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Pictured Recipe:Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan
Sometimes when the weekend winds down, I feel good knowing I rocked my grocery list, meal-prepped and have set myself up for a week of healthy meals. But sometimes we’re traveling during the weekend, have too much going on or simply choose to spend more time doing fun family things, and on Sunday night I find myself staring at an empty fridge.
Sound familiar? There are lots of reasons why good intentions of meal planning for the week sometimes remain just that-intentions. But instead of ordering takeout or skipping veggies all week, here are five easy ways to eat healthy when you didn’t have time to meal-prep.
Don’t Miss:A Sunday Meal-Prep Plan When You Only Have 30 Minutes
1. Simplify Your Plan, Instead of Throwing It Out the Window
Pictured Recipe:Spinach & Feta Scrambled Egg Pitas
If you normally plan out your dinners, and just didn’t have time to plan and execute meal-prep on Sunday, don’t let that all go to waste.
2. Buy Pre-Prepped “Convenience” Foods
Pictured Recipe:Sautéed Shrimp with Mango Salsa & Coconut Cauliflower Rice
You may spend a little more money, but when you don’t have time to do the prep yourself, take some help from the grocery store. Plus, it’s still cheaper than eating out.
3. Turn to Your Pantry & Freezer
Pictured Recipe:Slow-Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup Meal-Prep Freezer Pack
A well-stocked pantry and freezer can help you put dinner on the table any night, but they’re especially important when you didn’t have time to meal-prep or shop. Keep frozen vegetables on hand to add to soups or stir-fries. Stock up on quick-cooking whole grains like quinoa and whole-wheat pasta. Canned beans can quickly become black bean tacos with just a few other ingredients. To really help out your future self, make theseslow-cooker freezer mealsand grab one when you need a complete meal.
4. Get Everyone Helping
If dinner usually falls under your domain, enlist help. Have your partner take on dinner for the night, make a grocery store run or just do some extra chopping. Give your kids specific tasks like shredding cheese or tearing up lettuce. Invite over friends and ask them to bring side dishes or salads-and you can tackle the main. Just because you normally handle most of meal-prep doesn’t mean that you can’t get the whole gang on board.
5. Streamline Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks
Pictured Recipe:Creamy Blueberry-Pecan Overnight Oatmeal
The week your fridge is looking bare is not the week to go crazy over breakfast and lunch meals. Keep these simple and focus most of your mealtime energy on dinners. Choose staple foods that will sustain you. For breakfast that might look likeovernight oats, yogurt and fruit with granola, or toast with nut butter or avocado. At lunch, pack up some salads with prewashed greens, canned beans or fish and store-bought dressing. Add some whole-grain crackers and you’re good to go. Keep snacks easy too. Look for snacks that are portable and healthy-think an apple, almonds or cottage cheese. Then grab and go.
WATCH: How to Meal-Prep a Week of Healthy Lunches for Less Than $20
More Easy Dinner Ideas:
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