The Plan, Shop, Prep Protocol

Find out one of the best ways to prevent unnecessary stress and overwhelm in your life: planning out your meals at the beginning of your week. Yes… it has that much of an effect! Get the breakdown and the how-to of plan shop prep.

Listen on Apple Podcasts: Click here
Listen on Spotify: Click here

Links Mentioned

New Mama Energy Guide

Transcript

You’re listening to the Love and Lettuce Podcast, episode number 31. Today we’re talking about my plan Shep prep protocol, aka the PSP protocol. And I can’t wait to dive in.

Hey, this is Laura Lima, holistic nutritionist and founder of New Mama Nation, and host of the Love and Lettuce Podcast. I am here to help mamas know what to eat to give them energy and help them feel fantastic. So they can better enjoy life with their littles. And remember, this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only, and does not replace medical advice from your healthcare provider, and is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. As always, please consult your health care provider to find out what is right for you. With that said, let’s get to the show

Could you use more energy Mama, I mean, who couldn’t right?

Get my free New Mama Energy Guide, where I’ll give you 10 tips to increase your energy. Go to http://bit.ly/newmamas to get your free copy.

So last week in Episode 30, we talked about meal plan meal planning like a mom boss specifically. And I love meal planning. It is everything for me literally. And that’s not an exaggeration. Because when I have that plan in place, that means that the rest of my week can flow a lot more smoothly. I don’t have that stress and overwhelm that comes from what am I going to make for dinner tonight? Oh, I didn’t think about dinner. Do we have to go buy something? Oh, do we have that chicken still oh shoot, I forgot to thaw out those steaks from the freezer. So we won’t have time to make that tonight. Oh my gosh.

All of that adds so much stress to your life. That is so unnecessary. If you just planned, you would know to take the steak out of the fridge yesterday or this morning, it would be thrown out on your counter all day. And you would know what you’re cooking with it. You wouldn’t even have a recipe maybe that is ready to go where you know, this is exactly what I’m doing with that steak. It literally saves so much time. So if you are like well, how do I even begin with meal planning, go back to Episode 30. And listen to that one first. And then come back here.

Plan, Shop, Prep

Today we are talking about the PSP Protocol. The Plan Shop Prep Protocol. And guess what, we already talked about the P last week – the planning. The planning is where we decide what we’re going to be eating for dinner Monday to Friday. It’s not every meal, unless you want it to be, you can definitely plan every meal. If you’re like that, I totally get you and I love it. But you don’t have to. You can just plan out your dinners from Monday to Friday. And like I always say, leftovers are huge. And you should absolutely include those in your meal plan. So honestly, the planning part of the PSP protocol should probably take you 10 minutes, if not less, and maybe up to 15. Like we’re talking 15 minutes or less, but probably 10 minutes or less. It shouldn’t take you long.

And by the way, taking this time on a Sunday, the day before your week likely begins if your week begins on Tuesday, do this on Monday. Do it the day before your week actually begins taking that 10 minutes on the Sunday saves. I don’t even know how many minutes throughout the week. But it saves so much stress. We’re talking about taking these 10 to 15 minutes is absolutely so important and so huge. So do it.

Planning

Okay. So on a Sunday, you aren’t taking let’s just call it 10 minutes, you’re writing down what you are going to be making for dinner from Monday to Friday and you’re including leftovers. So for example, Monday, I won’t say the whole meal. I’m just gonna say for example, Monday we’re having salmon, okay, Tuesday, leftover salmon, love it. Wednesday, we’re going to make some chicken. Thursday we’re going to make some steak. And then Friday we’re going to have leftover chicken and steak done. And then of course I would add my other stuff to my meal plan.

So whatever I’m having with the chicken, whatever I’m having with the steak and with the salmon, it’s all going on my plan so I know exactly what to expect.

Shopping

Next is the S. It is the Shop portion of our protocol. So we have to create a shopping list from that meal plan. So this requires a little bit of extra work beyond the plan because we have to now go into the freezer. And if you have an extra freezer, maybe in your garage, maybe in your basement as we have, it requires you to go down there and check to see if you’ve got everything that you need for your meal plan that week.

I’m talking everything, I do not want you, mama, to have to go on a Wednesday afternoon, right before school pickup to go grab the broccoli, because you forgot it was on your meal plan. And you don’t have it in the fridge, I don’t want you to have to do that. In fact, I’m not going to let you do that. Okay, let’s be clear and real, I’m not going to let you do that anymore. It’s going to be on your meal plan, and therefore on your shopping list.

Your Shopping List

So you are creating the shopping list based on everything that you have to buy for your dinners. And yes, this shopping list is going to be ideally for the entire week, I don’t want you to have to go every few days to get just a few items because I forgot this and oh for lunch tomorrow, I forgot that. So this list is not only going to be for your dinners but for ideally, every meal and snack. It doesn’t mean that you have to plan every meal and snack. But you have to have a good idea of what you might be making or at least the ingredients that you need to have on hand.

