Failing to plan, is planning to fail, said someone, once, . . . somewhere. That someone, somewhere was likely not talking about meal prep, but the takeaway is the same. Or so I have recently learned.
When I began planning this blog, I thought I had an understanding of why meal prep was important, and how to successfully execute making multiple meals at one point during the week to eat throughout the week. What I quickly learned was cooking my week’s worth of meals, was actually the very last step. There was so much more to meal prep than I had never realized.
When I look around for someone who is successfully preparing their meals to help guide me, I immediately think of Coach Jessica. With a full time job, a CrossFit coaching side gig, a husband, two children, and two dogs, Jessica is extremely busy day to day. She plans and prepares almost ALL of her, and her family’s meals each week.
Next I want to correct, or update my use of the term “meal prep”. From this point on I will refer to it as Meal PLANNING & Prep. Bc without the planning stage, you may find yourself unorganized, over budget, without the ingredients you need for your recipes, and thus unsuccessful and likely hungry.
If cooking is the last step, we should start at the beginning. Why would someone want to meal prep? Just like we are with our CrossFit WOD programming, we want to be intentional with our nutrition goals and objectives. Nutrition is the foundation of CrossFit’s Methodology for a reason. To ignore it, or not be intentional is to hinder your overall success in the sport, and in your fitness journey.
Meal planning helps you to keep your nutrition goals and provides the structure for you to be super intentional with what you are eating. Convenience is one of the biggest hurdles for us to overcome each day. There is nothing like finishing your day’s work, the WOD kicked your butt, and you are ready to recover and refuel with a giant dinner, only to realize you have nothing thawed, and not a single vegetable in the house. Your easiest solution? The most convenient option. For me, that is pizza delivery. I could eat Pizza Hut multiple times a week. But maybe your convenient option is a drive thru at lunch, or a gas station prepared breakfast. Or maybe it is skipping dinner altogether. Either way the lack of planning has put us into a position where we are unable to make our most ideal choice when it comes to our nutrition. Wouldn’t it be nice to come home after a busy day and know that you have a well balanced full meal waiting for you to destroy.
Meal Planning helps you maintain your nutrition goals, saves you time and money, while providing convenience and eliminating the “what is for dinner?” thought process at the end of the day. But, how? How do we get organized to plan and prepare our full week’s worth of meals, or some portion of it?
I’m so glad you asked!
Coach Jessica and I have come up with some tips and tricks to help you along your meal planning and prep journey. Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks as we outline the planning stage, cooking and storing, and some of our go-to recipes to help set you up for success.