3 Ideas if you Want to Food Prep as a Busy Family

Failing to plan is planning to fail, these words stuck with me after hearing my trainer speak them a few years back. 

Making time to plan and prep as a busy family is KEY to not only your weight loss but creating healthy habits for your kiddos as well. Here are 3 steps to get started.

1. PLAN! Sit down with everyone for 5-10 minutes on Sunday and see when it works best to prep. 

2. DELEGATE! Get everyone in the kitchen to help! Teaching our kids to prep and cook and chop are lessons they'll pass down for generations. 

3. Get MESSY! Make memories. Let your kids pick a meal to make or an ingredient to try. Getting their buy in makes this fun but also gives them buy in and stake in the game! 

Which of these will you try this week? All of them I hope!

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and NOT losing weight?

Hey there friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late twenties and struggled for years to get it off. Seven years ago, I found a basic system that worked and has helped me lose 90 of those pounds. I’ve been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since to break chains of diet culture, embrace their bodies and fueling instead of dieting.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to:

• • Lose Weight in a Way that honors God without obsessing about the scale
  • Meal Plan and Prep for Your Family
  • Follow a MACRO based plan that allows you to eat the foods you love.
  • Recognize and pray through triggers keeping you stuck.
  • I’ll help you Plan your week and schedule your self-care time.
  • Cultivate a spirit of self-discipline in your workouts you actually enjoy.
  
  It's time to give God your health journey and watch Him make you new, from the inside, OUT.

Join The Biblical Weight Loss Framework: https://bit.ly/JoinTheWeightLossFramework

Join my FREE Community + get a copy of my Free Weight Loss & Routine Guide: www.herweightlossmindset.com

Check out my FREE Nutrition & Fitness Masterclass: https://youtu.be/EqM9jfQMbBA

Transcript

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

One of our trainers said that during a workout, probably four or five years ago, and that just really always stuck with me.

And it kind of slapped me in the face with some serious conviction because I wasn't planning.

I was flinging things at the wall, hoping it would stick, and I found myself unprepared, unfocused, and I was not getting enough of the food in that I needed every day.

And so we've learned, hopefully by this point, that there's just no magic pill.

There is no quick fix that is ever going to help you lose weight in a biblical, godly way.

We have to be prepared.

We have to plan.

We have to teach these habits to our kids.

Why it is so important to be prepared.

So if you are struggling to prep as a busy family, here are three ideas that will help you.

So grab your notebook, grab your pen, and let's chat.

Hey sister, welcome to Her Weight Loss Mindset.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and not losing weight?

Do you wish you could find easy meal prep ideas for your family so you're not standing in the kitchen yet again, wondering what everyone is going to eat for dinner that's in line with your goals?

Do you spend hours Googling easy workouts, but then have no time to do them because your motivation only goes so far?

Hey there, friend.

I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach, encourager and friend.

I gained 100 pounds in my late 20s and struggled for years to get it off.

Seven years ago, I found a basic system that works and has helped me lose over 90 of those pounds.

I've been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to lose weight in a way that honors God without obsessing about the scale, and meal plan and prep for your family, and follow a macro based plan that allows you to eat the foods you love while you reach your goals.

It's time to give God your health journey and watch him make you new from the inside out.

You've got this sister.

Now go grab your pre-workout or your third coffee like me and let's chat.

The biblical weight loss framework is kicking off very third.

So if you would like to take a Holy Spirit led approach to your weight loss journey, learn to work through unhealthy mindsets and triggers, and create a healthy, sustainable weight loss plan that will eventually help you find your God-given purpose and walk out the Great Commission, join the biblical weight loss framework.

You can find the link to sign up in the show notes below.

So today we're going to talk about food prepping as a busy family because for some reason, this seems to be an area where the majority of my clients are really struggling to find some balance.

So these three tips hopefully will help you.

And I really want to encourage you.

So Hubby and I have been in this discipleship group for going on two and a half years now and we're reading a book.

It's called You Were Made For More, I believe is what it's called.

Or You Were Made For This or something like that.

Dan Greider is the author.

And he's talking about how our kids have become idols in our life.

And we prioritize sports practice.

We're now having kids have sporting practice and games on Sundays, like the family unit has been sacrificed because of our kids and all of the events that they're in.

