by Jinan Banna PhD, RD
Making plans for eating well over the summer is just as important as planning your vacation. If you’re on the go during the summer, you might find that it’s difficult to eat as well as you’d like with a packed schedule. Meal prep is a great tool you can use to be sure you get everything you need from your diet.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to get my meals in order when I’m busy:
- Chop your veggies for easy use when preparing your meal. If I know I’m going to get home late and won’t want to spend a lot of time cooking, I often chop my veggies in advance and store them in a glass container in the fridge so that I can easily put together my ingredients and have dinner on the table.
- Make the sauce in advance. Some of the dishes I prepare require a sauce. This can easily be done in advance and stored in a glass container in the fridge for easy use at the time of meal preparation.
- Prepare enough to eat later. I often like to prepare more than I can eat at one sitting so that I can store my leftovers in the fridge or freezer to be able to eat later in the week. If I make lentil soup, for example, I generally have quite a bit left over to pair with my meals later on.
Just a little bit of planning goes a long way when it comes to eating well throughout the summer. Here’s to a delicious few months!
Jinan Banna PhD, RD is a registered dietitian and professor of nutrition at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is also one of our Art of Wellbeing resident experts and will be the speaker for the July 8th presentation Summer Meals Made Simply. For more information about this lecture, please visit here.
Jinan helps women feel confident and energetic and enjoy food without dieting. For more tips, please visit her website at jinanbanna.com for information on plant-based eating, overall nutrition, and weight loss.
