Meal prepping is part of the gentle nutrition part of intuitive eating as it is a form of self-care and nourishment.
When have food prepped, we can honour our hunger when it strikes. Meal prepping also enables us to have a better work-life-home balance, so we can spend our time on other things during the week. It makes our life easier!
The difference between meal prepping with intuitive eating compared to dieting is there are no rules and it is all about flexibility. It is about choosing foods based on what we want to eat, not what we think we should eat. It is also not about meal prepping for every meal, but rather than having some basics on hand for the majority of the week.
Meal prepping also gives us the opportunity to experiment with different foods and find the foods that are the most satisfying. Meal prepping doesn’t mean that we have to eat all the foods that we have prepped too; it’s about being flexible and still choosing to eat out, or eat something else, if that’s what we want.
Intuitive eating and meal prepping
Prioritise some time to meal prep each week. Choose a 1-2-hour slot that you can commit too. Or if this doesn’t work, cook extra when you are already cooking. As an example, when you are making your breakfast boil some eggs, or chop extra veggies when making your lunch.
Plan out some basic meals that include all the macronutrients. Choose foods that sound good to you that you can chop, change and mix up. Ask yourself, what do I feel like this week? What is my week looking like? What foods will work best with my schedule? What is going to be satisfying and make me feel good?
Go food shopping and buy everything that you need for the week including all the basics such as olive oil, coconut oil, herbs, spices, vinegar etc so you can stock up your cupboards.
Buy some nutritious snacks that you like to eat such as nuts, fruit, yogurt, tins of tun and olives.
Chop raw vegetables and put them in the fridge so they are ready to pull out for salads and snacks.
Roast a big batch of vegetables for the week so you can add them to meals and snacks.
Try one new meal or snack each week. This is a great way to experiment with different foods and to find more options that you like.
Boil some eggs if you like them. These are great to have on hand for a nutritious snack on those days when you know you don’t have much time!
Cook up some basic grains such as oats, cous cous, brown rice and quinoa and put in the fridge for the week.
Chop and freeze some fruit so you can take them straight out the freezer to chuck into smoothies. Especially any that are on the verge of going bad.
Bake and make some nutritious sweet snacks such as banana bread, muffins and protein balls.
Make 2 lots of meals so you can have them for leftovers. Or freeze them for the following week if you want more variety, or you just don’t feel like them the next day.
If you are looking to give up dieting once and for all and heal your relationship with food, exercise and your body then click here to download a free week on my Nourish Me Intuitive Eating and Wellbeing program.