A Meal Prep Hack to Make Cooking Eas(ier)
I’ve got an idea for you today that will change the game when it comes to meal planning. If you’re like me, you dread hearing the question “what’s for dinner tonight?”. It’s so exhausting to have to think of AND execute a new meal every dang night after what was likely a busy day.
This simple strategy will make things easier, but I will be honest with you upfront and say that it’s not going to make planning and cooking *easy.* Let’s be real. Cooking for your family every night isn’t easy. It’s a significant time and energy commitment. It’s a huge investment in the health of you and your family, but it is SO worth it. Feel proud that you’re even reading this blog post and have the desire to cook more homemade meals. It’s a big deal, and most people aren’t doing it. But if we want the results most people don’t have, we have to be willing to do the things most people won’t.
That’s you, and that’s why you’re here!
So here’s the strategy. Instead of feeling frantic every night with one million dinner possibilities swirling through your mind (or, if you’re like me, precisely zero ideas that sound good), let’s introduce some light structure. Constraints boosts focus, motivation, and creativity.
Develop a schedule for yourself with the general category of meal you will eat each day of the week. For example, here’s my weekly schedule:
Monday: Bowls
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Soup/Salad
Thursday: Steak
Friday: Chicken dish
As you can see, within each day of the week, there are hundreds of possibilities for recipes I could make, but I am constrained to a particular category or ingredient that narrows my focus and makes it so much easier for me to plan each week.
Here are some other categories you might include in your weekly plan: pasta night, pizza night, Asian cuisine, meatless Monday, slow cooker meals, sheet pan dishes, Mediterranean night, low-carb meal, casserole night.
Endless options often lead to analysis paralysis, but giving yourself a light structure might be the ticket to easier planning and better execution. Try it out and let me know how it goes for you!
XO,
Kara
