Make Weekly Paleo Food Prep Easy

The paleo diet has in recent times been touted as one of the healthiest diets because it involves eating unprocessed, whole, nutrient-rich, nourishing foods. However, one of the major challenges when it comes to maintaining a paleo diet is preparing paleo food on a daily basis. Many people lead very busy lifestyles and often lack the time to prepare home cooked food. Although preparing a batch of food and eating it in the course of the week sounds like a great way to save money, time and stay healthy, many people don’t have a clue when it comes to making weekly paleo meals.

Main Parts of Paleo Meals

If you think of paleo meals, they generally contain four parts. These include meat or an alternative animal protein, fats, non-starchy vegetables, and starchy vegetables, fruits or/and nuts. Remember that your source of protein can be the source of fat, but if your protein source is lean, you may have to add fat.

Proteins

When you cook food in a batch, you will be typically cooking one of the three parts. You can however batch-cook the protein alone if you have adequate meal prep time after work because protein takes the longest part of meal preparation. This will save you the biggest prep time. You can prepare a batch of hard-boiled eggs, mini frittatas, shredded pork or beef, steak, chicken breast, chili beef or pork, or any kind of roast meatloaf or meatballs.

Non-Starchy Vegetables

In case you don’t have adequate meal prep time after work, your paleo food can also include batch-cooked vegetables. This can prove to be tricky since you have to ensure that all the vegetables will be used up before they go bad. However, it is definitely possible if you make some wise choices. The trick here is to prepare salads for the beginning of the week, while the hardier vegetables should be prepared for the end.

Vegetables that can stay fresh for 1-3 days include fresh vegetable salads, steamed vegetables such as broccoli, squash and cauliflower, and most leafy salads. Remember to keep the salad dressing separately. On the other hand, vegetables that can last until the end of the week include roasted squash, chopped bell peppers and carrots, and coleslaw.

Starchy vegetables

When it comes to starchy vegetables, these should typically include roasted or mashed sweet or white potatoes, sweet potato salads, and baked sweet potatoes. You can batch-cook these for breakfast or for something to eat between the office and the gym.