I bought a pair of red capris with little sailboats on them from Frenchy’s.
Which already feels like the beginning of a poor decision. (it is)
I encourage you to read the entire story here: These Pants 👖⛵️ Are NOT For Sitting
The pants turned out to be men’s pants which then turned out to be my ‘standing pants only’ pants. Honestly, go read the story!
Anyhow, every few months, I try these pants on again, hoping that my entire anatomical structure will have changed but the results are always the same…
Still restrictive. Highly aggressive.
And they remain ‘standing pants only’.
Forcing my female anatomy into those pants started feeling a lot like forcing myself into some of the elaborate health systems the internet keeps pretending are normal.
So clearly, I had to write about the one system that makes me scratch my head and wonder why it has to be so difficult… meal prepping.
The Internet Has Turned Meal Prep Into A Personality Trait
Somewhere along the way, healthy eating stopped being about eating food and started looking like a small-scale food manufacturing facility.
You know the videos.
Forty-two matching containers. Three hours of chopping. Perfectly cubed sweet potatoes lined up like they’re awaiting inspection.
Chicken.
Rice.
Broccoli.
Repeat until morale declines.
Basically – the farthest thing away from a realistic meal prep plan.
The internet acts like every woman should naturally possess the energy to:
- meal prep
- answer emails
- work
- parent
- exercise
- drink enough water
- clean the fridge
- journal
- stretch
- and somehow still feel refreshed by Sunday evening.
Meanwhile half of us are staring into the fridge holding a pickle wondering if shredded cheese counts as supper.
And to be clear: Meal prep itself is not the problem.
If you genuinely enjoy spending Sunday afternoons batch cooking while listening to podcasts and organizing sauces into matching jars? Live your truth.
The problem is the pressure. The rigidity.
The weird wellness culture that makes us feel like we’re failing if our fridge doesn’t resemble a wellness influencer’s lab.
My truth is this:
Healthy eating should support your life — not become a second unpaid job.
And you’re exhausted, not because healthy eating is impossible…
…but because you’re trying to force yourself into systems that simply do not fit your actual life.
Which bring me to the realistic meal prep that works for me and that can work for you.
We Don’t Meal Prep — We Just Make Life Easier For Future Us
That’s honestly the entire philosophy in our house.
We don’t do giant prep days that require Sundays in the kitchen assembling twelve identical lunches.
We just reduce friction. That’s the entire goal.
Healthy eating gets dramatically easier when Future You doesn’t have to start from absolute zero every time you’re hungry.
So instead of meal prepping as an event… we just cook slightly more food when we’re already cooking anyway.
That’s it.
Chicken breasts become tacos the next day.
Roasted vegetables end up in grain bowls or scrambled eggs.
Rice turns into quick lunches.
Pork tenderloin becomes wraps or salads.
And the moment supper is finished, leftovers get packed immediately.
Not later. Not “eventually.”
Because everybody knows “eventually” is where good intentions go to die.
What Our Fridge and Our Realistic Meal Prep Actually Looks Like
First of all, our fridge and our kitchen looks like they belong to people who live and eat here. It’s messy, unorganized and always needs to be cleaned.
There are bowls on the counter with fresh fruit in them.
Peaches when they’re in season. Bananas that are either perfectly ripe or one hour away from becoming banana bread. Sometimes both.
Avocados sitting in their extremely brief edible window.
Tomatoes.
Yogurt.
Eggs.
Random leftover roasted potatoes.
Usually there’s salad stuff ready to go because if vegetables require seventeen steps before eating them, I’m probably not doing it.
There are bags of chia, flax, and hemp seeds beside half-used condiments and tortillas folded awkwardly back into the bag.
Cheese.
Leftovers.
Cut vegetables.
Nothing aesthetic. Nothing revolutionary. Just food that’s easy to grab.
And that matters more than you realize.
Because if I’m tired and hungry, I’m going to grab whatever’s easiest.
So I make the easiest options the ones that make me feel good.
The chips and snack food? Still around. We like our treats too.
But they’re usually shoved toward the back while the foods that help us feel energized and satisfied are front and centre.
Not because of discipline. Because of convenience.
Convenience drives way more of our eating habits than people like admitting.
What Lunch Looks Like Around Here
Lunch is usually leftovers. And I genuinely believe leftovers deserve more air time.