So we know at our house, we’ve got to have cucumber at all times. Every single day for lunch, Ellie takes cucumber in her lunch, it’s her favorite vegetable – done. And Maggie has it as well. And oftentimes, Ellie has it again for dinner. So we need to have cucumber at all times. We also like having celery, carrots, onion, garlic, you know all the basics. We have to make sure we’ve got that on hand, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the olive oil. And then you know all the other staples, even yogurt, stuff like that. Berries, we have to have those every week. So raspberries, blueberries, for sure. Sometimes we have strawberries, apples, yes, those are on the list, bananas.

So I’m literally going through my list right now, I won’t give it all to you because – boring. But that is well not boring to me, but maybe to you. But that is what we’re doing. We are going through everything that we need in our kitchen. And we’re writing it on the list because we only want to have to go shopping once. Now we like to go shopping, if you’d like to roam the aisles, maybe get a tea or a coffee, if you’re at a store where there’s like a little coffee shop in it, which is where we like to go. We just like to roam the aisles. It’s a fun thing to do after school, sometimes with all the kids and sometimes we have dinner there.

Sometimes we go home and make our dinner. But listen, if that is you, that is okay. But the fact is, I want you to have everything that you’re going to actually need for your week already at home. There’s always more things that we can think of. So if you want to go to the grocery store, and just roam the aisles, see what’s on sale, maybe grab more of something that you didn’t really need for the week, but you thought, well, this is on sale, or yeah, I guess we can stock up on this. Sure, you can do that. You are absolutely free to do that. But you don’t have to do that.

The idea is that you don’t have to go back to the store any time after that one time per week. That is what I mean. So you’ve got your meal plan. Now you’re creating your shopping list based on what you need on that plan. And based on what you need in your life, maybe you are short on or low on protein powder that’s going on the list. Maybe you need some more coconut oil, the unflavored kind, awesome butters on sale, great put on the list.

And if you’re like my husband, you will check the flip app, flip with two peas at the end. You will compare the price of the cucumbers and of the olive oil and have all of the all of the items on your list to see which store has the best deal. And then if you go to a store that price matches, make sure that you get the best deal. So that is my husband, he loves looking at the sales and where we can get the best deal and pay. I’m like that too, but not as much. I’m like let’s go to one store. Get it done. Thanks. But he likes to do the research. Great. Here’s your job do it right. Have fun with it.

So we’ve got our shopping list. And then you go to the store, you grab everything and you feel amazing because you know you are all set up for your week and how responsible do you feel? How on top of it do you feel? How open do you feel to whatever’s going to come this week because you are now ready?

In the food side of it. The food side is so important because it not only, number one we have to eat, we have to feed our kids and we have to feed ourselves. But number two, when we’re eating the right kinds of foods we’re giving ourselves energy, both physical and mental energy. So we can feel so amazing going into a week where we have planned for that.

Choose Healthy & Delicious

Because when you’re planning your meal in advance, you are way more likely to choose something that’s healthy. Delicious is key. Yes. But healthy, delicious. And not, you know, Wednesday afternoon, oh my gosh, I don’t have the chicken defrosted. I don’t have the broccoli in the fridge. We’re just gonna throw in a pizza to the oven. We’re just going to order in tonight. Those aren’t bad things, by the way. But I don’t want you to have to get to that point. Plan for that.

Yes, Friday, we’re going to order in. Awesome, love it. I don’t want you to have to do that out of stress out of like last minute, oh, my gosh, I don’t know what to do. So I’m just going to do this, you are way more likely to choose the healthy option. When you plan in advance. Versus when you’re in this mad rush, you just choose whatever’s convenient. Which oftentimes is a less healthy version of the dinner that you could have had.

So when you’re in your right mind, if you will, when you have time to think about it, you’re way more likely to choose healthy. And that’s another reason why it’s so important to plan in advance. So our final step of our P SP protocol, the last letter, the P is prep. This doesn’t have to take long, what I would suggest to you is to book out, I mean, an hour sounds long, but I can guarantee you won’t actually need the full hour, but just put an hour into your calendar so that you know, I’m going to be in the kitchen at this time.

And that time can change. Yes, it’s a Sunday, it’s busy, you might be out and about I get that. So if you put in your calendar from one till two during nap time, I’m going to be prepping. And that doesn’t happen. Do it from three to four, six to seven, whatever, whatever works for you. Six or seven, I’m like no, that is bedtime in my house that is not happening at that time. And after that is my relaxation time. I mean, if it has to happen fine, I’ll do it at night. But no, during the day is key for me. But you have to put it in your calendar so that you make sure you do it. So it becomes a commitment, it becomes a priority.

