Chances are you have heard of the term “meal prep” from a fitness professional on social media or at the gym, or maybe a friend or neighbor has mentioned it before. But what exactly is it? It’s a pretty simple concept in which you prepare various meals at one time.
Why Should I Meal Prep?
Meal prep can help you create healthy and convenient meals to have on hand during the week. Here are some other great benefits to meal prep:
- It reduces your intake of processed foods
- It saves time
- It saves on the cost of eating out
- It helps you adhere to your nutrition goals (eating more vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, less sugar, etc.)
How to Meal Prep
The great thing about meal prep is that you can be as rigorous or laid back as you want for it to align with your schedule. You can meal prep all three meals of the day or just one or two.
The first step in meal prep is figuring out what you’re going to make and how many times you’re going to eat it. Important questions to think about when planning your meals include: is this meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Will this be a satisfying meal for you? How many times will you eat this meal throughout the week? Is this something you are comfortable making? Will you actually want to eat this in a few days from now?
One key thing to remember is that you want to make sure there is enough variety among your meals throughout the day to avoid getting tired of the same foods and ending up not wanting to eat them. Balance your meals with different types of vegetables, complex carbs, and protein sources to increase the variety of flavors in your meals and to get more nutrients. An example of a simple, easy, and delicious meal could include rice, seasoned chicken, and roasted vegetables. You can always mix it up by adding different vegetables, sauces, and/or seasonings.
When to Meal Prep
Once you’ve answered the above questions and established that the meal is a good fit for you, you’ll want to plan when you will shop for the ingredients you need, when you will make the meal, and how you will store it. Creating a schedule and sticking to it will help solidify this new habit and remove unwanted stress that may come from not making sure this fits into your lifestyle.
If you are making multiple meals at once, plan when/how to cook different parts of the meal to keep the process running smoothly. For example, you could use a pressure cooker to cook brown rice, an oven or air-fryer to cook chicken, and a steamer to cook vegetables. In addition to planning when and how you will cook your meals, it is also important to create a grocery list in advance to cut down on the time you spend walking down the isles of the grocery store.
Storing Meals
After you have done your shopping and cooking, you must store the food properly. Most prepared food can stay good in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. The good thing about meal prepping becoming so popular is that you can now find food storage container sets that are all the same size to store various portioned out meals. Finding a good set of microwaveable, BPA-free containers will help keep your stored meals fresh and ready to go.
One last thing to pay attention to when preparing and storing your meals is food safety. Make sure your food reaches the right internal temperature when cooking, prevent cross-contamination of meat with raw foods, and do not leave food out of the fridge too long. These practices will help you prevent food poisoning and make sure your food stays good.
Hopefully, you have found this guide helpful in establishing the basics of meal prep. If you’re feeling like you could benefit from it, we hope that you’re encouraged to give it a try and see if it is right for you!
Adapted from Healthline: How to Meal Prep – A Beginners Guide.
