requires much more planning. One of the best things you can do to ultimately reduce the time you spend in the kitchen is to prep at the beginning of each week. Meal prepping can be an instant transformation to an easier path to health.

You would never wash one t-shirt at a time or one pair of socks after you get done wearing them, so stop cooking each meal individually. Meal prepping takes time, but is so worth it. If you choose to make one time consuming but positive decision, you won’t have to wonder what to eat in the week coming up. Additionally, planning meals to fill you up throughout the day will make you less likely to reach for something sugary or otherwise unhealthy out of sheer hunger (take note, after work binge eaters). All of your meals can be set for the week by spending some time in the kitchen on the weekend. One great choice will make it easy to make many positive choices throughout the week.

Vegetables

As long as vegetables are fresh (see Day 6 – Farmers Markets), they will stay crunchy and crisp for 5-7 days, no problem. When you get home with your groceries, cut all of your vegetables up and make salads for the week.

Tip – Cut up cabbage and lie down in container first. If you are busy and you dress your lunch salad before you leave home in the morning, the oil will settle on the cabbage at the bottom, which won’t wilt like some other vegetables.

Keep a few airtight containers with a different type of vegetable in each one. This speeds up the task of cooking dinner on any particular day. The most time intensive task is prepping – getting ingredients out, chopping them up, etc. Take what uses the most time and batch it together to save yourself valuable time.

Meat

Everyone has a way to cook mass amounts of meat. Whether it is an oven, smoker, grill, or crockpot, committing some time to getting it done is the biggest step.

Start with meat that is easy to not mess up. The last thing you want to do is end up with 6 lbs of a dry and inedible chunk of beef. This includes fattier cuts of meat that can be cooked for longer periods of time. Check out recipes for the slow cooker to make this easy.

Buying meat in bulk is the best and cheapest way to go about purchasing. Local farms will likely give you huge discounts when you purchase large quantities. Store in your freezer or split with a friend.

Scale Recipes

Certain recipes are likely to grab your attention more than others. Is it something that would be good either cold or reheated? Then just scale it 4-6x what you normally would make for that one recipe.

The most important thing you can do is find something that you like and fits the overall outlines you should be following and consciously repeat that meal. By planning in advance and sacrificing some time to get some meal prepping done, you will save much more time during the week and make good choices ahead of time. Do your laundry on one day, not every day.

Cook or prepare something in bulk for the next few days.