Here it goes: In a nutshell, most of us fall into two camps when it comes to meal prep. We either overthink it, or we don’t think about it all.

Overthinking is an easy trap to fall into…  there’s just SO much “stuff” on the internet, in magazines, and on social media with conflicting information. It’s nearly impossible to filter out all of the noise and to make an actual decision.

So you think about it, you think some more, and then before you know it, it’s time to eat and you still don’t have a plan.

Way too many people (I used to be one of them!) think that meal prep is all about identical-looking bland Tupperware meals (like chicken, sweet potato, and broccoli) and think, “Ugh… that’s not for me”!

That’s when a lot of us join the second camp: “put it off for next week” / or not thinking about prepping or planning meals at all.

There’s actually a happy middle ground! What if you took a few minutes to map out your meals and snacks for the next several days, and when you’re making diner, you cooked simply made 2-3x the amount you usually do’

That’s actually a golden tip from the good ol’ days of home ec class, our grandmothers and beyond!

I grew up with a single working mom and after a long day the last thing she wanted to do was cook dinner. Back then they didn’t call it meal prepping but she would make extras through out the week so she wouldn’t have to cook. 

You can double up by making extra turkey burgers, chili, stir fry, or … well, almost anything! It doesn’t just apply to “special” meals.

Taking this approach means you don’t have to set aside several hours of valuable weekend time to cook for the upcoming week. Instead, you spend your normal amount of time cooking … plus 5 to 10 minutes each week PLANNING your meals.

This seems like a no-brainer, but the PLANNING part of it makes all the difference, especially if you’re used to trying to figure out every night what you’re going to make for dinner.

And to help you tackle meal planning at another level, I’m going to share an AMAZING resource that I created just for you!  It’s a “Complete Guide to Meal Planning” where I’ll break down step-by-step how to plan your meals and set yourself up for success. 

It’s also loaded with game-changing recipes, tips, and strategies! 

Best of all, it’s free!  It’s my gift to you for being such a loyal reader of my blog. Want a new copy’ Grab it here 

The post Save HOURS with this simple meal prep trick appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Start With a Master Food List

The first place to start with meal planning is with a master food list. These are the foods you like to eat, This master list will help you narrow down your recipes and get foods for your meal planning that work for you personally.

Consider Your Goal

Make sure you consider your goals with your meal planning. For example, you may be looking for a way to stop eating out so much during the week or spend less money on lunch. Planning your meals is also a great way to help you lose and/or maintain your weight.  When you menu plan you are less likely to have those days where you wonder WTF did you eat.

Menu Planning Basics

How many days do you need to cook, who’s going to home and what meals do you need to cook’  

This is the basics of menu planning. Remember, there is no set defined way of menu planning. The idea is to work with the diet you want, plan the meals, and make sure they work for you and your lifestyle. It may take a little time to get things on a solid track, but once they are you will find meal planning to be an easier route on many levels.

This week I challenge you to come up with a menu for the week. Click here to grab a meal prep planning guide

The post Meal Planning 101: The Basics appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Plus MANY of these can be made ahead of time, using rotisserie chicken or simple ground meat. I am no Martha Stewart nor do I want to spend HOURS in kitchen. I like to make food that is easy to make TASTY, quick and I can easily freeze. 

Have a read and let me know what you think’ Do you have any other suggestions’ 

