Meal Prepping Salads
Instead of focusing on what I do not eat, I thought I would talk a bit about what I do eat. Every day I like to eat a giant salad. Usually I have it for lunch. I know there are a lot of various diets out there but most will agree that vegetables are good for you.
I decided to start having a large salad every day as part of having a healthy diet. I gave it a good effort but I found times when the baby needed me or I was held up and busy and by the time I got around to eating lunch I was too hungry to take the time to make a salad. By that point I wanted to eat and I wanted something fast and preferably full of sugar. Since then, I have found meal prepping to be a huge help to be able to stick to having my giant salad. There are many reasons I have found meal prepping helpful most significant to me I have found it saves time, reduces spontaneity, and I am doing my "future self a favor."
It Saves Time
Meal prepping can save time. I can use my cutting board and chop several vegetables for several salads and only need to wash up my cutting board and knife once. I can pull out several ingredients (I like to use lettuce, mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, some kind of cruciferous vegetable, tomatoes, and onions) and save from having to find them all, pull them out, then put them back away every day. It also helps because you can benefit from getting into a groove. It can be hard to transition from task to task. By meal prepping, you can stay in "meal making mode" and get it done.
Part of my prepping is chopping up ingredients for the family to enjoy in their own salads. I don't prep their salads but I have everything chopped and ready so its pretty simply for them to throw one together.
I aim for about 1 pound of raw veggies in my salad every day.
The finished salads! I have been making four on Tuesday and three on Saturday.
Finished product! Hope this helps someone.
I decided to start having a large salad every day as part of having a healthy diet. I gave it a good effort but I found times when the baby needed me or I was held up and busy and by the time I got around to eating lunch I was too hungry to take the time to make a salad. By that point I wanted to eat and I wanted something fast and preferably full of sugar. Since then, I have found meal prepping to be a huge help to be able to stick to having my giant salad. There are many reasons I have found meal prepping helpful most significant to me I have found it saves time, reduces spontaneity, and I am doing my "future self a favor."
It Saves Time
Meal prepping can save time. I can use my cutting board and chop several vegetables for several salads and only need to wash up my cutting board and knife once. I can pull out several ingredients (I like to use lettuce, mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, some kind of cruciferous vegetable, tomatoes, and onions) and save from having to find them all, pull them out, then put them back away every day. It also helps because you can benefit from getting into a groove. It can be hard to transition from task to task. By meal prepping, you can stay in "meal making mode" and get it done.
It Reduces Spontaneity
I know for a lot of people this may be a negative but hear me out. When I meal prep, I have already made the decision to eat something healthy. No, I don't get to decide by what I am currently craving come lunch time - but I also am not derailed by what I am currently craving. I already made the choice to have a salad and do something healthy for myself and, although I still have to stick to my decision and eat the salad, much of the battle is already won.
I Am Doing My Future Self a Favor
I have been reading and thinking a lot about this lately and may write about this in it's own blog post, but for now, let's just say that the things that you are doing are either helping and harming your "future self." I know it can feel a little weird to separate ourselves from . . . ourselves. But, in the future, the things you already did in the past affect you very much like a separate person's actions because you can't alter or change them. You just have to deal with the consequences.
After I had my son Gregory. My mother came to stay with us for a few days. She made me food and cleaned up the house. It was a huge help and gave me peace to focus on myself and my newborn. Some women do not have the luxury of having someone like that in their lives and I have heard of people making freezer meals for the days after the baby is born for similar reasons. That is what I consider doing "future self" a favor. With childbirth, we know it is going to happen. But, even on a day to day basis. We know that sometimes life gets hectic. Why act surprised? We already knew our week was going to be hectic. We can do ourselves a favor and take care of our meals during windows of time when things are less hectic. Excuses out the window.
Here are some pictures of some salad prepping I did recently. I only make three or four at a time because I have had onions get yucky on some salads and, obviously, I prefer for things to stay as fresh as possible.
I know for a lot of people this may be a negative but hear me out. When I meal prep, I have already made the decision to eat something healthy. No, I don't get to decide by what I am currently craving come lunch time - but I also am not derailed by what I am currently craving. I already made the choice to have a salad and do something healthy for myself and, although I still have to stick to my decision and eat the salad, much of the battle is already won.
I Am Doing My Future Self a Favor
I have been reading and thinking a lot about this lately and may write about this in it's own blog post, but for now, let's just say that the things that you are doing are either helping and harming your "future self." I know it can feel a little weird to separate ourselves from . . . ourselves. But, in the future, the things you already did in the past affect you very much like a separate person's actions because you can't alter or change them. You just have to deal with the consequences.
After I had my son Gregory. My mother came to stay with us for a few days. She made me food and cleaned up the house. It was a huge help and gave me peace to focus on myself and my newborn. Some women do not have the luxury of having someone like that in their lives and I have heard of people making freezer meals for the days after the baby is born for similar reasons. That is what I consider doing "future self" a favor. With childbirth, we know it is going to happen. But, even on a day to day basis. We know that sometimes life gets hectic. Why act surprised? We already knew our week was going to be hectic. We can do ourselves a favor and take care of our meals during windows of time when things are less hectic. Excuses out the window.
Here are some pictures of some salad prepping I did recently. I only make three or four at a time because I have had onions get yucky on some salads and, obviously, I prefer for things to stay as fresh as possible.
Part of my prepping is chopping up ingredients for the family to enjoy in their own salads. I don't prep their salads but I have everything chopped and ready so its pretty simply for them to throw one together.
I aim for about 1 pound of raw veggies in my salad every day.
The finished salads! I have been making four on Tuesday and three on Saturday.
Here are pictures from a separate day of prepping.
This is what a "salad bar" looks like for the family. This time I had Laura help me label all the veggies.
Finished product! Hope this helps someone.
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