Introducing Theme-Cuts: The Meal Prep/Planning Shortcut that Can Help You Eat Healthier with Less Stress

Meal prepping and planning is another key health habit you can ADD to your nutrition routine to help you eat more balanced meals, focus on more nutrient-dense food choices, and increase the variety of foods that you consume.

Planning your meals ahead of time will also help you:

• Reach your nutrition and body composition goals by eliminating last-minute, non-goal-supportive food choices

• Save money by reducing your reliance on unplanned take-out or restaurant meals

• Save time by cutting out multiple trips to the grocery store or non-productive “wheel-spinning” in your kitchen

• Reduce food waste by helping you buy foods with intention and purpose

• Minimize stress over “what to eat” and increase your enjoyment (or at least reduce your possible dislike!) of cooking

I’ve got lots of tips and strategies to make meal planning easier for you. But I’m excited to share this unique strategy with you because it’s super easy to use and it will help you make a wide variety of meals (a minimum of 16 different ones by my count!). Plus, many of them stretch into more than one meal. I call that a win-win-win!

Theme-Cuts: The Meal Planning Solution That Lets You Mix and Match Ingredients for Delicious, Easy Meals

Here’s how it works. Step 1: Pick a theme and then choose a combination of ingredient options within that theme that sounds appealing to you. Step 2: Choose and prepare a “base.” Step 3: Put it all together and enjoy! (For specific ideas and suggestions, keep reading below.)

THEME OPTIONS:

BASE OPTIONS:

So, for example, if you choose Greek as your theme and farro as your base, you can turn it into a “bowl” style meal by topping the farro with plenty of veggies, some protein, and the sauce or herbs of your choice (from within the Greek-inspired ingredient list). Or, you can make it more of a grain-based salad with the Greek add-ins of your choosing and perhaps a protein option on the side.

If you're choosing pasta or noodles as your base, you can prepare either a hot Asian (or Greek, Italian, or Southwestern!) inspired pasta dish or a cold pasta salad. I recommend choosing whole grain noodles whenever possible for extra fiber and B vitamins.

Or, if you're choosing potatoes or one of the other veggie options as your base, you may want to set up a make-your-own toppings bar and make loaded potatoes or loaded spaghetti squash using the theme ingredients of your choice. Or make a veggie-based “bowl” meal (using the spaghetti squash or riced cauliflower as the foundation) and the theme-toppings of your choice. And of course, you can make theme-inspired flatbreads, quesadillas, or wraps if you want to choose one of those as your base instead.

Basically, you now have a framework to mix and match meal ingredients to your heart's (and belly's) content! And of course, you can create your own theme ingredient lists or add to my ingredient ideas. Try to incorporate plenty of fruits and/or vegetables, a lean protein, a whole grain, and a little bit of healthy fat to each meal to make it well-balanced. (I tried to make sure you have a little bit of each option in each theme list.)

Happy meal planning!