And not having healthy boundaries within our schools.

Like I remember when I was in school, 3.30 to 5 was practice and then you went home after that.

I have clients that I've worked with in the past that they're kids' like gymnastics practices for like eight and nine year olds.

Don't start until eight o'clock on a Monday night.

Like that is insane.

We see a meme all the time that, you know, there's a really high chance that your kid is not going to join a professional sports team, but there's a hundred percent chance that they're going to stand in front of Jesus.

And when we prioritize events and being gone, and we're not home as a family, we're not preparing food as a family, we're not sitting around the dinner table as a family, something is lost.

We have gotten into this point in society where busy is like this rite of passage, and it's just not the truth.

Busy is not a badge of courage that we should be wearing.

If you are too busy to be home, spending time, eating as a family, prepping, getting your kids in church on Sundays, we have to really pray for Holy Spirit conviction in this area of our lives.

My mom, she let us do one thing per season.

If I was a dancer, I was in band in middle school, I played basketball, but I could do one thing.

She was not carting me around, and it used to infuriate me because all of my friends got to do whatever they wanted to do.

But now, looking back, I'm glad that she had set that boundary, and that's one that I hope to instill with our daughter one day.

Jesus has to come first, and how does Jesus come first in a world that is constantly pushing us for our kids to be involved in every little thing?

The family unit is often sacrificed, and it comes in the fact we're feeding our kids McDonald's, which is the worst thing that you could ever feed someone that you love.

Fast food is not teaching our kids healthy habits, and it's expensive.

People used to say, oh, I could spend $20 to feed my family a fork.

Yeah, now you can't.

It's like $60.

So if you're doing that twice a week, that's $120.

That's $600 a month that you could be spending buying groceries and prepping as a family.

So yeah, I'm getting on my little soapbox here because I really want you to start to pray for conviction of, okay, Lord, what are the events that my kids actually need to be in and where have I put them that could potentially be placing them as an idol or just self-awareness of where your kids are.

Where are they spending time?

Are you making time to have dinner as a family a couple nights a week?

Like it has to become the priority.

So the first step that I'm going to offer is plan.

You have to have a plan.

If your kids are involved in any kind of thing, especially, you have to have a plan.

What nights are you going to be home?

What nights will you be eating away?

When can you sit down as a family and cook some food together?

When can you take two hours on a weeknight and get your family in the kitchen?

Schedule it.

Schedule it like a haircut.

Schedule it like your nail appointment.

Schedule it like your dentist appointment.

You're not going to miss those.

You should not miss this.

When we can take our month calendar and break it down into what we know we have to do that week, and then we look at it, 5, 10 minutes on Sunday nights, get your family around the table and say, okay, this is what we have going on this week.

These are the nights we're going to be away.

These are the nights we're going to be home.

We're putting down our phones.

We're getting in the kitchen and we're going to prep together.

So when that boundary is established, when that plan is made and that night comes, that's what your family does.

You have a plan.

You are prepared and you get in the kitchen.

Let your kids help you cook a meal.

When you're doing your grocery pick up or when you're at the store, let them pick out a new fruit or veggie or piece of meat or something that they want to cook.

Let them have some buy-in.

So that when it comes time to prep, you can say, okay, so you bought this big chunk of brisket.

What are we going to do with this this week?

There are so many things you can do with a big brisket.

If your kid is like, yeah, let's get this brisket.

You can make brisket tacos.

You can make quesadillas.

There's so many options.

I talked about the food prep, like how to pump prep in store last week.

Go back to that episode and listen.

But let your kids have some buy-in in the process of what they're going to eat through the week.

And then step number two is delegate.

If your kids are a little bit older and you trust them to maybe chop some veggies, great.

Give them a cutting board and a knife.

Teach them how to properly chop an onion and a pepper.

If they don't know, if you don't know, look up a YouTube video.

These are great things for you to learn together.

That's not just teaching you how to prep as a family, it's teaching them how to teach their kids good, healthy habits.

Okay, this is not about just us.

This is about what we're going to teach our kids and the lessons that they're going to pass down as they grow up.

If they're not quite big enough to handle a knife, let them wash vegetables or let them stir the noodles on the stove.

