Food Prep Combined with Intuitive Eating...Intuitive Food Prep?!
How can you 'eat healthily' and intuitively whilst also preparing in advance? Here are my top tips on Intuitive Food Prep.
There is no one clear, definition of eating healthy, I believe that when we listen to what we eat, honour and hunger cues and eat food that satisfies us and makes us feel good, we are actively embracing a healthy relationship with food.
If you haven’t tried prepping food in advance before, or given it a go once or twice, it may seem daunting. I can, for some, feel as if it will require a lot of time, but it really doesn’t have to.
Food prepping intuitively saves you time during the week, it ensures you’ll have a delicious, satisfying meal even when you are exhausted, running late and have no energy left to cook and it often works out to be more economical too.
You may wish to do food prep twice a week or once a week. I often opt for once a week, on a Sunday. I block out 3 to 4 hours, either first thing in the morning or in the afternoon, pop a podcast on or my favourite music and get cooking, I then freeze half of what I prepare and take that out mid week.
You may prefer to spend a few hours on a Sunday and a few hours mid-week instead, whatever works best for you, it will make all the difference however you work it. For me this isn’t a chore, it’s an opportunity to relax and take some time just for me, looking after future me.
Where to begin with Intuitive Food Prep.
It’s worth thinking about when you can fit this time in? You may have to move a few things around to make your well-being a priority.
I start out by finding recipes I’d like to cook. During the week my go to places are my Instagram saved album dedicated to food, Pinterest, recipe books and my camera roll on my phone as well as asking people what they had for tea last night.
TOP TIP: The easier and simpler the recipes, with easy to get hold of ingredients, the more likely you will be to make them.Now it’s time to make a list of a couple of mains which can mix and match e.g curry can go with rice, with jacket potato and with naan breads. I choose 3 mains for the week. Then choose a dip or two, fillers like rice, pasta, mash etc and snacks like biscuits, fruit, crisps.
THE FORGOTTEN: Breakfast: What do you enjoy having for breakfast? This is one of those meals that is usually forgotten about when it comes to meal prep. Make sure you have the ingredients - if it’s something like overnight oats you can batch make these. If it’s toast, freeze bread pre-sliced and take however many slices you would like for breakfast and pop in the toaster. If it’s cereal, ensure you have enough cereal and milk for the week, if it’s smoothies check you have frozen fruit ready to go and anything else you like to add.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO COOK EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH.
Your list may include pre-made meals and snacks and that is more than okay, this is also part of food prep.
It’s time to make a shopping list now, check the cupboards, what have you got, what do you need to buy?
Once you have the ingredients and its time to get down to prepping make sure you have the essentials:
All of the required ingredients, meals and snacks on your list or substitutes.
Enough containers - I love glass ones but they aren’t practical for when you’re on the move, reusable bamboo or plastic ones are much easier to pack in a bag. However I use glass containers in the fridge or ovenproof glass containers for pasta bakes, cottage pie etc. Which can then be popped into the fridge as is once cooled. When eating anything cold, out of the fridge later on in the week, make sure you give it 10 mins or so to warm to room temperature. It won’t taste as flavoursome straight out of the fridge.
Airtight containers to keep the food in, either in the fridge or cupboard depending on what it is - this ensures the food holds its flavour as well as making sure it doesn’t go off. Keep anything cooked in the fridge and anything baked in the cupboard in airtight containers.
Prioritise what to make first, I always go with the things which take the most time or that I least want to do, getting them out of the way first. Keep a to do list handy, you may find it useful to note down on a pad something like this:
“Make curry”
“Portion curry and allow to cool”
“Store curry half in fridge half in freezer”
TOP TIP: Freezing foods: I freeze currys, soups, stews, sauces in freezer bags, portioning them up into individual portions once cool, sealing and then laying flat. I then pop a note on it of what it is and lay them flat in the freezer, this then doesn’t take up much room. I mention individual portions as you should only defrost something once, individual portions ensure you won’t get too much out. Freeze bread, pre-sliced, frozen fruit, cake individually sliced or cupcakes - I even freeze ready made sandwiches!
Make it an experience. Pop your fave podcasts on, or a fab playlist or even a much loved series on in the background. Light a candle, make a cuppa. Remind yourself you’re taking this time to take care of yourself in the future.