Sally ONeil - The Fit Foodie Meal Prep Plan: Easy Steps to Fill Your Fridge for the Week

DEDICATION

This book is for you.

You, who have picked this up and given me a chance to change the way you work in the kitchen. You, with real-life commitments, a social life, a family, and probably zero time to really be reading this (did you feed the dog?). Im so happy youre here, prioritizing something just for you.

Like you, Im juggling a million things. Businesses, a degree, my mental health, working out, traveling, yada yada yada. Thereve been moments when Ive mastered it all, and moments when Ive royallyand publiclyfailed.

I am so incredibly grateful to every subscriber, follower, reader, and friend who has supported me on this journey. Youve read my many ramblings (including this one), and I dig that I can offer something back to you in the following pages. Even if it really is just an enthusiastic smile and a delicious quiche.

Thank you for helping me create a career beyond my wildest dreams.

Sally

@thefitfoodieblog

DISCLAIMER: The content presented in this book is meant for inspiration and informational purposes only. The purchaser of this book understands that the author is not a medical professional, and the information contained within this book is not intended to replace medical advice or to be relied upon to treat, cure, or prevent any disease, illness, or medical condition.

Even with a lovely home office, Im writing this at a slightly sticky table in my local library, with a group of noisy children in the background. Why? Because I get distracted by stufflife stuff that Im sure you deal with too: laundry, phone calls, reorganizing the spice rack thirty times a year, the siren song of Netflix. Were ALL trying to figure out how to do lifea happy, healthy lifeand do it with some balance.

Lets be honest: being healthy can be pretty time-consuming. All that yoga, hours at farmers markets, squeezing your own green juices, and then meal planning is all a bit much. When time is in short supply, all of this can get pushed into the back seat. Even as a food blogger, I cant honestly say that I cook myself a meal from scratch every night. Ive got shit to do, and that doesnt involve spending hours at my stove.

While Im single-handedly trying to build three businesses (which generally consists of Googling everything), completing a nutrition degree, and trying to explore more of the world, I also want to look after my body. I want to feel good while I tackle my to-do list, and I know you do too, but sometimes that goal can feel pretty elusive.

So while I havent got all the answers, Im here to share my favorite food hacks: the tricks and tips Ive learned that make healthy food SIMPLE.

My method is this: prep it, batch it, store it, assemble it. Okay, the prep might take a bit of time (were talking two hours a week, tops), but, short of ordering takeout every night, youre not going to find a faster way to eat home-cooked, healthy food. This is the shortcut. This un-cooking cookbook aims to help you claw back time for actually important life stuff.

Now, were wasting valuable time. In the words of the great Macklemore: Lets eat.

Sally x

We all seem to have less and less time, and when were pressed for time, the first things to go are sleep and cooking. While I cant help you with getting more Zs, I can save you time AND money by teaching you the foundations of meal prep.

We seem to get by on less sleep and more coffee, less cooking and more takeout. The end point is the same, but quality of life takes a hit. What you put into your mouth has a huge effect on your weight and physical health. Exercise is an awesome way to improve things, but it cant undo a bad diet. Eating well improves your mental health as well; when you eat good food, you feel better about your choices and happier with the way your body feels.

Healthy meals need to be easy to prepare and readily accessible if you want to have a chance of sustaining a balanced, nutritious diet. Once you have a few simple cooking methods and systems under your belt, endless meal combinations will be open to you.

Im a passionate advocate of prepping food for the week ahead. When I talk about prepping, I dont mean spending your entire weekend making all the things. What Im talking about is the intentional action of making a couple of hero foods that can be used in multiple dishes throughout the week. Every now and then I make other things in bulk so I can freeze them, ready to pull out whenever I need. If you can get into the bulk-cooking mind-set, youll begin to spend less time in the kitchen, yet have more food ready to eat in your fridge or freezer when you need it.

When I started planning meals with whole foods, I felt overwhelmed. It wasnt until I learned to cook some hero proteins (Step 1), created recipes that I could batch-make and stash (Step 2), and then learned the art of food assembly (Step 3) that I managed to get plenty of variety into my diet with minimal cooking time. Im definitely not going to win any awards for reinventing the cooking wheel, but I sure as hell can teach you how to turbo-charge your meal prep to work faster and smarter.

If you want fine-dining options to wow your highbrow guests, youve picked up the wrong book. Go see a celebrity chef and set aside a day with your dry-ice packs. Meal planning isnt about creating super-fancy or impressive meals every night; its about cutting down your daily cooking time and taking back those precious minutes for the important stuff, while still eating well.

Five benefits of meal prep

Saves time

Saves money

Reduces waste

Keeps your health on track

Helps with portion control

To save your sanity, youre not going to be batch-making almond milk and raw nut butters, soaking your own legumes, or making other things you can access easily and cost-effectively from a store. Theres also no place here for anything dehydrated, house-fermented, or with a million superfood ingredients. Its a headache, its time-consuming, and its super-frustrating if its just not your jam. Burning precious time in the kitchen is not the aim of the game here. This is fast-action food assembly.

The goal of meal prep is to cook food in advance so that you can assemble meals with little to no effort during your busiest times of the week. Rather than cooking oats every morning, you prepare five servings in one go to last you the entire workweek. It saves you a heap of time when youre at your busiest, and also stops you from reaching for unhealthier options.

Some people love to portion out their meals so theyre ready to grab and go, whereas others are happy with a little assembly when hunger strikes. Either way, youll be making your time in the kitchen far more efficient and saving time for stuff that really matters.