Gluten free weekly meal prep – time to get lean!

The 8 week countdown to the holiday has begun, and you may have noticed my lack of blog posts on yummy, scrummy treats of late as I knuckle down with some serious clean eating.

One of the main things I’m trying to get into the hang of is prepping my food for the week on a Sunday. I’m so busy with work and training and the moment I rarely have time to sit down and turn my computer on, let alone blog!

So to try and free up some time, I went on a mega meat shop and cooked a load up in advance ready for my breakfast and two ‘lunches’ – I eat four meals a day, and like to have hot food for my dinner!

One of the best things about eating to cut body fat is that it leads you to a naturally gluten free diet. I basically eat a diet of meat, fish, veg and salad – with the odd berry smoothie and post-workout protein shakes thrown in for good measure. Of course, life is too short, so I don’t beat myself up about the odd treat!

However, now my holiday and dreams of a bikini body are getting closer I am feeling much more determined! Having my meals set out in advance makes it a lot less tempting to snack, though I find myself feeling satisfied most of the time anyway. Now PT Steve and I are planning out our ‘cheat’ meals in advanced – he’s promised me a (small) pizza at the weekend if I am good for a week!!

During my week I am trying (and mostly managing) to fit in four training sessions – a mix of weights and high intensity circuits – as well as making a conscious effort to be more active day-to-day. I’ve bought a bike and often drag Steve to the beach for a walk of an evening – anything to get me away from just sitting on the sofa!

Protein is key to losing body fat and training effectively – I generally get mine from a mixture of chicken, turkey, steak mince, beef, eggs and fish. Oh – and a bit of bacon at the weekends!

This week’s lunches…

Today I hit Tesco and bought a variety of chicken breasts, turkey breast steaks, lean steak mince and some smoked mackerel to do me for breakfast and lunches.

I find this kind of ‘diet’ can get a bit samey, so I try and use a variety of spices to jazz things up a bit. This is enough for me for breakfast and 2 lunches a day for the next 5-6 days, so it’s going to keep me going through the working week at least!

So with the meat above I made….

Peri peri chicken breasts

I simply sprinkled these with peri peri seasoning, and then roasted them in a little coconut oil for around 25-30 minutes.

Simple grilled turkey

As simple as the name suggests – sprinkled with salt and black pepper and grilled for 5 minutes each side. These are delicious cold for breakfast with poached eggs!

Smoky paprika meatballs

My favourite! Whizz half an onion, 3 tsp of smoked paprika, 2 dessert spoons of flaxseed and some chilli flakes in the blender, then mix into the beef mince. I made these into quite small meatballs and put them in the oven for around 20 minutes until browned.

Once everything is done, portion into freezer bags and keep tomorrow’s food in the fridge – whack everything else in the freezer ready to go! I made up two salads for my lunch tomorrow – both with alfalfa sprouts (LOVE these!), baby leaves, and then one salad with meatballs, some turkey and cashew nuts, and the other with chicken and avocado – lush!

This gives me a healthy mix of protein, fats and veg, and I know it will get me through a long day at work tomorrow and training!

What do you do to prep your meals for the week? Do you do it all the night before, or just throw something together on the day?