Eating healthy doesn’t have to be so complicated! It’s easy to get swept up in elaborate recipes with tons of ingredients, but you can make simple and delicious meals with just 4 components!

There are some people who love cooking and are ready to dive head first into elaborate recipes with dozens of ingredients and steps. And then there are those of us that either cannot be bothered or who just don’t have the time.

I happen to love cooking (and baking) but there is a 0% chance that I have the time, energy, or patience to make an elaborate meal every single day. 95% of my meals are made of 5 ingredients or less and I reserve more labor intensive cooking for the weekends or days when I’m really excited to try something new. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be so complicated!

It’s easy to get swept up in elaborate recipes with tons of ingredients but of course that’s gonna overwhelm you... especially if you’re not an experienced cook or feel like you’re short on time! Choose a carb source, add some meat and veggies, and top it with a sauce — that’s it! You can make so many different meals by varying the individual components. Plus you can take advantage of pre-cooked meats, cut or frozen veggies, ready to go sauces, etc.

Here are 3 tips to simplify your meal prep and improve your eating habits!

Plan Before You go to the grocery Store

One of the biggest challenges for new meal preppers is deciding what to eat. If you already have some friction with cooking, the decision fatigue that comes from having to also decide what to eat for every meal is probably too much. Instead of trying to make a meal from whatever you have in the fridge, fill your fridge with what you know you’ll eat for each meal. Choose a carb, protein, fat, and plant source for each meal so when it comes time to cook, you don’t have to make any decisions about what to eat... you just have to execute.

Simplify Your Recipes

Do not overwhelm yourself with dozens of different ingredients! Are you really gonna let your chicken sit over night in an elaborate marinade or are the ingredients just going to rot in the fridge? Don’t overcomplicate it! Carb + Protein + Veggie + Sauce is a super easy place to start! A few of my weekly stapes are:
- Rice, chicken, broccoli, teriyaki
- Pasta, ground turkey, mushrooms, marinara
- Toast, turkey bacon, egg, tomato, sriracha

Know your staples & Grab and go options

There will be weeks when you’re feeling creative and want to experiment with new recipes; that’s great! But there will also be weeks when you can’t be bothered turning on the oven. Have some easy staples that you can make on auto-pilot.Pre-cooked chicken you can throw with rice and frozen veggies? Greek yogurt and fruit something you can always be in the mood for?
Plus find your favorite grab and go options for days when you’re short on time. Having some high protein snacks on hand can lay the foundation for a balanced meal in a pinch (shakes, protein bars, jerky, tuna packets, greek yogurt, frozen fruit, etc.)

If there’s one thing you take away from this; PLAN IN ADVANCE! If you have to decide what you want to eat every time you look in the fridge that is a recipe for take out. Decide what you want to eat BEFORE you go to the grocery store and stock your fridge accordingly.

Train With Moxie