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March 25, 2025 17 mins

Ever find yourself staring into the fridge, wondering what's for dinner… again? I’ve been there too. In today’s episode, I’m sharing how meal planning and prepping changed my life—helping me ditch the last-minute drive thru food runs and feel more confident in feeding my family.

 

I’ll walk you through why meal prep is more than just a time-saver, how it can lighten your mental load, and why a little front-end effort can transform how you show up in the kitchen. Plus, I’ll share simple, realistic ways to start, even if you feel like you're failing at feeding your family (spoiler alert: you’re NOT!).

 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • How my long commutes led me to meal planning—and why I stuck with it
  • Why prepping ahead can actually give you more time during the week
  • The surprising benefits of meal planning beyond just saving time
  • How to balance variety and simplicity while keeping mealtime stress-free
  • One simple step you can take today to start making a difference

 

Resources & Links:

👉 Want more support? Get exclusive early bird pricing for Cook Like a Mother, my signature 6-week program to help you gain confidence in the kitchen, confidence in life!

 

Loved this episode? Take a screenshot, share it on Instagram, and tag me @thrive.empowered! Let’s chat about your biggest meal plan struggles.


Thank you so much for listening in! If anything in this episode resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend or on social media.

And don't forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me get the word out.

Follow and chat with me on Instagram:

Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast

Personal account - @thrive.empowered

Sending you light and love always!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
Mother On this podcast.
We're scared for our truth, butthat fear is what fuels us to
truly live in it.
You're in the right place ifyou feel like you're stuck in
survivor mode and you're readyto step into who you were truly

(00:20):
meant to be.
I'll share resources and toolsI use daily to help you in your
journey towards a healthiermindset and to break the wheel
of survival.
The journey may not be easy,but you won't have to face it
alone.
I'm a mama of three, healingday by day from past trauma, and
I'm on a mission to build alife I've always dreamed of but

(00:42):
never thought was possible.
So, love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey, loves, and welcome toanother episode of Thrive Like a
Mother.
And I'm really excited abouttoday's episode because I feel

(01:04):
like this topic that we're goingto talk about today is one that
needs to come up again, becauseit's one of my favorite ways
that I ensure that I am thrivingin life and that I am showing
up as my best self, and that hasto do with food.
Food for me, y'all is big inthe way that I feel my body, the

(01:28):
way that I feel my brain.
If you're a mama, you'relistening into this.
You know how important energyis to keep up with our little
ones, and food and what you'reeating, what you're putting into
your body so key to making sureyou have the optimal, optimal
energy to keep up with them,because they, they are fast,

(01:50):
they are fast.
So I'm going to jump right inand really just share a little
bit about my personal journeyhow I got into meal planning and
prepping, why I'm so passionateabout it and honestly y'all
believe it or not I used to bethe same way as maybe a lot of
you are feeling right now, wherea lot of the times, you're

(02:12):
going to your fridge and you'restaring into it whether it's
full, you know whether there'sthings missing, but you're
looking in there and you'rethinking, okay, what is for
dinner, what is for breakfast,what is for what Insert?
You know whatever meal you'refocused on at that point there.

(02:34):
And the thing is I now work fromhome right, but I didn't always
used to work from home.
I used to have a commute and itwas a really long one.
It was about like 45 minutes anhour, which is typical if you
live like close to Atlanta, justlike around the city circle,

(02:55):
and so I would be going on thiscommute going to work.
I don't know that Iconsistently ate breakfast, but
for sure, when it came down todinner time, after I picked up
my oldest Olivia, we would beabout to get home and in my
brain I just started to thinkabout what would be for dinner.

(03:17):
Like, right, as we're about topull into our home and a lot of
the times the easier optionwould be to just go through a
drive-thru and, honestly, thatstarted to happen a lot more
often than I liked it.
I started to think about, like,okay, we may not be getting the

(03:43):
proper nutrition that we need,especially as Olivia, my oldest,
I'm starting to more thinkabout what kind of vitamins and
nutrition that she needs to fuelher body and growing mind.
I started to think about howcan I change things, because
this is not, this is not working, this is not the way that I

(04:06):
want us to be always goingthrough the drive-thru, always,
you know, not knowing whatreally is in our foods, things
like that I.
So I started to really thinkabout, like, what ways can I
prepare better before gettinghome, before getting through the
door and asking the questionwhat's for dinner, before

(04:27):
looking in the fridge and justscrambling how can I prepare a
little bit better?
So that's really where mypassion for meal prepping came
from.
It was a need to want to makesure that I was properly feeding

(04:47):
my family the nutrition thatthey needed to truly thrive, not
just, you know, go through theday.
Yes, we were eating, but werewe eating like what we needed to
truly feel good, like in ourbodies?
I want to talk a little bitabout how that instance started

(05:09):
to create like this rippleeffect for me and my confidence
as a mom, because it is a hit,right, it is a hit when you are
constantly thinking about what'sfor dinner and not able to kind
of show up in that way, justbecause, honestly, like you know
, the mental load of moms is so,it's so much.

