Sharing a roundup of meal prep ideas you can make on the cheap.

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re having a great day so far! I have a morning packed full of appointments and am looking forward to family dinner tonight.

Today, I wanted to chat a bit about meal prep, because it’s been savin’ my bacon lately.

Meal prepping is one of my favorite ways to stay on track with healthy eating goals but also save money at the same time. When life gets hectic (which it always does), having budget friendly meals ready to go is a total gamechanger. I feel like whether you’re feeding a family, trying to eat healthier, or just want to spend less at the grocery store, meal prep can seriously simplify your routine.

Today, I wanted to share a roundup of cheap meal prep ideas that are delicious, super easy and quick to make, and won’t break the bank. I love that meal prepping helps eliminate the “what’s for dinner?” stress and keeps us away from pricey takeout. Most of these meals use pantry staples or affordable ingredients, and they make enough for leftovers.

Cheap Meal Prep Ideas

These recipes are perfect for weekly planning, batch cooking, and making sure you always have a friendly meal ready to go.

Whether you’re new to meal planning or a seasoned pro, I hope this post gives you fresh inspiration (and saves you a few bucks! Let’s be real, groceries are a million dollars right now.)

What Is Meal Prepping

Meal prepping is the practice of preparing meals or ingredients in advance to save time and money throughout the week. It could mean chopping veggies, cooking proteins, or assembling full meals in containers. The idea is to have meals ready to eat or cook quickly, so you’re less tempted to grab something unhealthy or expensive.

Meal prepping can help reduce food waste, streamline your grocery shopping, and make your week smoother overall. Plus, it often leads to healthier choices since you’re planning meals in advance.

Is Meal Prepping Cheaper?

Absolutely! When you plan ahead and prep your meals, you can make the most of grocery sales, buy ingredients in bulk, and avoid impulse purchases or last-minute takeout. By cooking in batches, you also use your ingredients more efficiently and waste less food.

Some people think healthy eating is expensive, but meal prepping shows that you can eat well without spending a fortune.

How To Meal Prep On A Budget

Shop Your Pantry First

Before you plan your meals, take inventory of what you already have. It’s easy to overlook canned goods, grains, or frozen items that can make great foundations for a meal.

Choose Budget Friendly Proteins

Think beans, lentils, eggs, canned tuna, organic sprouted tofu, organic ground beef, and chicken thighs. These are nutritious and often cheaper than other protein sources.

Buy Seasonal Produce

Fruits and vegetables that are in season are usually cheaper and taste better. Bonus points if you can find them at local farmers m

Sharing my review of the BEST blue light blocking glasses after doing a ton of research. You can order your Vivarays 4-in-1 glasses here and use the code FITNESSISTA for a discount!

Hi friends! Happy Monday! I hope that you’re having a wonderful morning! We spent the weekend in Phoenix for Liv’s last convention of the season, and now we’re back at home and getting ready for Spain. I’m sharing my packing list in tomorrow’s post!

Something that I’m absolutely bringing with me? My Vivarays! I am OBSESSED with these glasses, especially the nighttime lenses. I put them on, and within 30 minutes I’m drowsy and ready to sleep. I’m excited to give them a whirl on the plane 😉 In today’s post, I wanted to talk a bit about light, how it impacts our health, and share more details about the best blue light blocking glasses.

In our tech-filled world, blue light exposure is nearly impossible to avoid. We’re constantly surrounded by screens – phones, laptops, TVs – and even our indoor lighting emits high levels of artificial blue light. While some blue light is natural (and even beneficial during the day), overexposure, especially at the wrong times, can wreak havoc on our health, mood, and sleep quality.

If you’ve ever found yourself tossing and turning at night after scrolling your phone, or feeling drained despite 8 hours of sleep, blue light could be to blame. Fortunately, blue light blocking glasses are one of the simplest and most effective tools to support your circadian rhythm and your overall well-being.

the best blue light blocking glasses

Why Blue Light Can Be Harmful (and What Kind of Light We Actually Need)

Blue light is part of the visible light spectrum and is naturally emitted by the sun. During the day, blue light helps us feel awake, alert, and energized. The problem? Most of us are now exposed to blue light all day—and well into the night.

Here’s how chronic blue light exposure can disrupt our health:

Melatonin Suppression: Blue light blocks melatonin production, the hormone that signals your body it’s time to sleep. Even small amounts of blue light at night (from your phone, TV, or overhead lights) can reduce melatonin and delay your ability to fall and stay asleep.

Hormonal Disruption: Melatonin isn’t just about sleep. It’s intricately tied to other hormone pathways, including cortisol, insulin, estrogen, and testosterone. Disrupting melatonin can create a ripple effect that throws off your hormonal balance.

Mood & Mental Health: Poor sleep caused by blue light exposure can contribute to anxiety, depression, and brain fog. Blue light can also disrupt dopamine pathways and contribute to mood instability.

Eye Strain & Headaches: Blue light contributes to digital eye strain, dry eyes, and tension headaches—especially for those who spend hours in front of screens.

Read more

Hi friends! Happy Friday! What’s going on this weekend? Liv has her last dance convention of the year, P has a couple of basketball games, and we’re getting ready for our European adventures. I.can’t.even.wait.

