Building a Salad With Buffet Style Food Prep
If you’ve followed my blog, you know I’m a huge fan of buffet style meal prep. It just makes things like building a salad and cooking healthy for you and your family SO much easier!
This is why I created a “school” to teach people how to do it.
Today, I want to talk about building a salad using buffet style meal prep. Why? Because a lot of people tell me they don’t mind eating salads, they just don’t like making them.
Let’s talk about how to make it easier to make them!
Building a Better Food Experience
People have a tendency to overcomplicate things, especially healthy eating. If you’re busy looking at recipes, putting together complicated shopping lists, and spending hours in the kitchen, you’re not going to stay on track.
I used to be a teacher, which means it’s part of my job to simplify things.
As a Beachbody Coach, I really want healthy eating to be EASY, because the easier something is, the more likely you’ll stick to it.
My buffet style food prep method was born of the combination of these two things!
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What Is Buffet Style Food Prep?
Buffet style food prep is a SIMPLE and DOABLE way of building healthy, tasty meals every day.
Consider how much time you take now between shopping and cooking all your meals.
Then, add in the time you spend running through the convenience or ready-made section of the store or the drive-through at the last minute when you don’t feel like cooking.
See where I’m going with this?
Chances are that you spend a lot of time on meal prep already, but it’s often haphazard and even frustrating.
AND, at the end of the day, you’re not always getting the nutrients you need to fuel your body the best.
Buffet style food prep makes it so EASY!
How Do I Do Buffet Style Meal Prep?
You’ll use whole foods and avoid junk and processed foods, all while making meals that are delicious, fun, and simple to prepare.
This is a BIG time saver and works well whether you’re cooking for one or the whole family.
You can get the full low-down here, but here’s meal prep in a nutshell:
- Use your Ultimate Fix Portion Control Containers and fill them with the correct food types
- Stock up on essentials
- Prep ahead for 2-3 days of meals
Once you have a few meals picked out, fill your portion control containers and prep for only a few days.
Make sure you’re always stocked on essentials such as vinegar, oil, and lots of spices and herbs.
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Building a Salad with Buffet Style Meal Prep
Building a healthy salad is ridiculously easy when you use buffet-style meal prep. No more complaining that you love salads, but hate making them!
Fill your Ultimate Portion Fix containers first with your favorite types of salads in mind and then…
…just follow these steps!
1) Start With Greens
Use 2-3 cups of dark leafy greens. Think romaine, spinach, kale, and arugula. Throw in a little shredded cabbage too if you’d like.
Depending on your calorie needs, you may be using two of your green containers.
A little iceberg is okay, but remember—the darker the better when it comes to your leafy greens because they’re so full of nutrients.
I wash up my week’s worth of lettuce mix on the weekend so I can just grab it quickly during my busy week.
2) Add From Your Containers
Here’s where your containers really come in handy because they’ll help you avoid piling too much into your salad.
Add some produce from your green containers—think carrots, tomatoes, beets, broccoli, or whatever else you like.
Go ahead and put in some fruit, as well as non-starchy vegetables from your purple container. These add fiber and that helps you fill up and stay full longer.
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Move on to your red container and add a serving of affordable protein, like an egg or some chicken or tempeh.
Craving Mexican? Make it a taco salad with a little spiced lean ground beef.
Next comes the yellow container where you’ll find quinoa, beans, brown rice, and other carbs.
Definitely don’t go overboard with these, but YAY for the containers, because you really won’t need to worry.
Blue is next…with this container you might decide on a little avocado (AKA healthy fat) or cheese. This is where you need to be mindful and stick with your containers so you don’t overeat high-calorie foods.
Throw a few nuts, seeds, or olives in your salad from the orange container and you’re almost done.
A Word About Salad Dressings
Store-bought salad dressings have unhealthy fats and too much sugar and salt. Make your own dressing using a healthy oil, such as olive oil, and some vinegar.
Your salads will taste great this way, especially once you learn how to use herbs and spices.
Don’t be afraid to experiment!
Building a Healthy Salad
Building a salad is easy using your Portion Fix containers and my buffet style meal planning.
Before you know it, you’ll be a salad pro!
Looking for more help with your health and fitness goals? I’d LOVE to be your coach. It’s FREE to assign me and it comes with lots of help and accountability.
