We’ve said it time and again, and you’re probably sick of hearing it – but you can’t out-train a bad diet. Fitness is all about forming healthy habits and being consistent with them over the long term.
Coming to CrossFit U 3 times a week is a healthy habit. Eating take out 3 times a week because you didn’t plan your meals is not. The thing about planning and preparing your meals in advance is that it saves you so much time later on. You’ll be amazed at the amount of time you free up not having to plan and cook a meal each night. And yes, warming up your already prepared food is much faster than getting take out. Just like any skill you practice, you become quicker and better at meal prep the more you do it.
Now most busy people in a 9-5 job will find doing their meal prep on Sunday the easiest. It’s when, after a busy week and maybe some fun on the weekend, most people can find time to wind down and look at the week ahead. Just think, 10 minutes to plan your meals, 1 hour for grocery shopping and 2 hours of cooking and you’re done for the week! You’re going to grocery shop and cook Sunday dinner anyway, so an extra hour in the kitchen saves you 5 hours during the week, assuming you prep dinner for the next 5 days.
Here are some tips to make your meal prep easier:
Plan out your meals and write out a shopping list of exactly what you need to create those meals. This will make your time in the supermarket much more efficient and saves you wandering through the isles, potentially grabbing anything unhealthy and unnecessary. Make sure you have enough storage containers. BPA free, microwavable containers tupperware containers so you can store or freeze each meal individually. This also saves on having to wash a load of dishes after eating! Keep it simple Cook 2-3 types of protein (lamb, beef, chicken, eggs, fish etc). The same with your carbs (rice, potato, yams, quinoa etc.) Mix and match these into different combinations for your meals and store/freeze them in separate containers. Experiment with spices for variation! Chop up a whole load of veggies and place them into large containers in your fridge so that they are ready to be eaten as a healthy snack or added to your meal as a salad. You can add a squeeze of lemon juice to help keep raw veggiesfrom going brown – just don’t cut up your fruits before you are ready to eat them. Form an Assembly line it works for Ford, it can work for you! Perform your meal prep in stages to make it easier and more manageable. Once you get home from the supermarket, rinse/wash everything that needs it. Then get chopping, slicing and dicing, before firing up your stove top and your oven to start cooking the different ingredients. Once everything is cooked, you can start mixing and matching to create your meals! This becomes even easier with a partner or flatmate, so rope them in! Make sure your tools are up to the job! With all the cutting and chopping you’re going to do, investing in a good set of knives is a no brainer. They make cutting a breeze and if you look after them, they hold their edge much better than their cheaper counterparts. Also having a set of large non-stick pots, pans and oven racks means you can get more food cooking at once!
Happy cooking CFU!
