Staging Your Kitchen
a.k.a.
Your Kitchen Detox Prep!
One of the most common obstacles preventing us from achieving our goals is a lack of proper planning and preparation for the journey ahead. Your goal is a fun, easy and successful Detox. Proper kitchen prep will be a huge asset in achieving this goal and will also set you on the path to ditching the diet mentality forever!
Please follow these simple guidelines to maximize your prep time and ensure that you feel organized and confident in your kitchen. These guidelines are great for Pre-Detox, during Detox and to continue throughout your Post Detox.
1. Plan Your WEEK
Don’t do this mindlessly. Rather, take a moment. Look over your detox plan and ask yourself, what sounds delicious? What are you craving? I recommend having your calendar nearby when planning out your menu for the week. Always take your schedule into consideration. Do you have late meetings or appointments this week? Then select a dinner you can heat up in a crock-pot, or plan to double a recipe from the previous evening to allow for easy leftovers. Please don’t try to plan in a vacuum. Odds are that just because you have made this very positive choice to Detox, your life will not slow down to help you along the way. In order to really succeed you must allow for your busy life to continue. Make the choice to really take the time to plan and prepare. This step sets you on the right path toward achieving your goals. Planning your meals is about removing the obstacles, those last minute questions: ‘what do I eat’ and ‘how do I get it on the table fast and easy’. The time that you are putting towards prep will save you at least twice as much time later in the week. Time you might otherwise spend worrying and stressing. You want to support your goals, not sabotage them. Plan the week!
2. Create A List
After you have chosen your meals for the week, taking into consideration your schedule and food preferences, review the needed ingredients and create your shopping list. When you go to the store – only shop from your list. As the weeks go by, this step will help you to discover and track the foods that are easiest for you to prepare and also keep you feeling satisfied, nourished and fueled for every day. You will also find that only shopping from your list decreases your grocery bill and also decreases food waste. Now you know you will use the chicken or the spinach that you purchased by week’s end, because it is on your weekly menu – no more tossing out that healthy food you bought with good intentions but never got around to eating. Again, the more you pre-prep during the Detox and Post Detox, the easier eating clean will be for you. When you plan, prep and prepare, eating clean becomes much easier and more fun. Select your menu. Create a shopping list. You have a plan!
3. Make Your Dips And Dressings For The Week
Dips and Dressings are a great place to start your weekly kitchen prep after you have done your grocery shopping. Prepare per the Recipe Guide and then store in the refrigerator in BPA free containers or glass mason jars. This small accomplishment will put you further down the path of preparation. You will feel the calm and control begin to set in!
4. Peel, Chop And Prep
Take an hour to peel, chop and organize your produce for the week. Pick one day of the week to be your ‘food prep day’. Sunday is a popular choice, but if that is your crazy day then pick a time that works for YOU. Using the Recipe Guide, prepare for the menu you selected for the week ahead. I know it can seem like a big task but it is worth the effort. Once you get into the routine, this step really will feel like less of a chore and more of a gift to yourself as the week unfolds. Make it fun; try to employ the entire family and make a date of it. Or, use this as your quiet ‘me time’ on a specific week-night if that works better for you. Remember, your menu ‘week’ does not necessarily have to always start on a Monday, as most people’s do. If Tuesday is a quieter day, then make that day 1 of your menu schedule – it’s what works for you. This step will save you HOURS during the week, not to mention unnecessary stress. Once it’s done, you are done for the week. Ready to go and ready for success!
5. Pre-Cook
Take the time to pre-cook your proteins for the week and then store in the refrigerator or freezer. Grill, broil or bake your protein, slice it up, and then store in the correct portion amount for easy access. If you are a vegetarian or vegan, make sure you always have plant-based proteins available. Make your decision to eat healthy as fast, easy and fun as you can!
6. Cook Once, Eat Twice (or more!)
Go big or go home, baby. Make double, triple or even quadruple portions of the Recipes for easy leftovers and freezer storage. No one ever said that every dinner for seven days has to be different. I like repeats! If you find one meal that really works for you and keeps you satiated, happy and really looking forwarding to sitting down at the table again – allow yourself to enjoy it! If your day looks beyond busy then plan for a second helping of yesterday’s lunch for tonight’s dinner. Just pop that portion out of the freezer and warm in a crock-pot. This will also help when the unplanned event pops up in your week. If a day becomes one of those days and you can’t complete the specific meal you had planned, at least you know you have an equally healthy and delicious back-up in the freezer!
Make Detox easy for you by putting effort into the prep. Following the Guidelines is your Detox safety net for those times that may, and most likely will, come up in your week that you just can’t plan for. You will find you feel a great sense of success when life’s little curveballs don’t throw you off your game, or your Detox.
Detox does not have to be hard when you have a plan of action. If you are looking for a plan, with the right support then contact me and let’s have some fun this season.
Detox officially kicks off Earth Day, April 22nd 2014!
To sign up for the fun, click here
xoxox,
Rachel
