What is Meal Prepping?
You would really want to eat the right kind of food when you get back home from work or at work. For that, you need to prepare ahead either part of this or the whole food itself. It could be 2-3 different types of lunch menus prepared, packed, labeled and put in the refrigerator. Or it could be all the ingredients of a salad washed and packed just waiting to be put together {or you could choose to put all salad stuff in a mason jar, but we'll come to the meal prepping tips in a while}.
Meal prepping, my best judgment would say has been the brainchild of people who wanted a hearty, healthy and tasty home meal in spite of the very busy schedule. Who would benefit from it? Busy professionals {read: millennials}, parents of infants and toddlers, students whose staple food is not MacDonald’s, or it might be anybody who wants traction of what they put in their mouth.
Did you understand by now how much meal prep can help you by taking out the stress out of your "what will I eat today" cycle? Not to mention it greatly helps in planning your food schedule and meeting your diet chart goals.
Benefits of Meal Prepping for the Week
The answer to this is very simple. The benefits of meal prepping for the week will manifest itself into saved time and energy which would otherwise go into preparing dinner after you come back from work. Or you might find the benefit hidden in only buying items you need while grocery shopping for the next week and saving a few bucks. The by-product of these two- no ‘what will I eat today’ stress and healthier meals.
Come on over, let's look at some pro tips shared by expert meal preppers.
Pro Tip 1#
Get that plan jotted down and have a grocery list too
Making a meal plan is the first step. You can have a lunch plan like pasta for Monday, Chicken and veggies on Tuesday, spaghetti on Wednesday and so on. This way you will not see yourself scratching your head for dinner or lunch ideas every single day and the best part, your family knows what meal to expect that day, especially the kids!
The planning and listing will also help to get your grocery shopping sorted. You walk to a Traders Joe with a list in hand and walk out with exactly {well most of the time} with what you need and stick to your weekly budget and save time. Bingo!
Pro Tip 2#
Schedule when you want to eat what
Well, this might come under the preceding pro tip. Plan out which day you want to eat which meal. It could be a Taco Wednesday or Burrito Thursday or a Shrimp and Veggies Friday. You come home and sit and relax on the recliner, all because your meal is all completely done or halfway prepped and you just need to toss everything together.
Pro Tip 3#
Get the good containers
Take some money out to get a few great quality leak-proof air-tight containers. Ultimately, these containers are the ones that will help you get a hearty, fresh and tasty meal day after day. I love the Prep Naturals Glass Meal Prep Containers.
Pro Tip 4#
You could still stock up on canned food and pre-prepared chicken from the store
Yes, of course, you can! Oh, what a relief isn’t it! Come on now, did you think you need to make every ingredient in the meal prep process at home, with your sweat and blood {oh that's a bit of melodrama here}? No that's not the case. You can cut a few corners here and go for canned beans, pre-washed and cut spinach, packed vegetables, marinated meat, boiled eggs or pre-cut fruits. That will save you a bit of time and energy.
Pro Tip 5#
A tip from experts: get that slow cooker out
Well, this one is from meal prep veterans. If you are thinking that you can add only foods that can be made in a flash to your meal prep plan, think again. Because, here comes in your meal prep hero of sorts, the Slow Cooker. It is just perfect for broths, soups or braises. Put it in, set it and let it cook. Crock-Pot 4-Quart Multi-Use or the Buffet Triple Cooker could be a good addition to your kitchen.
Pro Tip 6#
Keep it simple
Ok, this one is only for beginners. Try to keep the menu simple, because, let's face it, it will seem overwhelming when you just start. Prepping for the whole week, tons of assembling, planning, and getting things together seems a bit too much when you are beginning. Trust yourself, you will get the hang of it, but for now, stick to simple recipes.
Our Top Meal Prep Tips to Try Out
Now let's get into the nitty-gritty of meal prepping. Taking a closer look, we found a few pointers to keep in mind. Let's try and wrap our heads around these.
1# The first week may not be perfect
It's ok, it is your first attempt, might not turn out as you see it on Pinterest, but cheers! You are on the right track!
2# Pick ingredients that are versatile
The point here is to use the same ingredients to make more than one dish. Take for instance marinated and oven-baked or rotisserie chicken, use this as the main dish along with a side salad or brown rice, veggies and avocados or as an item in a taco or shred it and put it in a soup or make a chicken caesar salad out of it, its versatile and very useful item on your grocery list. Prepare or buy a rotisserie chicken from the store {Costco, Traders Joe} and use it in various recipes and used that 30 minutes to prep another dish.
3# Pick your go-to ingredients
Keep your stash of 'easy-to-use' foods ready. It could be like frozen mixed vegetables, or a few packs of just broccoli or green beans, a container full of hard-boiled eggs with the shell on, canned beans, cooked spaghetti or pasta. Take this, you have boiled pasta at hand and have frozen veggies and pasta sauce, you just need to toss everything together to get a fresh hearty meal. Awesomeness! You just saved 8-12 minutes’ which is usually the time taken to cook perfect pasta.
4# Keeping the veggies fresh
Do the restaurant veggies always look fresh? I know they do. Try this, blanch the veggies in boiling water and then dip them into cold water- keeps them fresh and tastes better. So, you are saving here about 5 mins of preparation time.
5# Portion out the meat
When you marinate the meat divide it and put it into separate containers with the amount that would be your portion for one meal. You could cook and store or just put the raw meat into Ziplock bags. It usually takes about 2 hours to get the marinate flavor on the meat, so you are straight saving this time and oh, if you had already cooked and frozen, then bring out that bottle of wine and put your feet up, please!
6# Use the mason jar too much
Meal preppers just love their mason jars. If you love your smoothie, you will love your mason jar too. Put anything into it, fresh berries {blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or maybe a banana}, chia seeds or flax seeds, Greek yogurt or almond milk and store it and blend it before breakfast. Don't stop there, use your mason jar for oatmeal recipes or different noodles varieties. Simple Post has some very interesting Mason jar recipes.
7# Easy recipes go a long way
Ok just for the records easy does not mean bland and tasteless. Easy means one-pot recipes like chili-chicken or beef whatever you choose. Or you could make a broth or stew. This is where the Crockpot or the Insta Pot or Ninja Foodi comes in handy. Cooking a broth usually takes 24-48 hours depending on how flavorful you want it. So, if you start cooking this on a Saturday and finish it off by Sunday, you have your broth ready for Monday and many more days of flavorful dinner.
8# Keep room for a little extra
Boiling or cutting a little bit of more vegetables, eggs or any other ingredient would do more good than bad. It would definitely save you the cutting chopping time, like 15-20 mins.
9# Using the kitchen utensils
Get those good grade containers {BPA free if you are using plastic}, use the kitchen scale {if you are counting your calories}, measuring cups and spoons. All this will only facilitate your prepping process.
10# Freeze and label
This happens so often, you meal prep then forget about it and it sits somewhere at the back of your fridge. Don't let that happen this time. The golden rule of meal prepping- portion, label, freeze and most important, eat.
The Last Bite
Ya, you can feel your confidence levels rising now. Now that you know the basic mantras behind meal prepping, it's about time that you took the plunge. Always remind yourself the first attempt might not be the best, but you will get there gradually and before you even realize you will be a pro at it. And remember, it’s an investment that you are doing in yourself, your health, your well-being and of course trying to get over those restaurant bills!
