Meal prepping is one of the ingredients to live a healthy lifestyle. It’s not just enough to exercise regularly then be negligent about what you eat. There has to be a balance between both. But in the busy life people have, it’s easy to feel exhausted at the end of the day. You feel like whipping up a meal would be the last thing on your mind, and the danger with this is it may lead to just ordering take-out food.+
Meal prepping is, therefore, the remedy. When you have the meals or ingredients pre-made in big batches, you’re likely to break the habit of eating fast food. During meal times, all you have to do is re-heat and you’re sure to have a healthy meal.
Meal Prep 101
While it may seem like a gigantic task to accomplish, it’s not impossible. You also don’t have to feel stressed out about meal prepping as there are many ways to keep it simple and efficient. Here’s how:
- Sign Up For A Meal Delivery Service
If meal prepping isn’t for you and your lifestyle, then don’t be dismayed into thinking healthy eating won’t be possible now. There’s an alternative through signing up for a prepared meal delivery service.
There are different meal delivery options you can go for. Some are those wherein the meals are already cooked when brought to your home while there are also those with all the ingredients chopped and prepped in the right portions and all you have to do is to cook. There’s no more going to the grocery store, washing, and chopping, among other things. This is especially helpful if you’re always under time constraints.
- Get Organized
A successful meal plan begins with a good organization because if things are all over the place, meal preparation will only feel dreadful.
Being organized for your meals start in your dining room, pantry, and your kitchen. Prepping is easier when you can find everything you need such as tools, equipment, and ingredients. There’s no right or wrong way to go about this. The whole point is for you to make it easier on yourself to have a well-defined system for better food preparation.
With this in mind, here are tips on how you can start getting organized:
-
- Do a regular inventory of the ingredients you have in your pantry, so you won’t have to buy those you already have;
- Consider the number of days you’re planning for as this will determine the amount of space you need to have in your fridge and the hours you have to dedicate for cooking;
- Go through cookbooks or recipes online, so you won’t have to struggle so much with switching different recipes up.
- Plan Your Meals Strategically
Of course, you can’t have a successful meal prep if you don’t plan your meals. You can do this weekly by dedicating time to sit down and to plan your meals for the entire week. This can help simplify things as it cuts down the need to have to think of what to cook and prepare for the coming days. You can look up online for new recipes to try out or find resources about foods that begin with H and so on.
Plan your meals a day before going to the groceries or the market. This can simplify your buying process since you’d know what ingredients to look for. You can focus only on those you need for the week.
With a meal plan, you’re hitting two birds with one stone since this will also help you stay within your budget by not impulse buying ingredients. In this way, you’d only be purchasing the essentials for you and your family.
- Invest In Good Quality Storage Containers
Another way to simplify the meal prep process is to invest in good quality and clear storage containers. This will make it easier for you to determine the ingredients you have. You won’t have to spend so much time rummaging through each container in search of the meals when you can see the contents clearly.
Good quality storage containers are a good investment because these are built to last. Plus, many of the glass containers are also heat-resistant and tamper-resistant, so you don’t have to keep transferring meals when you reheat. You can immediately put it inside the microwave for you to heat up.
- Stock Your Pantry
Apart from the items on your grocery list, it also helps if you stock your pantry with the basics you know your family needs to eat healthily. Just in case you need another ingredient, you can always make an alternative. A well-stocked pantry can cover up for any loopholes in your meal plan you may not have been prepared for.
Your pantry should be filled with versatile ingredients easy to whip up into healthy meals such as the following:
-
- Almond butter
- Whole grains like quinoa, whole-wheat pasta, and brown rice
- Baking essentials like almond flour, whole wheat flour, cornstarch, and baking powder
- Legumes like garbanzos and lentils
- Oils like olive oil, avocado oil, and canola oil
- Prepare For Your Snacks Too
One of the areas of your daily meals susceptible to have junk foods is your snacks because it’s easy to get tempted with sweets and chips. To avoid this, make sure you also include snacks in your meal plan. If you have kids with you at home, then you can have a designated snack basket you’d prepare for the whole week. This should have chopped fruits, vegetables, homemade dips, biscuits, or baked beans.
Conclusion
With these tips, you’re now on your journey to be skilled at meal prepping. If this is your first time doing it, then it’s not surprising to feel daunted with cooking big batches good for a week. But once you get used to it, you’ll realize meal preparation is one of the best things you’ve decided on doing in your life.
Meals carefully thought out can improve your diet quality, so think of this as an effort for the long run in maintaining your health. You can start this habit today now that you have the tips above to guide you.