Find something for everyone.

If you have a baby in a high chair, strap them on your little strappy thing and, you know, wash some fruits and vegetables or make a salad.

There's always something that we can do to get people involved.

And make sure if you're married that your spouse is doing this with you.

This has to be a family affair.

These are where you are going to make memories and teach good habits.

Step one, we're making a plan.

Step two, we're delegating.

Step three, get messy.

Okay, make memories.

Have your kids find a new fun dessert to make and let them choose how they want to do it.

Are we making a no-bake cheesecake?

Are we going to mix up a cake batter?

Are we going to bake some cookies?

Get messy.

Let them get messy.

10 minutes of messy kitchen time, 15 minutes to clean it up is worth all of those fun things that you're going to make together.

You're going to make a chocolate chip cookie.

You're going to sit down, you know, eat your dinner afterwards.

You're having your cookies and your ice cream and your kid is like beaming with absolute pride and joy because they got to bake cookies for the family.

These are things that set up our kids for success as they grow older.

These are lessons they're always going to learn.

They're not always going to play in the NBA or professional football, right?

Like, let's be real.

They are going to hopefully one day have families and kids that they're going to teach themselves how to, hey, you know what, when I was young, my mom and dad let us get in the kitchen and we made amazing memories doing these kinds of things.

I really preach to my clients in the Biblical Weight Loss Framework that Sunday is for Sabbath alone, all right?

All of our chores and things like that are done.

However, if Sunday you are home with your entire family, you went to church in the morning, you come home, you take a nap and you get everybody in the kitchen to prep for your week, that would be an incredible way to, I believe, spend time with your family.

So let them wash carrots, let them wash the peppers, let them put the food in the casserole dish, let them help you season the chicken breast before you put them in the oven.

Get your family involved, let your kids get messy and make some memories, okay?

If we want to food prep as a busy family, go back, listen to last week's episode.

I talked to you a lot about bulk prepping and things like that, and then move that into today's episode, and let them just be kids.

Make messes in the flour, get in the kitchen, cut up some apples or bananas, make a fruit bowl, let them scoop it up, let them serve it.

Get your family in the kitchen.

These are the habits that are going to pass down from generation to generation to generation.

If you learned a fun recipe when you were a kid, teach that to your kids.

One of my favorite things to do through the Christmas season is bake cookies with my mom.

We do it with my nieces and nephews.

We make a mess.

It's disgusting in my house.

But I'm telling you what, those are the memories that are precious, that they're going to take into their lives forever and ever and ever.

There is no magic pill.

There is no quick fix.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Let your family get in the kitchen with you.

Teach them how to bulk prep.

Teach them how to chop salad.

Teach them how to make pasta.

Let them cook.

Let them get messy.

Last little story.

I remember one time I asked my mom if I could make breakfast.

I have asked her every Saturday for I don't even know how long.

And this first Saturday, she was like, yes, you can go make eggs on the stove.

I said, okay, what do I turn the oven to?

She's like, okay, that's the wrong question.

You don't know what you're doing.

You can't do it.

So until I went to college, I didn't learn how to cook.

And then once I got in the kitchen and started practicing, like I got to cook for my roommates and our friends all of the time.

Cooking is my love language.

I love to cook now.

I married a man who loves to cook.

He was in the kitchen with his mom.

He grew up Amish.

They were in the garden.

They were picking.

They were in the kitchen.

They were doing these things together.

And now this morning, just this morning, our baby fell asleep.

She was taking a nap in the nursery, and we got to stand at the kitchen, at the stove and make breakfast together.

These are the things that are going to make a difference in your kids' lives, right?

I know sporting events are great.

I know it teaches character building, team camaraderie, all those things.

I'm not discounting that.

I think it's amazing.

It just cannot come before everything else.

So I hope this blessed you.

I love you.

Thank you for letting me chat with you.

God bless.

Hey, sweets.

I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with a friend who may also want to lose weight without all the dieting and restriction?

Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple Podcasts.

It lights me up to know this podcast is helping you.

Okay, it's time to go make a protein shake and get my sweat on.

No more standing in the kitchen waiting for motivation to appear.

I'll meet you back next week for another episode.

Be blessed.