1. Beer Can Chicken: Take a whole roasting chicken and cover it with your favorite rub. Open a can of beer and pour out (or drink!) ¼ off the top. Sprinkle in a bit of rub and carefully place the chicken in the cavity of the chicken. Carefully place on a baking sheet and bake in a 375 F oven for about 75 minutes or until juices run clear.
2. Chicken Burgers: You can purchase pre-made chicken burgers. You can make your own by grilling a chicken breast and using that as your patty. You can also ground chicken patties, just as you would make a beef patty. Place on a bun or replace bun with leaf of lettuce and top with your favorite burger toppings. Serve with salad.  Add a little flavor Make it Greek – add in 2 TABLEspoons feta, 2TABLEspoons chopped greek olives and 1 teaspoon oregano. BBQ meatballs – add in 4 TABLEspoons of your favorite BBQ sauce. Mix it in.
3. Chicken Burritos: Pre-made chicken burritos are simple to prepare. Be sure to shred some cheese and dice some tomatoes and colored peppers. Serve with salsa, and/or guacamole.
4. Chicken Cacciatore: It sounds like a complicated dish, but it’s quite simple. Saute chicken, salt and pepper and brown in a skillet. Once browned, add chopped onion, minced garlic, sliced red peppers and mushrooms and sauté. When the vegetables are tender, add a ½ cup of chicken stock and can of stewed tomatoes that you have chopped up. Bring to a covered simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with oregano and basil. Serve over your favorite noodles.
5. Chicken Fajitas: Gather up some soft tortillas, grilled strips of chicken breast, sautéed onions, mushrooms and pepper. Top with salsa, guacamole and/or shredded cheese.
6. Chicken Fried Rice: All you need is some fully-cooked chicken pieces, steamed brown rice, carrots, peas, corn and scrambled eggs. Slice the carrots thinly and sauté them in a large skillet. Add the peas and corn and sauté a little longer. Then add the rice and stir until heated through. Then add the scrambled eggs and mix thoroughly. Serve with soy sauce
7. Chicken Kebabs: Always a great addition to the grill, chicken kebabs are easy to make. Add cubes of chicken and any vegetables you want to your skewer. Brush with seasonings and olive oil.
8. Chicken Veggie Soup: All you need is some chicken stock, your favorite vegetables cut in small pieces, fully-cooked chicken chopped into small pieces and some veggies. Start by heating the stock over medium-high heat and adding the vegetables. Add the densest vegetables first as they’ll need more time to cook. Allow carrots to simmer for about 20 minutes, while frozen peas and corn only need about 5 minutes. Add the chicken 5 minutes before serving. You can pretty much add in any veggie you desire
9. Chicken Rice Soup: Much like chicken veggie soup. You can add rice to your broth as you cook the soup, but be careful not to overcook it, or it will be soggy.
10. Chicken Salad Sandwiches: Take some leftover chicken, chop it finely with a food chopper. Then chop some celery finely too. Mix chicken and celery with a few tablespoons of greek yogurt and a bit of mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Serve on whole wheat bread and add some lettuce and tomato, if you’d like. You can also put on top of salad greens
11. Chicken Satay: A wonderful appetizer or make it a meal by adding brown rice and vegetables, chicken satay sounds exotic, but is easy to make. It’s marinated chicken breast meat, grilled on a skewer. Serve with peanut sauce and dip away!
12. Chicken Stir Fry: A stir fry is what you make it. All you need is some boneless chicken breast, cut in pieces, and your favorite vegetables. Sauté the chicken until no longer pink on each side. Then add your vegetables and cook until desired tenderness. Serve over rice, noodles and add soy sauce or other preferred seasonings. One of my favorite ways to get in veggies 
13. Chicken Teriyaki: Use teriyaki sauce to marinate strips of chicken breast. Sauté with onions, carrots and bean sprouts. Serve over rice to enjoy this filling meal.
14. Chicken Chili: Brown the ground chicken and add it to the crockpot. Then add chopped onion, peppers, kidney beans make your own seasoning with chili powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Add some hot sauce or crushed red pepper if you like it hot.
15. Club Sandwiches: This double decker sandwich is sure please. All you need is 3 pieces of whole grain bread per sandwich, turkey or chicken, lettuce, tomato and mustard. Spread mustard on one side of each piece of bread Take one slice of bread and top with meat, lettuce and tomato. Top with a slice of bread and spread mustard on the top-side. Then add another layer of protein, lettuce and tomato. Top with the last slice of bread. Season with salt and pepper and serve with soup or a salad.
16. Cobb Salad: A hearty and delicious salad, all you need is your favorite lettuce mix, chicken breast pieces, sliced boiled egg, tomatoes, olives and avocado Serve with a red wine vinaigrette.
17. Curry Chicken: Instead of boring old chicken, try adding some kick with curry spices. Serve with rice and vegetables. If you’re making it spicy, add some plain yogurt on the side.
18. Deep Fried Whole Turkey: While it may seem strange to the uninitiated, a deep fried turkey produces a very juicy piece of poultry. Make sure to use a deep fryer, instead of frying of large meats and do it outside to avoid messes and accidents. You make think this will resemble fried chicken, but as long as you don’t eat the skin the meat is so tender. We do this for Thanksgiving every year.
19. Egg Drop Soup: This simple traditional Chinese soup is made with chicken broth, chives and ginger. Egg is drizzled in slowly and then the broth is thickened with cornstarch.
20. Ginger Chicken: Ginger adds great flavor to chicken. You can do a whole roast chicken or just bake chicken pieces. Combine some soy sauce, crushed garlic and ginger. Then rub all over the chicken and bake. Click for great recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-garlic-ginger-chicken/
21. Lemon Chicken: Marinate your chicken in a mixture of lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Then grill or bake. Serve with roast potatoes and vegetables.
22. Roast Chicken with Roasted Vegetables: Roasting a chicken is not only delicious; it’s actually quite easy. Coat a whole chicken with your favorite rub and place in a roasting pan. Place roughly chopped potatoes, carrots and onions around the chicken. Roast covered for about an hour and a half or until the chicken reaches and internal temperature of 165 F. Don’t forget to baste every half or so and you can remove the cover in the last half hour to help the skin brown.
23. Turkey Meatloaf: Ground turkey, egg, oatmeal and a bit of milk can form your loaf. To add more flavor, add tomato paste, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Serve with mashed potatoes.
24. Spaghetti with Meat Sauce: Whether you use canned sauce or make your own, the addition of ground beef add a nice flavor and texture. Brown the beef first before adding it to the sauce and then let it simmer for a while before serving. Use spaghetti squash, or any other veggie noodles. 
25. Spaghetti with Meatballs: Add meatballs to your next spaghetti dinner. You can make them with ground beef, oats, an egg and a bit of milk. Season with salt and pepper and bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes.
26. Stuffed Peppers with Beef: Fully-cooked ground beef is mixed with cooked brown rice and placed in a stuffed pepper and top with nutritional yeast. Bake for 1 hour at 350 F.
27. Taco Soup: Make a delicious soup with fully-cooked taco-seasoned ground beef. Add 1 can black beans, 2 cups fire roasted corn, 1 can stewed tomatoes and 1 can beef broth. Like it spicy add in some hot sauce or crushed red pepper.
28. Breakfast Sandwich with Egg and Bacon: Forget McDonald’s, you can make a breakfast sandwich at home. Portobello mushroom cap, top with a whole egg and spinach. Bake 400 degrees for 20-30 min
29. Split Pea Soup with Ham: A soup made with split peas, onions, leeks and carrots is pureed and then small bits of ham are added. This is my winter go to!! Love it I make my in the crockpot. I buy smoked turkey parts and cook with it gives it SO much flavor.
30. Barbecued Salmon Fillet: Cooking a salmon directly on the grill can cause sticking, but you can use a sheet of foil, turned up at the edges to create a cooking surface for your salmon. Add your favorite seasonings and grill until the salmon is cooked through. Serve with rice and vegetables.
31. Crab Cakes: Crab meat, onions, eggs, bread crumbs and a few seasonings and you can make crab cakes. I use the canned crab and bake in the oven for 30 min. You can also used canned salmon — one of my favorite lunches — put this over top salad greens 
32. Black Beans and Rice: You can make this dish all in one pot. Use fully-drained canned black beans. Put them in the pot with your rice and cooking as usual. For extra flavor, use a vegetable broth instead of water for cooking.
33. French Toast: Beat some eggs with a dollop of milk and cinnamon. Dip some Ezekiel bread slices so both sides are covered with the egg mixture and cook on a medium skillet. Flip over when browned on one side and cook on the other side. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with syrup. For extra yumminess, top with fresh berries.
34. Lentil Soup: Hearty and full of dietary fiber and folate, this soup is a healthy addition to a meal. You can make lentil soup in a variety of ways, but you can’t go wrong with carrots, onions, tomatoes and garlic.
35. Minestrone Soup: This Italian soup is usually made with a variety of vegetables, stewed tomatoes and pasta. Chicken stock is often used, but you can easily substitute it with vegetable stock, if you prefer.

