Making Food Prep Easy

Do you ever get frustrated with the results you are or are not seeing from you workouts?
The scale, the waistband, the sleeves, the belly...  It's so hard to be patient.

I have to constantly remind myself that it didn't take 3 days to put on the pounds so its definitely not going to come off in 3 days.  However, sometimes, I really feel like I work my booty off to no avail.  It's still there! This week I was feeling particularly yucky - bloated tummy, headache, just yuck.  It hit me at that point that perhaps the reason why I don't see any results and I feel so yuck is because I've started using my exercise routine as an excuse to eat whatever I want.

In order to ensure I'm eating healthy, I've started prepping all of my food this week.  In fact, yesterday I even prepped my snack for grad school so that I wouldn't be tempted to swing into Sonic and get something.  So I thought today I would share some recent resources I've found in regards to food prep.

Source: littlemissfit.blogspot.com via Missy on Pinterest

Every Sunday I go to the grocery store and restock our weekly staples.  These staples include:

• romaine lettuce (I buy 3 heads in a bag)
• 1 cucumber
• 1 green, red, and yellow pepper
• 1 bag of carrots
• 1 tomato
• any other veggies I like
• bananas
• strawberries/pineapple/kiwi (depends on what is on sale)
• apples

The reason why I always buy these items is because every Sunday and Wednesday evening I make a large salad and divide it into containers.  Each day of the week I bring a salad to work for lunch.  I have realized that buying quality produce makes me look forward to my salad.  (Bags of lettuce and veggies have these preservatives on them and to me, they don't taste as good nor do they last as long.)  To spice things up a bit I also purchase hickory smoked tuna, different marinades for chicken, crispy onions, pecans, craisins, golden raisins, etc. to add to my salad.  It's just as good as a restaurant salad!

Source: Uploaded by user via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: fabulouslyorganizedhome.com via Leah {Fabulously Organized Home} on Pinterest

Monday night I spent the evening deep cleaning my kitchen and re-organiziing (I wish I'd found this food prepping station idea before I figured it out for myself).  I did several things in order to make healthy food more appealing and food prep less of a chore.

I put my fruit bowl on the counter I see as soon as I walk into my kitchen.  It used to be back in the corner, under the cupboards.  Now it's out in plain view so that those are the first colors I see when I'm in snack mode.  I also put my juicer within the fridge/stove/sink triangle so that it is easy to use and clean each day.  My knives are close to the juicer and I organized my counters so that I have plenty of room to cut fruit right there.

Making a Food Prep Ease Zone

1. Provide plenty of counter space.   

Remove unused items from the counter and store in cupboards.

2.  Keep your highly used appliances within the fridge/sink/stove triangle.

3.  Keep knives at hand in a block.

4.  Prep food as much as possible upon purchase.

5.  Keep containers organized!

When I come home from the grocery store with all those items listed above, I immediately get them all out, clean them, and prepare them by slicing, cutting, etc. as much as I can.  There are some things you can't do that to, but I do as much as possible.  For instance, I clean and cut my celery and keep it in the refrigerator in a container of water (just like they do in restaurants) that way I can just grab what I need.

One last tidbit of info that has made my healthy eating plan a whiz is the salad spinner!  Growing up we didn't have one of these and I'm pretty sure most people consider it a non-necessity.  I'm here to tell you if you are trying to eat healthy every day and incorporate more salads/veggies into your life, you need one.  I cut and dice all my veggies (without washing) and throw them in the strainer part.  Once I'm done with all that, I take the strainer and run it under water, moving the veggies around so they all get clean.  I place the strainer into the bowl, put the lid on, and give it a few spins.  Voila!  My salad is clean, dry, and tossed!  I have this one which I love, but I've seen several versions at World Market and even TJ Maxx that would work well, too.  I bet it cuts my prep time almost in half.

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