ERIN SULLEY: Be prepared — Setting aside time for food prepping can reduce stress and leave you eating healthy all week

Jan 01, 2024

'Make a meal plan, make your grocery list, plan out how you’re going to prep the food and giv‘er!'

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Does your weekly routine include prepping food?

There are so many benefits.

First, prepping meals for the week ahead can save you money because you only buy what you need and will have less food wastage.

Second, food prep will also relieve stress during the week as it's one less thing to think about. It takes a little time to get organized and make it part of your weekly routine, but, like anything else, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

A foodie routine is necessary in our house if we want to avoid eating out all the time or eating processed foods that can be an unhealthy choice.

Thirdly, prepping your food means healthy choices every day — well, most days. Let's be honest, we all need a little foodie cheat room now and again.

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I try my best to change things up, so we’re not eating the same thing week after week. Typical recipes include a main lunch and supper dish that you can heat up, sandwich, wrap or salad, pot of soup, pre-cut veggies, fruit and yogurt.

Essentially, there is lots of variety.

Wondering where to start? Try this approach: make a meal plan, make your grocery list, plan out how you’re going to prep the food and give ‘er!

It's all about organization: organization of both the menu and how you decide to prep the food. I like to have a few things going at once to help cut down on time.

Let's break that down a little more, shall we?

I’ll typically start with the pot of soup. Why soup? Why not! Soup is one of the most versatile recipes to make. I can easily throw the ingredients in a pot and let it simmer while prepping the rest of the dishes. The soup I made for this article was lamb and barley. I added lamb, barley, celery, onion, carrots, rosemary, thyme and bone broth.

Chopped raw veggies are always on the menu. I just change up the kind of veg I use each week. It could be anything from carrots and celery to broccoli and grape tomatoes.

The must-have is homemade everything bagel dip — it's the best! You can find that in a column from Nov. 10, 2022, called, "Everything bagel cucumber bites are the perfect way to take a break from sneaking all those Halloween treats."

Fruit is also a mainstay. Similar to veggies, I just change up the kind of fruit I use. It could be anything from diced cantaloupe and strawberries to blueberries and Greek yogurt with granola.

I like the idea of adding a hot dish to the menu for comfort, like my Buddha bowl. It is delicious with lots of variety for ingredients and packed with veggies.

Actually, if you want a recipe similar to this one, visit my column from May 11 called, "Build it and they will smile – treat mom to some foodie zen with a scrumptious Buddha bowl for Mother's Day.’ Otherwise, this one consists of rice, chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, pickled onion and topped with tzatziki.

I have to make mention of containers. We have a container drawer in the kitchen that's filled with a mixture of store-bought plastic and glass containers. However, we always strive to save takeout containers, but not styrofoam. We never think of them as one-use as they’re often the perfect size to collect for your foodie prep. They’re typically for individual portions and stack well in the fridge — super convenient.

Speaking of the fridge, when I‘m done my foodie prep, I like to write out the dishes on a dry-erase board on the fridge, so we always know the menu for that week.

I hope I provided you with lots of ideas and tips to inspire your future foodie prep. These steps should put you on an organized path and leave you with a Sunday foodie prep plan that's most definitely fit to eat — for the week!

Erin Sulley is a self-confessed foodie who lives in Mount Pearl. Email: [email protected] or Instagram: @erinsulley