Some days it’s chicken and potatoes.
Other days it’s rice bowls with roasted vegetables and whatever protein exists in the fridge.
Sometimes it’s a giant salad with chickpeas, cheese, and leftover salmon thrown on top.
There are tuna cans in the cupboard. Smoked mackerel tins. Black beans. Chickpeas. Eggs.
If I’m at the café, there’s often pulled pork or roasted chicken or homemade soups floating around, which makes life easier.
But let me also say this very clearly:
Not every meal around here is nutritionally breathtaking.
Sometimes lunch is beautifully balanced and some days it’s ramen and survival.
When everybody’s exhausted, supper looks like eggs and toast.
Marks does make mean nachos very quickly when we have protein thawed to crumble on top.
And sometimes breakfast-for-supper saves the entire evening.
And that flexibility is probably one of the biggest reasons healthy eating stays consistent long term for us.
Because perfection is fragile. Real life is not.
Our Grocery Rhythm Is Pretty Boring — Which Is Exactly Why It Works
We usually do one grocery trip a week and a Saturday market trip for produce, eggs, bread and basic proteins.
Nothing complicated.
Eggs.
Chicken.
Pork.
Salmon.
Cod.
Chicken sausage.
Ground chicken and pork are what you’d find in our freezer on any given day.
Then the practical staples that quietly hold us together are always in the pantry.
Rice. Pasta. Beans. Tortillas. Chickpeas.
There’s almost always soup or tomato sauce in the freezer.
Extra proteins frozen away for nights nobody feels like cooking.
Healthy eating is less about motivation and more about infrastructure.
That sounds deeply unsexy, but it’s true.
The less effort healthy choices require in the moment, the easier they become to repeat.
And repeatable usually beats perfect.
Maybe The Problem Was Never You
I think a lot of women quietly believe they’re failing at healthy eating because they can’t maintain these elaborate systems the internet keeps glorifying.
But the system is the problem!
Your life was never meant to revolve around colour-coded containers and three-hour Sunday prep marathons.
You’re tired because you’re trying to force yourself into routines that don’t fit your schedule, your energy, your work, your motherhood, your responsibilities, or your actual personality.
And I think we’d all feel a little better if we stopped treating healthy eating like a performance.
You are allowed to simplify. You’re absolutely allowed to repeat meals.
Leftovers are encouraged! Frozen vegetables still count.
Convenience foods can help.
Rotisserie chickens are one of the greatest inventions.
And feeding yourself reasonably well most of the time is already enough.
The Version Of Healthy Eating I Believe In
I don’t think healthy eating needs to consume your entire life to work.
I think it works best quietly. In the background.
Where it supports your energy, your routines and your very real life.
Not demanding that you become a completely different person every Sunday afternoon.
You do not need:
- 42 matching containers
- elaborate food systems
- colour-coded routines
- six hours of prep work
- perfectly balanced meals at all times
You probably just need:
- food you enjoy
- protein available
- produce within reach
- simple repeatable meals
- less pressure
- more flexibility
And honestly, I know that healthy eating works best when it quietly supports your life instead of taking it over.
If You Want To Make Healthy Eating Feel Easier This Week…
Don’t overhaul your entire life. Seriously.
Try making things easier instead.
- Cook a little extra protein at supper.
- Wash and cut some fruit so it’s easier to grab.
- Keep ingredients around for simple fallback meals.
- Buy the bagged salad.
- Use frozen vegetables.
- Put the foods that make you feel good where you can see them.
And stop expecting yourself to function like a woman whose full-time job is apparently chopping cucumbers into perfect little circles for TikTok.
Remember the goal isn’t perfection. The goal is reducing friction.
Because healthy eating becomes a whole lot more sustainable when it fits your real life instead of competing with it.
And if you want a few realistic meal prep recipes, you can start here:
Nat – your anti-meal prepper and ‘standing pants only’ survivor
P.S.
This is the exact philosophy behind Stride Series – my 30-Day Walking Program.
No extreme routines. No pretending you suddenly have two extra hours a day and unlimited motivation.
Just a simple, realistic way to move your body consistently without turning your life upside down.
If you’ve been wanting to feel better physically and mentally in a way that feels doable, you can check out Stride Series here →.
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