Another Whole30 Day 1

Today is THE big day, another round of WHOLE30!  I am excited for all those that are joining especially because I was told by three individuals that their husbands are on board.  How awesome is that?  Things are so much easier when you receive support from the home front, but that’s another post all by itself.  On to tips and recipes, shall we?  You may not be able to implement all of the suggested strategies  but find what works for you.

  • Try batch cooking once a week.  One of the quickest way to guarantee failure on the Whole30 is to not have ANY approved food readily available when you are hungry.  Do not set yourself up for failure, cook in advance.  I tend to do most of my cooking on Monday, and I am normally cooking again by Wednesday.  WHY?  Because my family of 8 LOVES to eat!
  •  If you are not able to cook all your meats in one day, try seasoning the meat and freezing it.  This way the meat can go from freezer to oven. Most vegetables and meats can be frozen.  Check out this site for a week’s worth of freeze ahead Whole30 approved crock pot meals.
  • Chop veggies (onions, peppers, carrots, etc) ahead of time and store in fridge.  When you are ready to cook, you don’t have to worry about spending too much time on the prep work.
  • Grill once a week.  In the warmer months I TRY to grill at least once every two weeks and store all the meat in a big roaster pan in the fridge.  Grilled meats also freeze very well, so if you don’t get to all of the meat, no worries just freeze it for another time.
  • Keep it simple.  Try a few new recipes a week, not everyday.  When I first started the Paelo diet,  I was a bit extreme and was trying a new recipe like EVERYDAY!  After awhile this got to be very tiring.  These days I am a bit more realistic and stick to my oldies but goodies and try a new recipe a few times a week.
  • Think outside the box…breakfast for dinner, dinner for breakfast.  For breakfast tomorrow,  I plan to have some left over zucchini noodles with my curry chicken and some avocado.  Why not?
  •  I try when possible to be one step ahead of the game and have some extra cooked protein on hand (chicken wings, chicken breast, frittatas )  or at least some canned fish in the cupboard.  Homemade mayo on canned fish with some avocado and sweet plantains on the side always makes for  a great emergency/backup  meal.
  • Try to make at least one frittata a week and keep in fridge for backup.
  • Use your crock pot and Roaster.  Visit this site for 30 Whole30 crock pot meals.  YUMMY!
  • Learn ways to make multiple dishes from one meat.  For example you can cook multiple pounds of ground meat of choice  using basic seasonings.  Then throughout the week you can use that same ground meat  for different dishes like  chili or lettuce wraps topped with avocado, sauteed onions and pepper and whole30 approved salsa.  Or I typically bake two whole chicken each week and store in fridge.  One night we may have baked chicken with sauteed greens and butternut squash.  Throughout the week I may shred the remaining chicken and use it for a creamy tomato soup  served with a big salad and why not toss some shredded chicken on the salad while I am it.

Perhaps you have some tips and recipe you would like to share, please leave a comment below.  Remember you can do this!

 

Anika Jones

About the Author

Anika Jones

Anika Jones is a speaker and author of the book Lessons Learned Along The Way: A 40 Day Devotional. She blogs about faith and family at LivingForLater.com and posts weekly videos on her YouTube channels, Living For Later (@livingforlater) and Living Life Now (@livinglifenow). Anika loves speaking about developing intimacy with God and understanding who we are in Christ. She serves alongside her husband in ministry. They live in Illinois with their 6 children.