Preparing meals in advance is handy in just about any scenario. Whether you want to save time in the week, save money by batch cooking, or get an easy life measuring your calories for post-workout gains, it’s a great way to stay organized.
The good news is that even if your prepping game is epic, there are always ways to improve it. Here are six of the best:
- Stay Efficient
Being efficient with meal prep is important as it ensures you don’t waste any of your valuable time. From having all the ingredients there when you start to keeping your containers clean and using the best cookware sets, it’s worth putting some planning into making yourself a meal prepping machine.
- Make It Addictive
Meal prepping is great, but only if the meals you prep are delicious and kind of addictive. If you start making lackluster meals, you will soon get bored and fall out of the game, buying convenience food instead.
Play with spices and herbs, try vegan, flexitarian, raw, and paleo options, experiment with different world cuisines, and have fun!
- Experiment With Different Containers
The containers you store your food in make a huge difference to how great each meal is. Standard plastic tubs are handy, but what about layered lunch boxes? If you’re a fan of soups and stews, a few airtight containers designed to keep food hot are essential. Salad fans may like to try layering their creations in a mason jar. Using different container types adds instant variety to your meal prep game without much effort at all.
- Use Ingredients That Can Be Used Across Different Meals
To save money and time, it helps to have ingredients and products that can be used in multiple ways. For example, roasted pepper can be added to your veggie pasta or homemade hummus. Homemade tahini sauce can be used as a dip, salad dressing, and even as a soup finisher. Using versatile ingredients and recipes helps to save money and time when you meal prep, especially if you prep breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.
- Don’t Be Afraid To Use ‘Ready Made’
Sometimes we can let our pride get in the way and over-complicate meal prep for the Instagram-factor. This can be fun sometimes, but it’s often better to keep things simple. This might include buying items like readymade sauces, or cooked rotisserie chicken to cut out that element of cooking and preparation. There’s nothing wrong with using these easy shortcuts sometimes, especially if more complex recipes may otherwise make it difficult for you.
- Freeze Excess
If you meal-prep and make extra food that is suitable for freezing, try to freeze and label it for future meal prepping sessions. It can be tempting to eat the food that day or to even discard any scraps, but freezing your leftovers can be really helpful for future prepping sessions. You might even want to start batch cooking more so you have some frozen backups to help with future meal planning. This will also provide you with ready-made food when you don’t have any time for prepping at all.
You Can Become A Meal Prep Master
Meal prep is a great idea, especially if you can get it super streamlined, exciting, and organized week on week. Use our tips above and up your meal-plan game, creating a weeklong system that will keep the whole family super-happy at mealtimes.
