Eating Well on the Go!

Life is hectic enough, why does dinner have to be complicated? Whether you have a family of four and you’re balancing several different schedules or you and your partner are trying to shed some holiday pounds – prepping your meals in advance will save you time, money and (when done right) a whole lot of head ache. First, keep it simple! Start by prepping two times a week so you’re only planning three days in advance.

Breakfast can be as easy as cutting fresh fruit to be frozen for AM smoothies or single serving overnight oats. Individual portions are great for kids and those chaotic Monday mornings.

Discover a landscape like no other! Arches National Park is home to over 2,000 natural sandstone arches and hundreds of amazing rock formations, including giant balanced boulders, incredible rock fins, and high-reaching spires! Just north of Moab, Utah, and adjacent to the Colorado River, the park contains over 76,000 acres of red rock wonders. Arches National Park is also home to a large number of interesting native plants and animals, including the peregrine falcon and kangaroo rat. The park, like much of Southeastern Utah, is also home to a dense living soil layer that provides water and nutrients to complex forms of plant life that would otherwise not flourish with such low levels of precipitation.

Source: utah.com

For Oats: Mason jars work the best, pour ½ cup of old fashioned oats into ½ cup of almond milk (or water), mix and cover, then let sit overnight in the fridge. Top with fresh fruit in the morning and you’re all set! If you want to get fancy you can add some cacao or drizzle with honey.

Despite the stigma, none of your meals need to be “worthy of the gram” in order to get your taste buds talking. Stick to healthy, high protein, low carb and low processed sugar recipes for lasting energy throughout your day. An important part of successful meal prep is buying ingredients you can use for several different lunches/dinners.

For example:

1 Lunch option – Taco Bowls: Ground Beef w/ taco seasoning, black (or pinto) beans, brown rice, fresh avocado, mixed greens, corn and your favorite salsa.

1 Dinner option – Taco Casserole: Same ingredients but swap your rice for corn tortillas. Mix your beans, mixed greens, corn and salsa in a bowl and layer with the tortillas/taco meat, like a lasagna. Top it off with your choice of cheese and pop it in the oven to warm up, then add avocado when serving.

Using overlapping ingredients really simplifies your prep, just have your taco bowl for lunch one day and the casserole for dinner the next, so you don’t get bored of those flavors. One last tip that will make your prep easier: create a calendar for those three days and only buy the groceries for those meals. You can freeze what doesn’t get used for later in the week. Just try not to plan too far ahead; life happens, things come up and you don’t want to set yourself up to fail. Give it a try this week, you won’t regret it!