I feel like I’ve been majorly slacking on everything and my goal is to record a bunch of podcast interviews before we head out and kind of get my life together. I feel like this year we’ve had to roll with the punches with school stuff and everything has felt even more chaotic than usual. I’m definitely ready for a reset.

I’d love to hear what you have going on this weekend! Any fun plans this summer that you’re looking forward to? I also hope that my friends who are celebrating Mother’s Day have a beautiful weekend.

(Liv’s bling and my road trip snacks from last week’s dance competition)

5.9 Friday Faves

Fashion + beauty + random:

April faves! It’s always fun to go back through analytics and see what products you loved the most that I’ve shared here on the blog and IG.

Here are the top picks from April – lots of them were from my Mother’s Day gift guide.

Lumebox. So many of you took advantage of the Lumebox sale. The good news is that you can still use FITNESSISTA here for $260 off! I use it every day and am obsessed with it. I’ve been using it this week on my scar – I had a mole removed from my chin last week – and also on my neck when I woke up Tuesday and couldn’

Sharing the details on the NEW Organifi creatine gummies. Use the code FITNESSISTA at checkout for a discount. This blog post has been sitting here ready to go for over a month but the gummies sold out as soon as they were released. They’re finally back in stock so I can share the details with you!

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re having a lovely morning. We’re here working on homeschool fun and I have a couple of client appointments this afternoon. If you’re interested in 1:1 coaching, please let me know ASAP – I have two open spots before we head out of the country for a while.

Ok friend, so you know I’m all about sharing the latest and greatest in wellness, and I’m really excited about this one. Organifi launched something new and they are AMAZING: Creatine Gummies!

If you’ve been curious about creatine but don’t love the idea of mixing powders or dealing with scoops, this is such a simple way to try it. They’re delicious, easy to take, and packed with benefits to support your workouts, recovery, and even your brain.

Organifi Creatine Gummies Review

So, what’s the deal with creatine?

Creatine is one of the most studied and trusted supplements in the fitness world, and for good reason. It can help your body produce more ATP (your main source of cellular energy), which means more strength, endurance, and faster recovery. It’s also been shown to support brain health, cognitive function, and even mood, especially during times of stress. If you think it’s just for gym bros, it’s definitely not!

Here are some of the benefits of creatine:

Improved strength and performance: Creatine can help muscles work harder and recover faster, which can lead to noticeable improvements in strength and stamina.

Faster recovery: By reducing muscle breakdown and inflammation, creatine can help shorten recovery time between workouts.

Increased muscular endurance: It can delay fatigue so you can push through longer or more intense training sessions.

Supports cognitive health: New research is showing creatine’s benefits for the brain like potential for improved memory, mental clarity, and stress resilience.

Helps reduce muscle soreness and supports joint health: Especially when paired with anti-inflammatory ingredients like tart cherry.

What’s in these gummies?

Creatine Monohydrate: The most effective and well-researched form of creatine.
VitaCherry Sport: A tart cherry extract that can help reduce inflammation, ease soreness, and support joint recovery. I’m a huge fan of this ingredient.

And of course, they’re made with Organifi’s clean standards:

Glyphosate residue-free

Gluten-fre

Sharing a roundup of the books I’ve been reading lately and if I recommend adding them to your collection. 

Hi friends! How was the weekend? We spent it in Phoenix for Liv’s dance competition. Her team did an amazing job, we enjoyed a family brunch, and I snuck away for a Lagree class – wins all around.

For today’s post, I wanted to share a little recap of the books I’ve read lately. After a little bit of a drought, I’ve made way more time for reading recently. (I’ve also been slacking a little bit on Spanish studying and IHP 3 studying, but that’s how it goes sometimes.) Almost all of them were home runs and I’m excited to share these with you! If you have any amazing books you’re reading right now, please let me know. Pretty soon I’ll be sitting on a cruise ship veranda with a coffee and book in hand and I’m SO ready.

ADHD Is Awesome by Penn Holderness

I listened to the audio version and highly recommend listening to this one. I’ve been a fan of the Holderness family for years, and was intrigued by this book because I feel like everything I’ve seen online has convinced me that I have ADHD. From always wanting to learn, to procrastination pressure (and then spending all night or a solid 8-10 hour block completing something), to constantly switching hobbies (remember the flamenco dancing and ukulele?), list of hundreds of business ideas, losing my attention span, feeling drained after too much extroverting, just so much of it made sense.

This book is such a fun, real look at what it’s actually like to live with ADHD. Penn Holderness shares his personal stories and shows how having ADHD isn’t something to be “fixed.” Instead, he talks about how it can be a real strength when you learn how to work with your brain. It’s funny, eye-opening, and super encouraging for anyone who’s ever felt like their brain just works a little differently.

It also emphasized that ADHD really is a spectrum and honestly, I’m not sure if I have it after reading this book. (Another testament to the fact that doctors provide dianoses, not Google or social media lol.) But, I still enjoyed it and it’s a great reminder on how to support friends and family members with ADHD. 9/10

From Amazon: