Meal Planning, Prepping & Batch Cooking (plus some awesome recipes!)

1/10/2022

No matter what the goal, the best way to reach it is to plan ahead. Life is too busy to attempt to succeed at reaching our goals with a plan of action in place and some prep ahead of time.

This is especially true when it comes to changing your diet. Eliminating sugar from our diet is not easy, especially if we are coming from a diet high in carbs and processed foods.

One way to make sure you are successful is by meal planning and prepping ahead of time. Below I go over some tips for meal planning, dive into my favorite way to prep food, and then give you some awesome recipes to get you started!

Meal Planning Tips

Meal planning will look different for everybody. That’s because we need to take a look at our own lives and schedules to determine what approach will work best for us. Below are some meal planning tips that you can apply and tweak to your personal needs:

Choose a day to meal plan: if we don’t make time to plan, it’s less likely to happen. That’s why my first tip is to pick one day to plan out the next week’s worth of meals. But this part isn’t just about choosing recipes, it’s also about taking inventory and making your shopping list. Once you know WHAT you will be making, you need to look at what you currently have, and then create a list of what you still need. This way, you are ready to head to the store and you minimize the chances of forgetting something you need!
Choose a day (or days) to go shopping: while planning our meals and making a list are easy to fit into one day, some of us feel better shopping more than once per week. This is one of those things you need to figure out on your own, and may take a little trial and error. However, you definitely want to know ahead of time what day or days you will be going shopping and schedule it in your planner just as you would any other important appointment.
Choose a day (or days) to prep (more on prep below!): Meal prep is definitely the task that takes the longest so for some, splitting it up works best. However, others find devoting a few hours once per week is the secret to their success. This is especially true in the case of batch cooking, which I dive more into below. Just like above, schedule this time out so that you are less likely to do anything else over it!
Consider creating a recipe bank or investing in a meal planning app like Real Plans: rather than scouring the internet for a new recipe each week, having a bank to choose from or an app that provides them will make your life easier. The reality is, the internet has thousands of recipes, which can make the whole process super overwhelming! Anytime you come across a recipe that looks good to you, add it to your recipe bank! Then, when it’s meal planning day, you’ll have a shorter list to choose from.
Invest in some high quality storage options: meal planning and prepping means you’ll need places to put all of the food. And what you definitely want to avoid are plastic containers. Need some refrigerator organization options? Check out Container Store or even Amazon! As for meal prep and leftovers, some of my favorite storage containers include the following:
1. Stasher Bags
2. Glass Meal Prep Containers (these are dishwasher safe, freezable and can easily be reheated directly in the container)
3. Collapsible Bento Lunch Box (these are great for eaters who don't love their food to touch, for storage and for travel)

Batch Cooking for a Sugar Detox

As I already mentioned, different people approach meal planning and prep differently. While some may feel good purchasing their food on Sundays and then prepping and cooking each night, others require a different approach that allows them to spend less time in the kitchen.

That’s where batch booking comes in.

With batch cooking, you buy all of your food at once and devote a few hours in one day to prepping your meals so that all you have to do is heat and eat (if heating is even required!).

Funny enough, even batch cooking can run along a spectrum. For example, one person may choose to cook up some sides on the weekend to save time during the week whereas another may cook whole meals to be ready for grab and go, when necessary!

Regardless of the type of batch cooking you do, the main idea is this: it saves you time and keeps you out of the kitchen - mostly! - all week!

And during a sugar detox, the more prepared you are, the better, so batch cooking may just be your ticket to success.

Think about it:

When you meal plan and create a grocery list, you’re less likely to succumb to impulse purchases (which are usually much more indulgent than you want them to be)
Having your meals prepared ahead of time makes decision making easier, leading to less random snacking.

Oh and one more thing about batch cooking - you can do it for as far ahead as you want! Whether you cook for a week or you cook for a month, batch cooking is how to get it all done.

Okay, ready for some awesome make ahead recipes to support you during your sugar detox? Check them out below!