We’ve all been there. You find yourself reaching for takeout or fast food. You know it isn’t good for your health or your waistline, but just don’t have the time or energy to fix something healthier.
What if there was a sure-fire way to avoid falling into this bad habit?
There is! it’s called meal prepping, and when you learn how to incorporate it into your normal routine, it will save time, money, and improve your health.
Meal prep is the process of preparing ingredients and meals ahead of time. It’s a way of taking control of your schedule. Once you learn how to prep, you’ll free up more of your precious time during the week while eating healthier. Processed and prepared foods may be a quick way to grab a meal, but they often contain high amounts of sugar and salt, and added ingredients designed to improve their shelf life, not our health.
But how exactly do you food prep?
You don’t need to be an expert chef to meal prep. It just takes a little planning when you have time. This can be over the weekend, or whenever you know you have a bit of time to plan. And it doesn’t need to be done all at once. It can be broken down into small chunks of time. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be spending less time at the grocery store, less time in fast food lines, less time trying to figure out what to cook, and more time eating healthy meals you prepare yourself.
Here are some tips to get you started.
Start Slowly
If you are new to meal planning, it is best to start slowly. You don’t need to prep everything for the week. Start with a few meals in order of priority. Which meal(s) do you generally have the least amount of time for? Which tends to be the least healthy? If you often find yourself running late in the morning, you may want to have a plan for breakfast. If you eat lunch out because you don’t have enough time to make a healthy lunch to bring to the office, maybe focus your efforts on this meal.
Collect Some Favorite Go-to Recipes
It’s great to have some easy recipes on hand by starting a collection of some of your favorite recipes in a binder or folder on your computer. For quick, easy meal prep, look for recipes that can be fully or partially made ahead of time, side dishes that can be used for several different recipes, (like cauli-rice or quinoa,) and dishes that will keep well in the fridge or freezer, reheat well, and can be scaled up.
I find the internet is the best source of new recipes and is a great way to use ingredients I might have in my refrigerator. I will do a search that includes those foods along with the word “recipe.” It narrows down the possibilities and keeps me from wasting food I already have on hand! Many times, I have all the ingredients I need and avoid having to go shopping.
Plan for Leftovers
One great planning tip to remember is “cook once, eat twice.” In other words, make enough for a couple of meals. This saves you time in the kitchen. If you don’t like eating leftovers, freeze the extra and have it the next week. Leftovers from dinner make a great lunch the next day. Place individual servings directly into reusable storage containers to take to work the next day.
Make a list
Now that you know what you want to be making, it’s time to make a shopping list. Go through the recipes that you have chosen and make a list of those you need to shop for. I like to group the foods according to where they are found in the grocery store, for example, produce, dairy, meat, etc. This way, I get everything in one place and avoid wasting time and energy crisscrossing the store in search of something I have forgotten.
Pre-wash
The best time to start your meal prep is as soon as you return from grocery shopping. Instead of putting your ingredients away, get them ready to be eaten. Fill your sink with water and rinse your produce. I find I am more likely to make a healthy salad during the week if I know my salad ingredients are already washed and pre-chopped. I avoid pre-washing tender greens though, as they tend to wilt faster if not thoroughly dried before going into the refrigerator.
Take some time now to pre-chop any vegetable you may need. Making roasted broccoli? Cut the head into florets and chop up the stem into bite-sized pieces. Scrape and cut carrots and celery so they are ready for a quick snack with healthy hummus. You may even want to pre-chop some onions, celery, and carrots for a mirepoix to use in your recipes. This can easily be frozen too for future recipes.
Look ahead in the week
If there is any meat that needs to be thawed, place it in the refrigerator 1 or 2 days ahead of time. Or, if you’ve bought meat you won’t be using, store it in the freezer for later. A great money-saving tip is to buy economy size meat packs and divide them into serving sizes before freezing so you don’t have to thaw more than you need.
There you have it, Meal Prep 101! I hope you are able to adapt some of these tips to your meal planning. Remember, whether you meal prep entire meals or just a few ingredients to have at the ready, you’ll be ahead of the game when it comes time to eat!
Have any other meal prep ideas that you use? Please share!
Yours in Health,
Evey
Photo by Ella Olsson from Pexels