(05:30):
You know, I know I always talkabout the many tabs that we have
open, and so if you areconstantly, you know, asking
yourself, you know no one elseis going to come up with this
what's for dinner, what's forbreakfast, no one else is going
to do this that starts to becomea hit on your confidence of am
I feeding my family like whatthey need, right.

(05:52):
And so, as I started to I won'tsay it was easy, right, but as
I started to learn what workedfor our family as far as
planning and prepping, myconfidence started to increase.
Because the biggest thing Iwant mamas that are listening

(06:13):
and the biggest thing I want tohelp you realize is that front
loading a lot of that meal prepwork.
For me it was so impactful forthe way that I showed up in the
kitchen, the way that I showedup in mealtime, the way that I
showed up, just in general,throughout the week as a mom, as
a friend, as a wife all thethings started to become, you

(06:37):
know, more trying to give theword.
I was able to prioritize thosethings a little bit more because
I wasn't having that mentalload dragging me down.
What's going to be for dinneroh my gosh, I'm still not ready
those feelings right.
And doing that during the week,I started to realize how much

(07:00):
time I started to get back to dothe things that I wanted to
focus on more, instead ofstaring at my fridge for 20, 30
minutes and eventually going,you know, to the door dash.
And so really, some of the, orone of the biggest, I want to
say benefits for me for mealprepping, beyond just saving

(07:23):
time, because, yes, that was afactor, but I talked about
front-loading a lot of that mealprep work.
Right, because of that, I wasstarting to have to do less
reactive brain work when it cameto it was time for us to eat,
and so I talk about that mentalload.
Meal prepping is a way thathelps me lighten that mental

(07:46):
load throughout the week.
It lightens the amount of timesthat we have to eat out.
Yes, we still like to eat out,we love to try new places and
things, and eating out issomething that can also help you
lighten that mental load.
If you have a certain daythroughout the week that's our
eat-out day, or that's ourleftover day, or that's our

(08:08):
leftover day or whatever.
But it started to become lessof a.
We have to eat out because Idon't know what to cook, I
didn't prepare, I don't knowwhat to put together with what's
in our fridge.
It started to become less ofthat and more of no.

(08:28):
We get to do this this daybecause we prepped for the week
and we've eaten all of our foodand all the things, and maybe I
just want a day off.
It started to become that andthat y'all that felt good.
That felt good to be able tosay no, we don't have to,
because I've planned and I'veprepped and there's food in the

(08:51):
fridge, there's food at home.
We got McDonald's at home.
Y'all, let's get into I want totake a segue here and let's get
into really some practical tipsand strategies that y'all can
take with you from this episode.
And I really want you to startthinking of your why.

(09:11):
I think one of these this thatI'm about to share could be one
of them.
Like for me, my why was?
I wanted to make sure that myfamily was eating nutritious
foods so that we could properlysupport, like our bodies, fuel
our bodies, and with thesebabies, like they're growing
minds, they're learning so muchthey need proper nutrition to

(09:33):
support.
Another thing I want to talkabout is mindful eating
nutrition to support.
Another thing I want to talkabout is mindful eating Because
a big thing that happens as yourkids get older, maybe as
they're babies, you know they'renot paying as much attention to
what they're grabbing, you knowwhat you're putting in front of
them.
But as they get older, theystart to want to have those

(09:54):
conversations about what's ontheir plate, what they're eating
, they start to have opinionsabout what they're eating, and
so, if we are starting tointroduce them to mindful eating
and starting to have thoseconversations with them, meal
planning and prepping gives youthe option to start offering

(10:17):
your kids a variety of foodsmore often without having to,
you know, eat out somewhere, andit gives you the opportunity to
do that kind of in a safeenvironment at home at the
kitchen table, where you areable to sit with them and really
, like, truly explain thebenefits of what they're eating.

(10:38):
I want to talk about a storyrecently.
This past year, I made beetsfor the first time for our
family, and I had never madebeets at all, and so, of course,
kids had questions.
They were like, wow, it'spurple.
I did make it with somethingthat they liked.

