Meal Preparation 101

On Wednesday night, we had the pleasure of hosting a Meal Preparation Workshop at our facility. We had our certified personal trainer, Brent, really break down, step by step, the instructions of how to reach your goals and achieve results through meal preparation. This workshop was not only for the fitness enthusiast; many participants were simply looking for ways to save time during the busy work week, save money by planning out their meals, or those who don't enjoy cooking every night and would prefer to get it out of the way all at once.

Meal Preparation can seem like a complicated mess at first, but once you get a routine in place, it becomes an easy task that saves you loads of time throughout the week. Not to mention, it will help you stay on track with health eating habits because all of your meals will be already prepared. Brent began by teaching the group about starting with a plan and the most efficient ways to create a schedule. Are you prepping once a week or do you have time to do it twice? Can you tolerate frozen meals? Brent gave us some insight into how many days each type of meat was able to last in the refrigerator before going bad.

Even veteran "meal preppers" could have learned a thing or two at this workshop. Brent said in order to best utilize your time, when you get home from the grocery store, cut up your vegetables and store them in portions immediately. I thought this was a FANTASTIC idea. I can't count the amount of times that I come home with my stomach grumbling and I'm actually in the mood for a nice healthy snack. When I open the refrigerator, the thought of taking out and rinsing and dicing up the celery or peeling and cutting the carrots or cucumbers, it just doesn't happen. Many people turn to the cupboard where the processed foods live. 

Brent went over options for preparing your meals in different formats as well as the best methods of storing them. He even included some preferred Tupperware container choices.. As you make these meals from week to week, you want to remember your favorites and you can do that by keeping a catalog of what went well. This can be done in a notebook, an online document, or a three ring binder. If you are trying to get super organized, check out the options of online calorie tracker tools. Once you put your meal in there one time, you never have to enter it again. You go to your favorite meals, and click whether you ate this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and that's it!

The question and answer session is always the most helpful piece of a workshop! Hearing the feedback from each member of what works for them, what does not, and what are their different flavor ideas for preparing foods, One valued attendant said "make sure you date and label your meals!" What a great reminder to end the session. Looking forward to seeing future participants and receiving more input from all experience levels of meal prep!

For these workshops and many more, visit our website!
www.RiverWinds.org