I have been meal prepping for over two years now and let me tell you, it is a life/time saver. Not only does meal prepping saves me a lot of time in my busy schedule, it also keeps me on track to eat healthy and stick to my regular diet routine.
What is meal prepping?
According to healthline, “Meal prepping is the concept of preparing whole meals or dishes ahead of schedule.” 1
For me, meal prepping has become part of my lifestyle, a way to stay healthy, happy and of course create time. When you meal prep, you are less likely to get chronic disease such as cancer, hypertension (Thank you nursing school haha) because you can control what goes in your body, for example the amount of sodium, fats, carbs. You also spend less money on eating out/takeout because your meal is already waiting for you in the fridge! Isn’t that great?
Pre-Meal Prep
I usually dedicate my Sunday afternoon to grocery shopping and meal prepping! Sometimes Monday, if I have work Sunday afternoon. I always start by writing what I want to eat for the week down on a piece of paper. Sometimes, I will prep my list for 2 weeks, on one side, I’ll put week I and the other side of the paper will be week 2. Then I will write the 4 main categories, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, snacks and put what I want to eat for each one of them. For example, if I want quinoa bowl for dinner next week, I’ll write every ingredients that I need for the quinoa bowl under dinner on the paper, then I’ll check off everything that I already have such as quinoa, which I always have in my pantry. Everything that I do not already have will go on a separate piece of paper which is usually my grocery list. My next step is to go over my grocery list and make sure that I wrote down everything that I need. Lastly, I go to Trader Joe’s, I purchase everything that is on my list that I need, then if I see something that I want or forgot to write down, I’ll usually just grab it. Most of the time, it will be dark chocolate bites or fresh baked oatmeal raisin cookies! We all need dessert in life, right? haha
How I Meal Prep
There are several ways that people use to meal prep. Personally, I use the individually portioned meals where I cook fresh meals and separate them into grab and go containers for the next 3-5 days.
I start off by prepping all my ingredients, which includes slicing tomatoes and cucumbers, cutting onions and fruits, cleaning and marinating the chicken, measuring the amount of quinoa that I need, etc. Once, I have everything that I need, I cook the food. While the food is cooking, I gather all the containers that I need for fruits, the main meal, gravy and align them on my counter. When the food is ready, I proportion the meal into the individual containers and store them in the fridge for the next couple days! And voila!
I don’t always meal prep every meals. For instance, my breakfast which I like to make in the morning because it’s mostly smoothies, boiled eggs, oatmeal or açaì bowl. Sometimes, I’ll prep the fruits by putting them in Ziploc bags then store them in the freezer but that doesn’t always happen. Also, I do not meal prep my salads because they don’t always stay fresh in the fridge. Therefore, if I’m bringing salad to school/work, I’ll just put the ingredients together in the morning. It really depends on what is easier for you and what you want to prep for the week.
Tips For Winning At Meal Prepping
1- Choose a day for a grocery shopping and meal prepping. Stick to it
2- Always plan ahead. Make a meal plan list and make a grocery list.
3- Know what you already have in your pantry and don’t buy extra ingredients just because.
4- Invest in some containers. Go to Walmart, Target or Amazon to purchase plastic or glass containers. Make sure that they are BPA-free , microwave and freezer safe, leak-proof containers.
5- Cook and prep only what you know you’re going to eat for sure. For example, if you know that you don’t like cauliflowers, do not include it in all 5 of your lunch/dinner meal. It’s okay, if you cook it on the side, just to try it but don’t cook a lot of it. Also, if you cannot eat the same food for 4 days straight, do not do it. Try to add diversity to your meal prep.
6. Start small. If it’s your first time trying meal prepping, start small so you don’t overwhelm yourself. Start with just lunch, then, the next week you can do both lunch and dinner.
7- Don’t stress it out. Meal prepping is very easy if you do it the right way. Just do it at your own pace and do it whichever way that works for you
Like always, I hope that you enjoyed reading this post and that you get an idea about how you can start meal prepping! And if, you’re already great at meal prepping, leave me a comment to let me know how you do it and if I forgot anything!
Xoxo!
SmileyMaruth!