Salad Dressing

So during this prep, you might make a salad dressing. In fact, I highly encourage you to make a salad dressing. Olive oil as a base, use double the amount of oil to vinegar. So let’s say you’ve got one cup olive oil, half cup vinegar (whether that’s apple cider vinegar, balsamic red wine vinegar, you name it) and some fresh garlic sliced up, or I should say chopped up. Sea salt and pepper. Call it a day. Now if you want to add some Dijon mustard, delicious, a little bit of maple syrup, maybe amazing some herbs – love it. But that is your base, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper that is your base for a delicious and healthy salad dressing. That now you can enjoy throughout the week on salad, yes, but maybe also on your chicken on your rice on your fish on your vegetables.

Don’t limit your salad dressing, because that is good fat, and we need that good fat and in a salt is the good minerals, we need those good minerals. So make salad dressing as part of your prep, I highly encourage you to do so. And then you keep it in your fridge and it’s good for a long time. It’s good for at least that week. If not two weeks, it lasts. So make salad dressing, check.

Prep Your Vegetables

Also, what I like to do is if I have time, this is something that I’m like, well, I don’t always do this. If I have time because I’ve made time for it and nothing else comes up. I wash my vegetables, and I get them ready in the fridge. So wash them, done. And if I can even chop them up even better. So I can chop up my let’s say celery and carrots into sticks. So celery sticks, carrot sticks, so they’re ready for snacks. And if I want to use those as my side vegetable that week, or I want to use them as part of my salad. They’re already washed and chopped into sticks.

Now we just have to chop them a little bit further. And now they’re ready. Boom in my salad, boom in my stir fry done. So that kind of prep is extra Yes. But so helpful for you to do that.

Snacks (Trail Mix)

And the last thing I like to do as part of prep is thinking about what snacks might I want to have throughout the week. What kind of grab and go things do I want to have ready for myself? So one thing I like to do is make a trail mix. It could be any mix of nuts and seeds, maybe almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, okay? And then maybe sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. And maybe those pumpkin seeds are raw, but maybe they’re toasted pumpkin seeds. That means I’m toasting them myself first and then adding them to the trail mix. Or maybe I’m just doing toasted pumpkin seeds as their own snack – done.

I can add those to salads this week, I can have them as part of a meal, adding extra protein, fat and fiber. Amazing. But maybe I’m just making sure I’ll mix. Okay, cool. So now I’ve got my nuts and seeds. Now I want some kind of sweetness. So I’m either going to do raisins, or I’m going to do dark chocolate chips. Sometimes I will do dried cranberries, sure, as a little fun, extra. And that’s my trail mix ready to go. So if I’m ever in a pinch, if I’m ever on my way out the door, if I want to add something to a meal, but doesn’t quite have enough protein and fat to keep me full to the next meal, I will add that trail mix to it.

So if you want to make muffins, do it during this prep time, if you want to make no-bake peanut butter oat balls, like I have on my Instagram page and on my blog, you can do that. Actually, I don’t think it’s on my blog. Isn’t that funny, it’s on my Instagram page, so you can search for the recipe. But this prep time is when you’re going to be doing that. So this Sunday, our prep, or less than that, is for you to get ready for the week any extras, and to prep some of your main ingredients like your vegetables.

Get Rid of the Overwhelm

And so I want you to think about this protocol, the Plan, Shop and Prep, and really incorporate it into your life. I want you to give it a try because you have nothing to lose and only everything to gain. Only your life to gain back basically, because I know how much overwhelm this whole making dinner thing can be this whole having to go to the grocery store thing can be this whole planning this entire meal every single day for your family can cause so much overwhelm and extra stress that I don’t want you to have. Because you don’t have to have it.

Let’s leave our stress for other things. Because stress is unavoidable. But in certain cases, we can avoid it we can do our best to prevent it so that we don’t have to experience it there on top of the other places that it’s inevitable. So I want you to incorporate this Plan, Shop, Prep Protocol, the PSP Protocol, into your life. Did I just say PSP protocol? Yes, unlimited PSP protocol into your life and see how you feel.

Questions?

As I say you have nothing to lose only everything to gain. So if you have questions about this, or if you want to give me your tips on how you incorporate planning into your life, what you do on your Sunday to get ready for the week, I would love to hear it. So go to my Instagram at Laura and Lima. Look for episode 31. It’ll be either in a real or it’ll be in an audiogram which is where you can see episode 31 on the post, and just write in a comment. Anything to do with this planning, shopping, prepping protocol and ask your questions. Put your comments I would love to hear from you.

So I will talk to you next week. I hope you have an amazing week. And please start incorporating planning into your life more and feel the difference it truly can make.

Talk to you next week. And don’t forget to get your free copy of my new home energy guide.

Just go to http://bit.ly/newmamas for instant access. Thanks for listening to the Love and Lettuce Podcast! To find out how to work with me and for more great info check out newmamanation.com. This is Laura. Until next time, love and lettuce.