3 Tips for Meal Planning With Your Partner
Between travel, entertaining guests, and partaking in many festive cocktails over the past several weeks, you and your love may be feeling a little sluggish and missing your healthy energy and in-house date nights. Getting back into a healthy eating schedule after the holidays can seem like a daunting task, but with a little planning and an organized trip to the market, you will be feeling like your pre-holiday healthy self.
Make a List of All the Recipes + Go Shopping Inventory all the groceries, spices, and ingredients you currently have in your kitchen and think about what meals you can make with those ingredients. Not only does this decrease your cost at the grocery store, but it also decreases the amount of time spent shopping for ingredients. It's a win-win.
Then, sit down with your partner and curate a list of recipes you both will love. Once your recipes are chosen and your days are outlined, make a sub-list of all the ingredients you will need when you go to the market. Extra props to you if you make an additional list with all of your ingredients listed in the order in which you will shop for them. This tip will save you the headache of searching for each item on your list.
Start Prepping Make it a date night! Stay in on a Sunday night, pour a glass of wine, turn on some music, and start prepping! Who says cooking and meal prepping can't be fun? First things first, rise and slice your fruits and veggies, and grill or bake your proteins and sides and store in separate containers.The best way to make this more fun is to cook with your partner! Maybe he prepares the meat on the grill while you chop veggies for a beautiful salad or organize your fruit for morning smoothies. You will be much more prone to make a healthy breakfast in the morning if all the ingredients are carefully prepared ahead of time instead of scattered about your refrigerator.
If you don't prefer to make three to four combinations of meals for dinner and store them in containers together, opt to store all the cooked ingredients separately and mix and match throughout the days. Also, a large salad with all the healthy fixings makes for an easy, ready-to-eat side that elevates your entire meal.
Set Aside Grab-and-Go Breakfast Items and Snacks Last but certainly not least, snacks! Preparing grab-and-go snacks such as fresh fruits and veggies, granola, and low carb crackers will make starting your morning routine that much easier! Plus, who doesn't love a good snack? Style Me Pretty Contributor - Erica Chambers is a freelance writer and blogger at Styles by the C. After living in New York City, she has made her permanent residence along the white sandy beaches of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida with her new husband and fur child, Maxwell. When she isn't working, you'll find her exploring local brunch spots or designing a nursery for her and her husband's first child, Leo.
