If you are someone who aims to save time, money or just eat a healthier diet, meal prepping can help you achieve your goals. Meal prepping is setting aside a block of time once a week to prepare your meals for the coming week. Compared to meal planning, where you find recipes that fit your schedule, meal prepping is actually preparing meals or ingredients ahead of time and then storing them until it’s time to use them. Some like making and freezing entire meals ahead of time. Some like preparing meals in individual containers for quick on-the-go lunches, or chopping and storing ingredients ahead of time. Regardless of your preferred method, meal prepping can help you reduce food waste, save money, and eat a healthier diet. Ready to get started? Here are some tips for a successful first meal prep.
Start small If you are a beginner– just starting with meal prep— it can be overwhelming to plan an entire week’s meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) in one go. You can start with just a few meals a week, choosing maybe just dinners, lunches, or snacks. You can already inject positive changes to your meal planning habits wherever you begin!
Make a checklist Writing down everything you need to do during your weekly meal prepping session is a good idea. Collect all of your recipes and make a shopping list of all that you will be needing. This assures you that you will have the right ingredients on hand once prep day comes.
Invest in containers Meal prepping means you will be making meals or preparing ingredients for several days of meals at once. Because of this, it is important to invest in a set of quality food storage containers that are sturdy and reusable. Since it may take some weeks before you figure out just how many containers you will need, you can start with a medium-size set and just add more containers as you go, if needed. You will find that glass containers are more eco-friendly and often last longer than plastic!
Gather ingredients Before prep day arrives, you can begin collecting the ingredients on your shopping list. Your pantry is the best place to start shopping. Take stock of what you already have or what you can use and what you actually need to buy. Try rotating the food in your pantry regularly. This helps you avoid wasting your money on expired food items. It’s a good idea, as well, to find recipes that make use of what you already have to maximize your meal prep efficiency.
Schedule enough time Meal prepping can take several hours, depending on how many and what type of meals you are preparing. Allot a sizable chunk of time for your weekly meal prep sessions. As much as possible, do your meal prepping on the same day of the week and, at the same time, make it a consistent part of your new meal planning system.
Prep smart While you might really love to prep everything fresh or from scratch, feel free to take some shortcuts when you need to. If chopping vegetables is too time-consuming (or is just not your thing), go ahead and buy pre-cut vegetables instead. Also, don’t go for elaborate meals just yet. While you want to include all the basic food groups into your meal plan if it becomes too challenging to keep up, scale back your meal prepping a bit. When you are more efficient in your meal prepping session, you are more likely to do it consistently every week.
Finally, keep in mind that meal prepping is different for everyone. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches until you find the system that suits your lifestyle best.
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