Last week, while finishing up the GHD hip and back extension work, one of Roots’ members expressed to me how Sundays were an important day to prep food for the week. Without those few hours to cook good choices for the week, the resulting days could turn into lots of eating out and less ideal decisions. We’ve been there, too.
Food prep has a dramatic impact on an individual’s long-term health. It’s a simple concept but one that, over the past 9 years, we’ve come to learn makes some of the largest difference in our ability to stay consistent throughout the week and realize ongoing health and fitness goals.
Here are three strategies we find useful to gear up for a successful week:
Sunday Grill Fest
Ever feel like you cook dinner on Sunday with the intent of leftovers for the week only to find there’s barely enough for Tuesday’s lunch!? That’s the worst. Try this – over the weekend, go to the grocery store and find 3 different types of meat that look good and are easy to grill (think steaks, chicken, sausages, maybe some fish if you’re a ninja at the grill). Buy more than you think you need! On Sunday night, grill all the meat and store it away for the week. You’ll have lots of protein on hand to grab and go over the next five days. I learned this one from Trevor.
We’ll post our favorite chicken marinade recipe tomorrow.
Potatoes for the Win
Potatoes are some of the easiest denser carbohydrates to prepare. You can also buy them in 5lb bags! Our house seems to go through 2-3 5-lb bags per week so preparing them can sometimes feel like a chore. I learned this prep style from Abby at Boulder Kitchen Collective. It cuts down on the chopping time and total prep time is about 12 minutes. Use sweet potatoes or Japanese yams.
Preheat the oven to 325. Put some coconut oil on a pan with parchment paper and let it melt in the preheating oven. Cut the potatoes in half and, using the melted coconut oil, coat the cut side of the potato with oil. Bake them face down for 90 minutes. Yes, 90 minutes. Hello, soft slightly carmelized delicious goodness!
It’s so easy and you can leave them in the oven to do their thing while you sit back and do other Sunday things! Sometimes we’ll even do this during breakfast on Sunday morning if we know we have a busy afternoon.
During the Week, Cook a Vegetable Each Night
With meat and potatoes prepped for the week, then the nightly cooking effort is really just to prepare a vegetable. We rotate between green beans, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and salad.
What are your weekly food prep tips? Post to comments.
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