Do these give you any other ideas to prep your meals’ 

Want more recipes’ I have 58 plant-based recipes grab them here. 

The post 35 Healthy Recipes appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

The truth is that it’s okay to have a bad day, a day that doesn’t fulfill all of your daily needs. Most times our other meals during that week will have the nutrients that we are missing. Now..if you continue to miss certain nutrients there can be problems. Eating well helps you to have:

• Stronger Immune System
• More Energy
• Longer Life

Now a days most people want to just take a pill/supplement. I’m not one of those real food zealots. I do see the advantages of vitamins, supplements and/or meal replacements shakes and bars. On those occasions when you can’t eat a traditional meal.

One of the best ways I know how to make sure you are getting all that you need is to do a little menu planning. Menu planning is exactly what it sounds like. You create a plan for what you’re going to eat during the week, including your meals and snacks. Now no eye rolling. I know that some of you have tried to do this in the past and may have thought it took too much time. Hated what you cooked and then tossed it. Or maybe you never have and or never took the time to learn how. If you are willing in just 5 days I could show you that healthy meal planning can save them time and money, provide you with the nutrients that you need to lose weight.

Jack Lalane said it best nutrition is queen. The better the food you take in the better your physique results. So meal planning becomes an important piece of the puzzle. If you don’t have a plan for what you’re going to eat, you may end up grabbing whatever is fastest and most readily available.

This often means you’re consuming processed food or junk food. It’s a missed opportunity to get at least some nutrients into your system.

Meal planning is simply deciding in advance what you’re going to have to eat. In most cases people plan several days’ worth of meals and snacks. It makes shopping, cooking and preparing food, and eating, a much simpler and healthier process.

Here are eight steps to make meal planning fun and easy.

#1 Decide how often you can shop.

I shop every Saturday. I keep a running list through the week so that I’m running blindly going through the store. My goal is to get in and out of the store in less than 30 minutes. .

#2 Plan for snacks too.

