Planned, Prepped, and Productive: Real Food Cooking for Busy Moms

Dig into this exciting interview with Laura Fuentes with me! We're talking all things family meals from how to logistically make family meals happen, to how to handle it when your kids aren't liking the changes.  Top Insights from this episode:>The difference between traditional meal prep and family meal prep >Why meal prep is so useful for families>How to handle it when your kid refuses dinner>The mindset shifts to help you handle picky eatingLaura Fuentes is the creator of MOMables, where she’s helped thousands of families improve their health and wellness by establishing healthier eating habits as a family with her Family KickStart Program and weekly meal plan.She’s the Author of 5 Cookbooks, a successful entrepreneur, public speaker, spokesperson, makes regular television appearances like on TODAY and Good Morning America, has competed on Food Network and won! Her 100K + YouTube subscribers make her an “official YouTuber” according to her 9-year-old that is.Laura is bilingual, born and raised in Spain, and currently lives outside of New Orleans with her husband and 3 kids. In her spare time, Laura reads, sleeps, and works out. What she loves most is taking her family on travel adventures.Download a Free clean eating handbook that includes a sample weekly plan, a pantry and fridge list and tips to help you simplify your family’s meals week after week here.You can find more about Laura on LauraFuentes.com, on Instagram @LauraSFuentes and @MOMables.  You can also watch her on Youtube.

Last week we learned all about why a planner is so effective for habit change. This week we dive into how, learn my 2 -step system for creating any habit using your planner in this week's episode of the planned, prepped, and productive podcast. Link to shownotes

Find out how using a planner will help you actually stick to those new year's resolutions! Want to learn more about habits and goals? Check out this episodes!Why changing your habits is more effective than setting goalsKeystone habits

Holiday treats are fun, but can have you feeling overloaded with sugar.  You'd hate to throw away all that goodness though, so how can you enjoy them in moderation? In this episode you'll learn how to freeze or otherwise store your holiday treats so you can enjoy them in the months after Christmas instead of all at once!

Routine is KEY when it comes to making an effective meal planning system. Find out what my 5 go-tos are each week, how I use them, and how YOU can use them. More importantly, learn how to find your own go-tos to make meal planning and prep easier and more routine. Resources: Staples Meal Prep in minutes Mini Course

Want to feel more peace and *actually* accomplish your mom tasks? Learn to master planning sessions! Listen in to learn what exactly they are and how to make them effective and watch as you accomplish so much more with your weeks! Resources: PlannersBlock SchedulingHow to preserve your fall harvest

The weight loss industry LOVES meal prep, and for good reason, but what if you just want to get healthy NOT lose weight? It meal prep for you! Listen to find out! Resources: Steve Jobs IphoneBalanced MealsEmotional EatingDecision Fatigue

Join me as I describe my struggle with information overload and the effect that had on my peace as a mother and individual.  Resources: Digital MinimalismEssentialism

A food philosophy is a wonderful tool to help you get clarity on how you feel about food and to help your beliefs guide your decisions about food in your home, making food choices so much easier! Read on for more on how and why you might want to try it! The planned prepped and productive food philosophyWe believe that all Foods FitWe believe that a healthy diet is made up of a sum of it's components and not any one individual food.  Because of this we understand that no one food can break the diet and we don't support the idea of bad foods. We remain neutral about foodWe do not label foods as good or bad.  Food is food and we try to keep the food police at bay by not moralizing food or food choicesWe believe in feeding our bodies regularly We know that we are at our happiest when we are fed, so we strive to consider how we will keep our bodies fed throughout the day and to eat regularly. We strive to include protein and a fruit or vegetable at every mealWe know that certain foods keep us feeling our best! In order to stay feeling full and fueled mentally and physically we attempt to include protein and a fruit or vegetable to make sure we are meeting our needs. We believe that foods and meals should support the physical and mental/emotional healthWhile we absolutely believe in the power of whole, nutrient dense foods, we also believe that food helps us connect and love OR that it can help us in times of stress.  We are happy to eat foods that are less nutrient dense if it supports family bonding or togetherness or if we are in a time of emotional distress and we need extra support.  We try to follow the 80/20 rule and eat foods that support our physical bodies 80% of the time.  We also understand that foods that are good for our physical bodies can also help us out of emotional ruts when we have to time and energy to prepare them.We believe in cooking from scratch most of the time (but also in using shortcuts that make sense)Pre-cut veggies? Sure! Sauces that are about the same nutritionally from the store as when they're made from scratch? Sign us up!  We try to cook when it matters and cheat when it doesn't. We believe in planning and preparing so food prep can be a small part of life instead of being all consuming and we are willing to eat a B level meal that saves us time and energy for more important things. We know we can eat well even when we keep our meal plan simple, and even if we repeat meals often.  We don't want food and meal prep to consume our lives so we try to keep meal prep to 30 minutes or less on weeknights and we try to choose meals that are simple to prepare and don't cause immense stress to prepare. We know that food can be fun, taste great, and be nourishing at the same timeThrough strategic planning and prep we can enjoy great food without stress and overwhelm. Resources: To abstain or moderate Jody MooreDecision Fatigue

Mealtime is a huge source of stress for many families, but sometimes a little shift of expectations can be all you need to make the experience so much better! Listen on for 10 expectations that might be causing you to feel stressed and overwhelmed about dinnertime that you can totally just let go of. Resources: Expectations of kids at mealtimes based on age