In the instance that you are looking to save time, money or only eat a healthier diet, meal prepping can support you in accomplishing your goals. Meal prepping is spending a block of time one day a week to prepare the ingredients for all of your possible meals. In contrast with meal planning, where you look for recipes to fit your schedule best, meal prepping involves preparing meals or ingredients ahead of time and then storing them until it’s time to utilize them. Whether you want to make and freeze entire meals ahead of time, prepare meals in individual containers for instant on-the-go lunches, or chop and store ingredients ahead of time, meal prepping can help you decrease food waste, save money, and eat a healthier diet. Ready to begin? Here are several tips to help get your first meal prep to success.
Start small. If you are only starting with meal prep, it can be quite staggering to plan an entire week’s worth of meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) all together. Try getting started with simply a few meals a week, or maybe just dinners, lunches, or snacks. You can get going by making positive changes to your meal planning habits swiftly wherever you want to begin!
Make a checklist. It’s an excellent thought to spend some time writing down everything you’ll need to do during your weekly meal prepping session. Collect your recipes and prep a shopping list of whatever you’ll need. This can help see to it that you have suitable ingredients on hand when the prep day arrives.
Invest in containers. Once you meal prep, you’ll be making meals or preparing ingredients for several days of meals at once. Therefore, it’s vital to invest in a set of quality food storage containers that you can reuse each week. It may take a few weeks to figure out just how many containers you will actually need, so think about getting started with a medium-size set and then adding more containers as you go, if required. Bear in mind that glass containers are more eco-friendly and tend to last longer than plastic!
Gather ingredients. Just before your planned prep day takes place, begin by getting the ingredients on your shopping list. An excellent place to kick this off is by shopping for your pantry. Take stock of what you already have or can use and what you basically need to procure. Try to rotate the food in your pantry habitually to keep from wasting money on expired food items. In truth, it’s good thinking to set out and find recipes that will allow you to use things 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. Make sure to set aside a good chunk of time for your weekly meal prepping session. It’s right to try and execute your meal prepping on the same day of the week and, concurrently, to help make it a consistent part of your excellent new meal planning system.
Prep smart. Though your greatest goal may be to prep everything fresh or from scratch, don’t be troubled or afraid to take a few shortcuts each time you need to. As an example, if chopping vegetables takes up too much time (or you just don’t like doing it), go ahead and buy pre-cut vegetables instead. Furthermore, don’t try to go too big or too elaborate with your meals. Even though you yearn to include all of the basic food groups into your meal plan if you find yourself trying and struggling to keep up, scale back your meal prepping a little. The more efficient you can make your meal prepping sessions, the more chances you will do it consistently every week.
On a final note, remember that meal prepping is different for everyone. You may necessitate experimenting with different approaches until you find a system that works best for you.
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