Thank you so much for your warm welcoming words to Jana Heath, aka Trainer on the Run. I am so excited to have her on board providing such great tips and advice.

This week has already been a long week and I just realized it’s only Wednesday. Thank goodness I had a great menu planned and used Sunday to do a lot of my prepping. During my first meeting with Jana, we talked a lot about how to live a more healthy lifestyle despite having such a busy life. She suggested having a “prep” day in my kitchen. Basically on this day I get all my main dish ingredients prepared so all I have to do is pop the dish in the oven and have some time to be with my kids. She shared with me a great blog written by Kerri Hawkins, a registered dietician. On her blog she has great information on how a “prep day” can be beneficial for anyone on the run. Here are some of the key points:

(1) Choose a consistent day. Make sure you place that day in your planner or calendar. ( I chose Sunday because that is the easiest day for my to grocery shop and prep)

(2) Choose meals and recipes you would like to have for the week. Some of my favorite places to get recipes from are Cooking Light, Emeals, and of course fellow bloggers.

(3) From those meals and recipes create a shopping list. (I use my Ipad for this than email myself a copy to print)

(4) Go to the grocery store and shop. Only buy what is on your list! (I actually accomplished this one this week)

(5) When you arrive home don’t put those groceries away… Start prepping. Most of us come home with great and healthy food, we put them away, they sit in the fridge and rot and we just end up throwing lots of food and money away. (This is my MO but not anymore after this tip. I feel this week that things are being used up. It is a great feeling!)

(6) Prep your foods. Clean, chop and cut up all your vegetables and fruit so they are ready to use for recipes and easy to grab for snacks.  Cook, grill or bake any of your proteins and grains ahead of time. Make soups and casseroles and keep half for the week, while storing and freezing the other half.   Basically prepare and cook anything you can ahead of time. ( I was able to do a lot of prep and it made life so much easier, especially with hungry kids every night)

(7) Portion out meals into reusable containers. (I do this for lunch. I make a huge pot of stew or chili and use that for lunches for the week.) In addition to my meals, I portion control my snack for the week as well. I actually busted out my food scaled this week and also weighed and measured with my Escali Scale that I cherish.

(8) Grab and go, healthy and delicious meals all week. (My snack of choice this week is baby carrots and spicy chipotle hummus.)

What do you do to make your week go smoother? Is there a go-to snack that you are currently in love with this week?

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