Living a Ketogenic Lifestyle can be a huge change for some. We all live busy lives and time management isn’t always at the forefront of our minds. When people are new to Keto, they seem to have 2 major hurdles. 1-What and How much do I eat? Once you get acquainted with your food list and your macros, this becomes like second nature. And 2-You will feel like you are cooking all the time or you do not feel you have enough time in the day to make healthy meals with real food. I am going to give you some ideas to help you prepare yourself for a better week! When it comes to a Ketogenic lifestyle, planning is VERY important.
The first thing I find to help me is to make a meal plan. I sit down every weekend and take inventory of my food stock. I check the freezer, the refrigerator, the cabinets….everything! I make a list of the meats and the other ingredients that I have in the house and sit down with a pen and paper and start figuring out the menu for the week. Here is a sample menu of what we have going on this week.
The next thing I keep in mind is if you make a large meal, you can always use the left overs later in the week or even month for another meal. I will say that the roast, pulled pork and chicken soup will be large meals this week. I will package them up and freeze them in smaller portions for lunches or dinner for later in the month. This is a pretty simple time saving trick that I use. Soups are a great thing to make a large batch of and freeze it for dinner later in the month. My favorite soups to do this with are Chicken Soup, Keto Taco Soup, and Keto Chili.
I also focus on short cuts like getting two meals out of one dish. For example….Roast Chicken in the Crock-pot while you are at work for the day. I use THIS method. Roast a whole chicken…use half the chicken for dinner that evening and then for a meal later in the week, make THIS Chicken Cordon Bleu Cassarole.
One thing to remember THE CROCK-POT IS YOUR FRIEND! There are several recipes that we enjoy that are made in the morning and enjoyed as soon as we get home.
Chicken Taco Meat (great over a salad with sour cream, avocado, and cheese)
Italian Beef (just leave out the bread and enjoy with some yummy Mashed Cauli!)
Making side dishes to go along with your meals is always helpful. These are some of our favorites!
Keto Broccoli Cheese and Cauli “Rice”
Fully Loaded Faux Potato Salad
You can also take advantage of my days off and make several meals in advance. Even just prepping ingredients can take a lot of time off the daily dinner grind. I chop peppers and onions and keep them in the refrigerator to grab when I need them. I also bake a pound or two of bacon and have it in the refrigerator ready to be reheated. A pound of sausage is great to prep in advance and keep in the frige too, so it is ready when you need it. I also do little things like forming a bunch of hamburgers and keep them frozen and when I am ready to use them, I pull them out of the freezer in the morning so they are defrosted and ready to go by the time I get home.
Dinner doesn’t always have to be a 4 course meal either. Keeping it simple is pretty nice! I often enjoy an omelet with sausage, bacon, cheese sour cream and maybe even some salsa. Make a batch of keto waffles or pancakes and have them ready to heat up when you are having an overwhelming week at work. Top them with some mascarpone cheese with a strawberry or two.
As you can see there are many ways to take some of the stress off of the daily Dinner Madness. Use your resources. Plan. And enjoy dinner as you unwind from the day.
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