The first step to admitting you have a problem… yadda yadda yadda. I really love the idea of prepping meals for the busy week ahead. I completely believe that it can help people stay on track and make the foodie part of life a heck of a lot easier.
I’m just not very good at it.
Jump to Keto Meal Prep Resources
No, really, I set my mind to do it, then I do it, and it’s all a terrible, horrible mess. The vegetables aren’t portioned out right, the meat gets overcooked, it goes off faster than expected. This happens even when outlining the dinners we’re meant to cook and attempting to prep the flavor profiles accordingly the night before. Just a cascade of fire and rot when everything is said and done. Not the least bit appetizing or motivating. Uhk.
This is partially from rushing it during the small window I have to actually complete a night of this or week of that – and partially from trying to do TOO MUCH all at once. Perhaps there’s also a touch of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants syndrome going on as my family truly thrives on variety and flexibility, often eating to how we feel each day – which full-on prepping doesn’t necessarily permit very easily. But in my head I’m thinking, oh but I’ve seen others do it, they do it all, they do it for much larger households than mine, they make it look so easy.
So what’s the solution? There’s always a way, right? Of course! Like with most things in life – you must compromise.
If you can’t do it all, then don’t do it all…
Instead, prioritize.
In my case, I only prep a little nowadays. You don’t actually need to prepare ENTIRE meals for every single day of the week. It can be as simple as making sure some raw meat is cooked or thawed and some vegetables are sliced/diced/noodled beforehand. Some can be stored in the fridge, others in the freezer. Then you can easily pull out whatever you need or want for lunch or dinner. The times we do any prep like this, it allows us to easily build meals around whatever taste we have that day – some chopped spring onion here, some sliced bell pepper there, etc.
The most consistent effort I put in is on Sunday, before the hubs goes to work for the week. The hardest thing for him to grab and go is a decent, hot breakfast that doesn’t involve the drive-thru at McDonald’s or Starbucks. He needs the fuel to get through busy, brainy mornings and he loves eggs. So that’s what he gets – egg cups, egg muffins, egg loaf. Sometimes a side of bacon or ready-made sausage patties. Sometimes a slice of cheese if he’s feeling wily. We store it all in the fridge and take 5 minutes to assemble a box the night before so he can just grab it and go.
This is what works best for us and it will definitely change over time as our priorities change. What works best for you might be a step further than cooking meat or dicing vegetables. It might be portioning and assembling some of these foods into full meals per day. Or you might need to take several steps back and simply write out what you’d like to make for the week. That’s right, meal planning counts as meal prepping too.
It’s about having that mindset and sense of preparedness more than anything else, IMO. Even if you don’t, or can’t, follow through with every step you’ve laid out for the week, simply having a plan at all will give you a sense of stability and a great foundation for the times when you go off plan.
Alright, now that this novel is done we can get on to the good stuff – Tools! Here are some useful resources for meal planning, meal prepping, and food storage.
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Keto Meal Planners
Printable Simple Keto Meal Planner by Homemade Noms | Download Free PDF
Reusable 7 Day Meal Planner – Dry Erase Magnet | View on Amazon
Weekly Meal Planner Whiteboard | View on Amazon
Pocket Journal – 90 Meal Tracker (3 pack) | View on Amazon
Keto Meal Prepping
Digital Food Scale | View on Amazon
Digital Food Scale with Removable Bowl | View on Amazon
Pyrex Glass Measuring Cup Set of 3 | View on Amazon
Hudson Essentials Stainless Steel Measuring Cups & Spoons Stackable Set | View on Amazon
Keto Food Storage Ideas
Reusable 50-Pack Meal Prep Storage (Microwave/Dishwasher/Freezer Safe) | View on Amazon
Glass 3 Compartment Meal Prep Containers / Bento Box | View on Amazon
Sistema To Go Collection Bento Box | View on Amazon
Rubbermaid Easy Find Vented Lids Food Storage, Set of 8 | View on Amazon
Homemade Noms by Cate 