Sixth Day of Preparation:
Meal Prep

What is Meal Prepping?
Meal prepping is simply preparing some, or all of your meals and snacks ahead of time.

• Prepping saves you time
• Makes it much easier when you are hungry “now” and want to stay healthy.
• Keeps you mentally “in the game” because you feel good about your healthy food choices.
• Helps you to reach your personal health goals.

Where Do I Begin?
One of the best things about our 30 Days to Healthy Living Program is that it is really the proverbial “easy button solution” to anyone with a busy life (and isn’t that just about everyone these days?) With 2 shakes + 1 healthy meal (plus snacks) per day, you can make this so incredibly simple because you are now only focusing on only 1 meal per day instead of 3.

Some people may find grocery shopping and meal preparation on the weekend the best weekly rhythm for them. This way, by Sunday evening, Monday through Friday is covered with meals and snacks ready to go! This rhythm may not work for everyone of course, but for the sake of keeping this super simple, we want to share with you the Plan, Shop, Prep method:

PLAN
• Go through the Recipes and choose 2-3 meals that look good to you. Tip: If you live with others who are along for the healthy eating ride with you, consider getting them involved in the meal selections. Most families fall absolutely in love with the new flavors and sense of wellness they get by eating these healthy dinners with you.
• Go through the Snack List and choose 2-3 snacks that look good to you.
•.Make your list of grocery items that you’ll need for those meals and snacks.
   Tip: Consider using an App like AnyList which is easy-to-use and shareable.
• Consider eating a small salad with your daily meal as a way to build the habit getting raw vegetables into your daily routine.
• Consider adding “glass storage dishes” and “green bags” to your grocery list if you do not have any. Green bags really do help to make   your vegetables keep longer.
• Consider investing in reusable shopping bags. Use these over and over to help reduce your impact to the environment. If you already have reusable shopping bags, load them into your car.
   Tip: add “reusable shopping bags” as a permanent item to your shopping list so that you remember them every time.

SHOP
• Go grocery shopping following your grocery shopping list.
• While at the store, practice mindful shopping.
• Remind yourself of your health goals while shopping, and know that this food is life-giving fuel for your body.
• Notice where you may be tempted to follow old habits, and draw yourself back into following the list.
• Notice also that if you are at a typical large grocery store and not a health food store, you will most likely stick to primarily “perimeter    shopping” which is sticking to the outer walls of the store.
• Most often, the food that is least healthy for us is found in the middle aisles of the grocery store.

PREP
• When you get home from grocery shopping, unpack your vegetables and fruits directly into your sink for cleaning. Clean them, then set out on a clean towel or on a drying rack for drying.
• Make the 2-3 meals you have chosen from step 1 above.
• While food items are cooking, chop the vegetable components of your salad toppings and store in fridge. This is where the green bags come in handy.
• If you feel that you may be hungry in between meals (some people are, some aren’t) prepare your snacks in easy grab-and-go containers. Some snacks don’t need containers, for example green apples, which is why we love them on this program.
• As your meals are completed, store them in glass containers in the fridge.
• Open your fridge and cabinets and admire the work you’ve done. Take a picture if you’d like and post it in the Facebook Group. We want to see what you’ve accomplished.
• Mason Jar Salads are a great way to prepare salads (that can even be a meal) that last 3-5 days. If you LOVE salads like we do, this can be a fabulously simple option!
• Make a LARGE batch of brown rice or quinoa on Sunday. This makes a great base throughout the week for Buddha bowls (see recipes), stir-fry vegetables, sauces, grilled meats and saves a lot of time. It will keeps for several days in the fridge.


◊ These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease