Meal Prep 101
Whether you’re heading back to school, your kids are heading back to school, or you are in the workweek grind, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to keep yourself and your family fed well without turning to take out.
Sure, it’s convenient, and you’re tired and hungry and it seems like the best solution, but long term, it can have a lasting impact on your health.
Chances are, you’re more likely to indulge in take out that isn’t meeting a lot of your nutritional needs and may include low-quality ingredients, a lot of excess salt, and a lot of waste in packaging.
Meal prep is the answer to those tired nights where you just need to eat, and it’s easy.
All you need is one afternoon.
How to Meal Prep Like a Boss
Before You Start:
Start small: Choose one meal a day to begin with and then gradually expand.
Stick to Basics: Begin with meals you already know how to make and that you and your family enjoy eating.
Make it fun: Turn on some tunes, or make it a family or roommate activity and get everyone involved.
Step One: Make Your List
In your list-making process, try to think of items that are versatile that you can turn into several different meals, some examples are:
Eggs: Can be cooked for breakfast as an omelet, boiled and added to a cobb salad, or added to ramen for dinner.
Chicken Breast: Can be sliced and added to stirfry, cooked and sliced into a salad, added to a pasta dish, and cooked in a variety of other ways.
Bananas: Can be blended into a smoothie, packed as a snack, made into muffins or banana bread.
Be sure to include a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables on your list!
NOTE: You can get REALLY organized and actually schedule out what meals you’ll eat when on a calendar, but I prefer a little bit of flexibility to my meal prep
Stay tuned next week for a list of my favourite food blogs and nutritionists if you are needing some inspiration!
Step Two: Do One Big Shop
Rather than shop throughout the week, create your list and shop for the entire week on one day. Make sure to visit your local farmers markets to get the good stuff!
Step Three: Cook Your Protein
Cooking any protein you can ahead of time is a big time saver. Sausages for breakfast can be cooked in the oven in a big batch and then put in a frying pan to heat up in the morning. Chicken can be cooked ahead of time to add to salad, stir frys, or pastas. Eggs can be boiled for snacks or sliced onto a salad. Beans or lentils can be soaked and ready to add into curries or chiles.
Step Four: Slice Your Veggies
For any durable veggies (Think broccoli, carrots, celery, kale, etc.) consider pre-washing and slicing them so that they are easy to add into meals, or take as snacks. Some veggies can even be precooked such as roasted squash or yams.
Step Five: Precook Your Grains
Rice and Quinoa are great to cook ahead and heat or add to a salad. For things like pasta, you may wish to cook it fresh.
Step Six: Get Your Bake On
Make any muffins, banana bread, breakfast bars, or protein balls while you’re in the kitchen now to have them handy throughout the week.
Step Seven: Consider What Else You Can Prepare in Advance
Depending on your fridge and freezer space, you can precook or portion out ingredients for some meals to store in containers in the fridge, or make smoothie bags with all of your ingredients frozen and ready to blend. Sandwiches can be made and wrapped. Soups, curries, and chiles can be made ahead of time. Think of what works for you and your preferences, and have it ready.
Step Eight: Utilize Leftovers
A great way to cut down on meal preparation time throughout the week is to make enough for lunch or dinner the next day when you're making dinner. It doesn’t take any extra time, and you can just throw it in a container in the fridge to take to work or school the next day. Leftovers can also be repurposed into something new. Burrito night can turn into taco salad the next day, and so on.
As you get the hang of it, you’ll start to think of more and more things you can do on your prep day to make your life easier throughout the week and take the guesswork out of eating.
Here’s to healthy eating!