**Disclaimer — Mercury Clothiers is providing general information about meal prepping. We are not nutritionists nor doctors. This is not medical advice. Please contact a registered dietician or nutritionist with questions regarding specific diet needs.**
It is the middle of a busy work day, you are in between meetings and looking for your lunch. No one has offered to run down to the café and you haven’t brought anything with you from home.
Does this situation sound familiar?
We know you have been there and we have a solution: healthy meal prep.
Is meal prepping necessary?
When you are hungry, your ability to concentrate suffers and everything comes to a halt. Healthy minds require food. To keep your mind sharp, you need to feed it.
Preparing meals ahead of time is essential when you work as much as you do. Your health (and your work) depends on it.
It is easy to put your health on the back burner when everything else fires up.
Have you read our post: Working Mom: 5 Tips For A Healthy Work-Life Balance? Learn to say “no” at work. Don’t take on more than your health can handle.
We understand that you don’t have time during the day to run out and grab a sandwich and what’s the alternative — eating the doughnuts that were brought in for the morning meeting or go hungry?
You could pay money and order something, but what is available that will satisfy as well as keep your health on track?
Take away the foreseen angst and frustration with the guilt-ridden choices; prepare your meals ahead of time.
We are sharing some healthy, balanced meals to help you be the best you can be at work so pull out your shopping list and your lunchbox and let’s get started.
Healthy Meal Prep: Breakfast
Start with the first meal of the day.
It is called breakfast for a reason. It literally means break-fast. The fast being the many hours overnight with no food.
There is a reason why we have always been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. According to an article from Rush University, there are a number of advantages to eating in the morning, including boosting your metabolism. [Source]
Whether you eat your first meal of the day at 6:00am, 8:00am or 1:00pm, it needs to be nutritious.
That is why we suggest preparing breakfast ahead of time. Whether you have time to eat at home or not, you will not be using the precious minutes before work dirtying dishes to prepare something.
Here are some breakfast options for you that are easy to prepare ahead of time to enjoy at home or at work:
- Granola & yogurt (add berries and honey for extra substance)
- Boiled eggs
- Smoothies (add protein powder for extra nutrition)
- Oatmeal (add berries and honey for extra substance)
These can easily be made over the weekend for the following week.
Tip: keep the smoothies in the freezer and transfer one to the refrigerator the night before your workday. It will be perfectly ready for your breakfast.
Healthy Meal Prep: Lunch
Lunchtime is quite possibly our favorite time of the day. There are endless possibilities.
You will need to make something that will taste just as good at 2pm as it does at 12pm because between expected meetings and lengthy phone calls, we know that your lunchtime varies.
A few of our favorite lunch options:
- Salad with the dressing on side (add a protein like chicken or falafel)
- Sandwich & baby carrots
- Soup & Sandwich
Healthy Meal Prep: Dinner
Just as convenient as having your daytime meals prepared ahead of time, at-home meal kits are equally as convenient.
Have you tried any yet? There are now multiple companies that make them — Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Freshly, Sun Basket — to name a few.
They provide all of the ingredients, down to the salt and pepper and everything is pre-measured! That’s half the work of cooking done for you. All you have to do is read the recipe and combine the ingredients in the correct order.
There are many on the market and they all have a vegetarian option. Let us know if you have a favorite!
Healthy Snack Prepping
Pack some snacks in your lunchbox for a long day or an especially hard day.
Our favorite snacks include:
- Pretzels & peanut butter
- Cheese, crackers & grapes
- Trailmix
- Vegetable sticks and hummus
Making many meals in one day can be a burden and so can shopping for it all. Make it easy on yourself. Many supermarkets offer delivery services and/or curbside pick-up now. Take advantage of for your meal prep day!
You can sit at home with your feet up and a glass of wine in your hand all while grocery shopping. Then have it delivered or pick it up.
Isn’t that amazingly convenient?
Grocery stores like Kroger, Safeway, HEB, and Whole Foods offer this service. Visit the websites and see if there is a location near you. Remember this is a new service so not all locations will deliver and you may not live in a delivery area. Even if that’s the case, the curbside pick up will save you a lot of time!
While you are online anyway, treat yourself to some new food containers. From plastic to glass and stainless steel to ceramic, storage containers come in all shapes, sizes and materials. The Container Store sells hundreds of options.
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