Here is where most people slide in their healthy lifestyle. Making sure you have some healthy nibbles around will keep you from making unhealthy choices.

#3 Make it tasty.

Everyone thinks eating healthy has to be boring and bland. Not at all, add different herbs and spices make it and interesting as possible.

#4 Identify recipe sources.

I sit down every Saturday and go through Pinterest to find great new recipes. I also have a ton of great cookbooks that I go through too.

#5 Create a system.

Create systems to organize and plan. Sit down at your table and make a full meal plan before you shop. Add ingredients from each recipe to your shopping list so you go to the store knowing exactly what you need to buy.

#6 Have contingency plans.

It always makes sense to have some backup food. You might not have leftovers that you expected from last night’s dinner and now you have nothing for lunch. If you have some backups then you’re ready to go.

#7 Make ahead.

We all can get “crazy busy” from time to time. The best way to handle this is to have make-ahead recipes. You can make on the weekend, freeze, and thaw and heat for dinner. When I travel and don’t want my husband living off pizza and Chinese food I make a bunch of easy to heat and eat meals. I’m also a sucker for the crockpot toss everything together in the morning and come home to delicious dinner.

#8 Try something new.

It’s easy to get into a meal planning rut. Meatless Monday, taco Tuesday, noodles on Wednesday and so on. While that does provide a framework to make planning easier, it can also start to feel limiting. Try to include one new recipe each week. You want to feel excited about your food.

Meal planning can take some getting used to. It requires you to create a few new lifestyle habits. However, once you’ve gotten into the swing of things, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it. For me meal planning is the only way to make sure that each meal is nutritious and delicious. Plus I don’t have to do any thinking during the week. I can just go in the fridge and have something simple and easy to eat.

The post Want Better Results’ — Change Your Food! appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

When you have food in the house you are less likely to swing by the drive through or hang out by the vending machine. It’s a big time savings do that during the week, when life get hectic you know you can always reach in the fridge and food ready to go!!

When I meal prep I just focus on lunch — I make my dinner fresh every night. Most of us work from home and I find that making lunch breaks my flow or if I’m between coaching calls, it’s easier to just grab something prep cooked then to plan around making lunch.

Plus — I don’t really enjoy cooking so this makes one less meal to deal with during the week.

▶️ Choose one time per week to cook. If you can, shop and cook your meals on one particular day and time each week.

▶️ Use a crock pot or insta pot to save time and effort. Pinterest is brimming over with recipes.

▶️ Plan for snacks. Rather than leaving your fate to the vending machines or what’s in the display case at your favorite coffee shop.

Enjoyment of your food is key here – and when you love a recipe or enjoy eating leftovers, it’s perfectly okay to make up a batch and serve it later on during the week.

I shop on Saturdays and cook on Sunday evening. I’m not a Martha Stewart! So don’t think it’s gourmet throw down!!

• I buy 2 different veggies (butter squash, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, green beans, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower)
• I buy 2-3 different lean proteins (I’ve gone vegan, but my hubby ain’ about the so I need to have some meat in the house)
• I cook a big batch of rice or quinoa — I add in some green veggies
• I’ll make a roasted veggie soup
• I’ll have a big ass salad

This is all done in 1 hour on Sunday. I’m not spending hours in the kitchen nor am i posting freaking a picture of a million pieces of tupperware!!!

I’m all about efficiency. I get in an out of the kitchen no messing around!!!

What’s your hack to get your food prepped”’

The post 3 Meal Prep Hacks to Help Make It Easy on You appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Especially at this time of year,  I’m sure you’ve seen the zillion or ads on television and in magazines, weight loss programs are everywhere and their effectiveness and usefulness varies particularly from person to person. That being said if you’re looking for something structured then weight loss programs can actually be quite effective.  They do everything for you, tell you what to eat and how to exercise.

This may seem to be a bit too good to be true but there are always drawbacks when it comes to programs like this. First of all not every plan has room to be tailored to you specifically. A lot of programs’ “one size fits all” plan leaves a lot to be desired from people looking for specific weight goals. Another issue is the possibility that quitting the program can cause some of the same “yo-yo diet” effects that fad diets cause when you stop using their meal plan. Healthy dietary changes are always supposed to become permanent and sustainable, which means that you should always have a step-down plan prepared.

The biggest problem that people seem to find with some weight loss programs is that they don’t leave much room for personal touch. If you want their plan to be effective then you need to follow that plan and not everyone’s life has room to work around a set plan. Depending on your schedule or budget you won’t always have the time to follow their specific diet or fit in their day’s workout so having a strict schedule can often run directly into conflict with some programs.

That is way I developed the 5 day clean eating crash course. This will help you ease into how to eat clean and TEACH you how your body works. So that you would be able to go off the “diet plan” yo-yo” cycle.

The post Are Weight Loss Programs For You’ appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.