Category: Healthy meal prep

Healthy meal prep is rewarding like pizzas you can make and bake at home. This recipe is below. 🍴

Like this wood fired -inspired pizza you can make and bake in your apartment oven or home.

It’s no secret that healthy meal prep is the way to eat healthier meals and save time. But doing any type of meal planning enjoyably can be work and a challenge.

…And I remember the 10 years I breathed in event meal planning day and night as a professional career with the tasty outcomes it produced… and smiles on faces.

The happy event memories produced were lasting. And in home meal planning talk that’s like healthy foods to body cell memories.

I share tips below on how to gain the joy in the process of healthy meal prep.

I share from the lens of baking that can be applied to savory meals. Baking isn’t just for sweet tooths 😉

And you can tweak to your cooking methods whether it’s stovetop or grilling (too).

So here we go!

The first point for healthy meal prep is get your self-serving mindset on.

If the idea of meal prep or healthy meal prep sounds daunting to you, instead of looking at cooking and healthy meal prep as a chore, you can reframe to these enjoyable perspectives:

Use meal prep and cooking as a way to relax. 🍽️ The finished meal is the cherry on top. 🍒

Baking or cooking is a great way to detox from work or a stressful day. You can let ideas percolate as you listen to music or a show in the background. You don’t have to stare at your food cooking. You can use your low-key energy.

Listening to audio is a great use of 20-40 minutes. It’s my fave way to listen to music, podcasts, and have even recorded my own weekly. 🎧

While you’re waiting for your cooking to be ready, you can do your clean up exercise, so after dinner you’re smiling with your Houdini magic clean up job (…where poof! it’s gone). ✨

And you can do stretches, side bends, and exercise.

That’s how baking can be superior (because you don’t have to watch the stove or grill). The timer does the watching in the oven so you can take up other light activities.

Healthy meal prep and cooking is made easier.

Healthy generally means cleaner and simpler, less frou-frou embellished ingredients and sauces. The more whole ingredients and fewer processed ingredients, the better.

With healthy foods and fewer ingredients, meal prep time and cooking minutes are shorter because there are less steps.

And they’re easier steps. Adding a spice or two can be the anti-inflammatory flare needed, that’s less time than creating a roux or using multi-step French recipes. Save those for days where you have more relaxed time.

For most days, you can think of healthy meal prep as a new hobby. Didn’t consider it like that, did you? 🤔

Adding to the hobby idea… one great way to rid of racing thoughts is by getting distracted with a new hobby, creative pursuit, project, or passion that baking and cooking can be.

Healthy meal prep can be a part that inspires your new hobby.

Like most hobbies, you get to try new techniques and the result is your finished product version (aka meal). There’s no right or wrong. Just reward. 😋

Whatever you like and prefer will always be popular with you. And always trending on your food board, so it’s a win all around. And if you take up cooking as one of your regular hobbies, then you not only get a life skill that can serve you well and daily… you’ll also have one that others can enjoy in taste and photos if you document and share. 💖

Cooking is entertaining.

That’s what I know planning catered events working with the chefs in upscale hotel and foodie restaurant kitchens. And letting those vibes transcend into my own working kitchen.

What I like most about baking is the entertainment factor in the entire process. You get to watch the bake from scratch, in production and then placement on the plate and table.

That brings me back to my roots. But you can find your own version and maybe you enjoy food shows like I do. Who doesn’t love Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives?

Thank you, Great British Bake Off and weekend cooking shows for showing me that I’m not crazy!

When you watch inspirational and aspiring food shows like those, they can make the meal prep look easy on the set. They fast forward to the main steps. And that’s how it can be for you…

You can skip the multi-layer processes, waiting, cooling, and decorating steps and get to the main steps in healthy meal planning with less hassles.

Slip meal prep into your day.

And instead of doing everything all at once, you can take 10-minute breaks before your meal prep to pull out room temp ingredients, clean tools off, and mince foods. Or, do it early in the day or late at night when your mood fancies.

This will linger in your back burner as a sub-priority and prime you for happy meal prep mood.

As a creative at heart, I don’t believe you should be robotic in the kitchen and dicing perfectly if you don’t have to.

Finding what works for you, works.

As a Vata, I like to go off script and outta routine.

To balance, I put my planner hat back on and get back to a routine.

It’s like playing ball against a wall where you toss and catch. And the balance is that is that the ball is still in the air and you’re still  enjoying yourself!

Then after doing other work or activities, you’re prepped to come back to preparing your meal.

Snack while you’re preparing.

Enjoyment doesn’t have to be at the end either. Try a few items while you’re prepping. The benefit of being in the kitchen is being around all the goodies.

Develop your bonding relationship with food loves and new variety foods, as healthy. You’ll love your dishes even more when they’re ready.

Standing points.

When you’re meal prepping or cooking, you’re standing. If you sit most the day, you win points that you may be tracking. If a standing desk doesn’t work for you, then cooking is one activity that allows you to stand without feeling awkward.

Being relaxed and standing has its benefits.

And in between you can do a few more baking yoga stretches like yoga squats to win move and exercise points. Baking allows you to get into your bending yoga squat if you want to be at the level of your oven food.

Cooking and baking are also great ways to unwind from a stressful day where you’re not quite ready to sit down or retire for the night.

And finally, I saved the best for last…

Meal prep can be your meditation.

That’s how I see it as I let thoughts enter. And with eyes open, allow my mind to show me new areas that I haven’t thought about… places to have gratitude that come from my day… and how to relax while aromatic cooking is in the process. That’s food meditation🧘🏼‍♀️

Then to keep the balance and flow, I fast on certain days and hours where I intentionally stay away from the kitchen. That’s my second form of  meditation that helps me set my work week and healthy meal prep week.

If you want to learn how you can get free healthy meal plan recipes to align with your healthy weight intentions, check out the free intermittent fasting guide.

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