(10:59):
I made it with carrots, um,roasted beets.
But the questions that they hadwas like, okay, these are
really cool looking Like youknow, they're um good for my
body as far as like, whatvitamins are in them, how those
vitamins support their body andtheir brain.
Start having those conversationsbecause you're, believe it or
not, like your kids are ready totalk about those things and if

(11:24):
you're starting very early, asthey get older they will start
to have those things in the backof their mind too Okay, what's
on my plate?
Or, as they're building theirown plates, what's on my plate?
What good is this doing for mybody?
How is this going to make mefeel good, safe in my body?

(11:45):
So mindful eating is somethingI want you guys to take away
from.
Today is really the opportunitythat you have, if you step into
the realm more of meal planningand prepping, the opportunity
that you have to start havingthose conversations with your
kids.
And then another just tangible,just prep tip for you that you

(12:11):
can start implementing today,tomorrow, whenever you pick up
your groceries.
If you've already picked them upand you've got fruits and
veggies sitting in yourvegetable crisper whatever that
thing is called in the fridge,go ahead and prep those.
Y'all Prep those.
Now.
There are some vegetables,obviously.
I think tomato is probably oneof them.

(12:31):
Maybe apples is another onethat maybe you can't necessarily
prep um days in advance becausethey start to like brown and do
all sorts of things.
Right, but there are vegetablesand things like onions um,
apples you can do if you cookthem.
I know, with little ones.

(12:52):
I still am cooking our applesso that they're soft enough for
him to eat.
Still am cooking our apples sothat they're soft enough for him
to eat, but there are.
Look in your fridge and see whatfruits and veggies you have in
there already that you can goahead and prep.
So that way, whether it's for asnack, whether it's going in a
meal, no matter what, it's readyfor you to just grab and go and

(13:13):
start to see the difference inthe prepping time you would have
taken before, like, actuallyusing that item.
Think about okay, what's a easyexample I'm going to, you know,
make chili or spaghetti orsomething and it has onions in
it.
Think about the time you wouldhave taken to cut that onion.

(13:36):
You know, either while orbefore making your spaghetti
that's 10, 15 minutes that youjust chopped off of your
prepping time.
Or going to have fruit for asnack.
Let's say it's the middle ofthe day, you know you're busy,
you're running around, you'reworking from home, like me, and
you already have fruit ready inyour fridge.

(13:57):
Imagine how good that will feel, just knowing that you can grab
and make sure you are fuelingyour body properly throughout
the day without the extra loadof, first of all, what am I
going to eat?
But then also having to prepthat thing to eat it, because
that takes time, y'all it does.

(14:18):
And so I want to end today'sepisode with two things.
First of all, a little bit of amindset shift and some
encouragement from my mamas,because I've been in your shoes.
I've been in the moment goingthrough the drive for the fourth
, fifth time of the week andthinking, wow, am I feeling as a

(14:41):
mom?
And you're not.
You're not, mama, you're notfailing.
A lot of these things that Ihave learned over the years, I'm
realizing, are things that wemay not have just been taught
when we were younger.
It's things that we are nowneeding to learn either.

(15:12):
By the way, we grew up in avery different generation, right
, and the needs that we have nowas moms of this generation are
different, and so the thingsthat we're doing, they're going
to look different.
So you're not failing, mama, wejust need to learn and we need
to allow ourselves to try andlike.

(15:33):
That's okay, because, as we'recontinuing to try, we're going
to be learning along the way,and so I want to offer you some
support, as always.
As always, I have a new six-weekprogram coming out, called Cook
Like a Mother, where we aregoing to delve into those

(15:54):
strategies.
We're going to delve intobuilding your confidence in the
kitchen, and you're not going todo this alone.
We're doing this as a group ofmamas who are wanting to really
show up differently in the waythat they are providing
nutrition for their family andfor themselves, and so if that's

(16:15):
something that you might beinterested in, I'll go ahead and
I will drop that link.
It will be available in theshow notes for you, also
available on my page.
But know that there is supportout there for you.
Just because you don't know andyou are maybe nervous of
learning and trying, that's Ithink that's okay.

(16:36):
You have support that you canget, like literally reach out a
hand and grab, like I am herefor you to literally link arms
and thrive together.
It's in it's in my intro, gal,and so I want to end with that
and I just, yeah, just know thatyou're not failing.

(16:58):
You just now have theopportunity to learn and try
things differently.
Thank you so much for listening, love.
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it, as always,sending you light and love, and

(17:20):
remember you are worthy, you areenough and you deserve to
thrive.
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