Meal Prep on Saturday for a Restful Sunday
So often when we think of meal prep, images of body builders or hard core fitness professionals filling up 10 Tupperware's full of grilled chicken, hard boiled eggs and steamed broccoli come to mind. Ha! This is totally great if you have fitness goals and need quick meals that help you reach those goals - but that's not all it is! Taking an hour or so each Saturday to prep some meal components has been the best way I've found to keep meal time stress at bay. I typically prep items for breakfast and lunch to keep it as simple as possible. I think for me, if I added in prep for dinners to my Saturday prep session, it would be so long and my feet would be so tired that it wouldn't take long before I gave up on the whole thing! So, I prep breakfast, lunch and snack options, and then prep dinner earlier in the day, the day we plan to eat it. At the end of this post I'll share some meal prep ideas for you!
One thing that I have been convicted of recently is dedicating my Sundays fully to the Lord as a Sabbath. I read an incredible book by Shelly Miller called Rhythms of Rest, and it changed my perspective on rest in a big way. I decided that instead of using part of my Sunday to catch up on any meal prep I didn't do the day before, that I would intentionally take that day "off" from cooking to rest and restore my soul for the week ahead. Mark Buchanan, who wrote The Rest of God (another amazing book on Sabbath) says that to Sabbath, you must cease from what feels like work, and do the things that bring you life. That can ebb and flow, but it's helpful when thinking through what I should or shouldn't include as a part of my Sabbath. Cooking is a big piece of that since I cook all week, I like to take a day off from it. For me, this is intentionally setting aside something that may feel "undone" yet produces a better harvest in my life because I've chosen to give an offering of my time and productivity back to the Lord and honor Him in my rest.
As another part of resting well, I delete Instagram from my phone on Friday night. I usually share our meal prep on Monday or Tuesday at some point when I'm back. I would love for you to use this hashtag and post pictures of your meal prep for the week so we can all get ideas! My hope is to populate this hashtag space with loads of meal prep ideas for anyone to come to and get ideas from. A sweet member of our SMP Community Facebook group shared her meal prep with us recently and it inspired me to prep some shaved brussels sprouts for breakfast the following week! Meal time inspiration is always needed :)
Let's start a revolution with this...no more #mealprepSunday but rather #NRMealPrepSaturday for gals who believe rest is a higher priority than producing :-)
Meal prep ideas
- Breakfast
- chopped chicken apple sausage
- roasted sweet potatoes
- chopped veggies for adding with eggs in the morning (I like squash, zucchini, baby tomatoes, red onion)
- breakfast sausage
- egg cups
- quiche or frittata (to bulk this up just add more eggs)
- waffles in a big batch, kept in freezer and pop in toaster when ready to eat
- overnight oats
- Lunch
- dressings (whole30 dump ranch is a fave)
- taco meat and rice or cauliflower rice for taco bowls
- crockpot protein to make quick lunch options like salad, cold plates, or even re-heated
- chopped lettuce
- roasted veggies
- Snacks
- muffins (we also love the options from Yummy Toddler Food)
- cut veggies
- cut melon or other fruit washed and ready
- hard or soft boiled eggs
- hummus
- Stocking and other ideas
- garlic paste
- homemade mayo
- cut lemons
- frozen cookie dough in the freezer to quickly pop in the oven for guests (or yourself!)
- smoothie packs
- spice blends (I like these and this)
It might seem cumbersome to take an hour each Saturday to do some meal time prep for the week ahead, but when you're saving so much time meal planning using a seasonal recipe rotation, you've bought back time to do so many other things, including meal prep! Before I meal planned seasonally, I dreaded every aspect of the process - including meal prep (which I did not do). I don't want you to live like that. I want you to have time for your family and for the things that matter. You don't have to waste any more time on planning your meals. When you add the Seasonal Meal Planner to your meal time arsenal, you are setting yourself up for success. Don't miss that kind of transformation.
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