Demystify the art of meal prepping !
A guide to meal prepping and making your life easier in the week ! Meal prepping is one of the hottest food trend lately ! It makes your life such a breeze on weekdays. But, what is Meal Prep? Let’s break it down !
‘Be Prepared’ ! This is probably the biggest reason why you want to meal prep. When it comes to what you eat and how you eat, preparedness matters if you want to reach your nutrition and fitness goals. Without meal prep, you increase your chances of eating junk or convenience foods if you get busy or caught out without food.
Meal prep simply means preparing, cooking, or packaging food for three to four days in advance so you know exactly what and how much you are eating.
Having a healthy meal ready to enjoy can help you say no to unhealthy food choices.
Its not just about eating healthy to meet your fitness goals. Meal prep is a life savior for everyone with a crazy schedule. You will save so much time and energy in the week, when you don’t have to cook and have something ready for you to eat. You can use that time to work, workout, spend time with family or friends or really do anything else instead.
Unfortunately, there is no hard rule for this question.
As food is stored in the refrigerator it begins a slow decline in quality. In addition to this, the way food is packed or the individual nuances of your refrigerator environment can impact the quality of your refrigerated meals. So often the lifespan or acceptable changes in texture and flavor will be subject to the eater Always begin with the refrigeration guidelines set by the FDA ,and then evaluate them against your own preferences after that. In general, its a good idea to prep for 4-5 days worth. The food tends to get a little limpy and lifeless to enjoy after the 5th day. If there are leftovers, just put them in the freezer and reuse few days/or weeks later.
Simple: START SMALL. Planning and cooking for the whole week can seem intimidating at first. Its important to take baby steps. If you’re not used to batch cooking, start with prepping one r two day’s worth of meals at a time. “I recommend starting small with meal prep for a couple reasons,” says Moore. “It can take a couple hours to get through the chopping, cooking, and cleaning [for a week’s worth of meals]. If you try to do too much too soon, you may be overwhelmed and not want to do it again.”
Moore adds that starting small will allow you test one or two recipes to see how you like them and just how much of it you actually eat. “You wouldn’t want to make too much food and end up wasting it.
Start by just packing your leftover dinner for next day’s lunch. Then start prepping for a day or two and gradually work it up. A lot of people just prep for their breakfast and lunch and leave the dinner to be their variety for the day.
Lot of containers !
You can start with the Ziplock bags that are BPA free and can go in the freezer, dishwasher and the microwave, which makes them super convenient plus they’re available in all sizes and they’re also not as expensive as the other options.
You can also choose stackable glass containers. Just make sure they’re leak proof. Metal bento boxes are also a great option as long as you’re packing cold meals since they don’t heat in the microwave( unless you have a microwaveable container at work). Mason jars is another great option. You can prep all your overnight oatmeal or even salads in it . They’re super light and easy to carry along with as well.
Moore recommends starting on a Sunday or Monday. Sundays often work well since most people have a little extra time.
She adds that people also tend to be more motivated to engage in healthy behaviors at the beginning of the week. “Meal prep is a great way to carry that enthusiasm throughout the week with just a little effort upfront.”
A lot of people meal prep on Sunday Mornings just to get it out of the way and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Plan ahead of time so that you can also do your grocery accordingly. Plan your menu so that you know what exactly will need prepping ahead of time.
The point of meal prep is to make life easier for you during the week, this doesn’t mean you have to pre cook all of your food though! For example, you can marinate your chicken breasts, place them in the freezer, and defrost when you’re ready to use them. The same thing applies to homemade turkey burgers etc. Another example is to make one larger batch of your favourite sauces and refrigerate it, rather than make several smaller batches.
If you like your vegetables freshly cooked, then you can portion them out for each meal and put them in containers ready to be steamed or cooked. If you know you will be making a meal that requires a lot of chopping, you can do this in advance as well. You can also wash all fruit and portion the nuts that you will be using as snacks, so that you can easily eat them on the run. When it comes to cooking your good carbohydrates such as quinoa, brown rice, and wholemeal pasta, you should cook them ahead of time just because they take a little longer to cook