It’s Sunday afternoon and your fridge full of groceries is just waiting for you to start your weekly meal prep. Who else has been here before?

Meal prepping for an entire week can seem like a daunting task at first, but we’re here to provide some of the top tips on how to knock it out in a few quick hours.

First, let’s talk about some of the benefits of meal prepping:

  1. Saving money – You actually end up saving quite a bit of money prepping your meals for the week ahead of time. Simply putting together lunches for the work-week can end up saving you roughly $5 per day – that ends up being $25 per week – and $100 per month!
  2. Knowing your ingredients – One of the biggest pros of meal prepping is knowing exactly what is in your meals. It is much easier to stick to a meal plan/diet when you are the one customizing your meals.
  3. Improving your skills – For many of us, cooking can be fun and relaxing! Meal prepping is a great way to learn more about what you as a chef love about specific recipes.

Now that you are excited about getting your meals ready for the week – let’s talk about some of our top tips. Many of our providers utilize meal prepping as a way to adhere to their Functional Medicine lifestyle!

 

Some of our pro tips include:

  1. Simplify – Our Deerfield and Park Ridge Functional Medicine Provider, Lexi Mikrut, DC, gave us a great example of how meal prepping doesn’t have to be complex and scary:

After a long weekend of indulging in foods she normally doesn’t eat, Dr. Mikrut was recently motivated to get on track with meal planning her lunches and dinners.

You don’t have to do it all yourself.

To make things easy, Dr. Mikrut used a Costco pre-made Kale Salad kit and swapped the creamy dressing for olive oil – plus added avocado and flax seeds. She also took advantage of Trader’s Joe’s pre-cut fresh and frozen veggies with a veggie burger. In total, her meal prep took less than an hour and was a manageable way to get on track towards increased veggie intake without spending extra time in the kitchen.

  1. Plan it out – One of the biggest challenges with meal prepping is the mental aspect. A cabinet and fridge full of uncooked foods can be intimidating but putting it on a calendar and setting aside the proper time to cook is a great way to make meal prepping much less intimidating.
  2. Make your own menu – One of the biggest benefits of meal prepping is being able to customize to your specific needs. If you’re lacking in inspiration – some of our favorite recipes are available on our blog! Click here for all of our recipes.
  3. Outsource – We love our partners at KitchFix for when we truly don’t have the time to meal prep! KitchFix offers ready-to-enjoy meals that are Functional Medicine approved. Many of their meals are paleo friendly, keto, vegan, and Whole30 approved. You can simply order your meals in advance, and pick them up from their hub in any Aligned Modern Health location. Check out their delivery menu for next week.

 

To learn more about healthy eating and Functional Medicine & Clinical Nutrition, schedule a complimentary consultation at any of our Chicagoland locations. Fill out the form below to get started.

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Please fill out the form to request an appointment at our health and wellness center for the service and location of your preference. We try to get back to all requests as quickly as possible. If you need immediate assistance, please call 773-598-4387.

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