5 Tips for Everyday Meal prep
When you think about meal prepping does your will power hit the floor? Mine sure does. For years it seemed like the only way to eat healthy was to spend hours in the kitchen every day, or literally spend all day in the kitchen on Sunday to get ready for the week. Ugh! I mean, I love eating healthy, but all of that time drains my spirit and my desire to follow through (It would be so much easier if I could just afford a personal chef!).
After some planning and some practice, however, I discovered that it is possible to make meal prepping an all week process. Spend some time now to save more time later kind of process. By maximizing the time you're already spending in the kitchen you can get more done and have more time doing what you'd rather be doing.
5 Tips for Everyday Meal Prep
1. Double the recipe.
By doubling the recipe you're producing more in the same amount of effort (maybe a little more, but not too much).
Make enough to save the leftovers for other meals or snacks, or even freeze some for those busy nights when you just don't have time to cook from scratch.
Cut up extra veggies for snacks or recipes you will need later in the week.
Use the same ingredients in multiple recipes for the week, make one big batch and use it multiple times.
2. Maximize your time in the kitchen.
Traditionally you'll have 4 burners, an oven, a microwave and counter space in your kitchen. If you are using 1-2 burners for dinner tonight and you're already in the kitchen for 30 minutes, what else could you have going to save time later this week?
Plan ahead for what else needs to be made.
Make rice or pasta for a later meal.
Make bacon or sausage for breakfasts.
Cut up some veggies or make some hard boiled eggs for snacks.
3. Use your ingredients in multiple recipes by planning your meals in advance.
Meal prepping does take intentional planning. Doing it regularly
Rice or quinoa for grains.
Rotisserie chicken - Breast and veggies one night, and shred the rest for EZ Chicken Bake or Enchilada soup later in the week.
Taco meat - Make Tacos one night, taco salad for lunch and Bell Pepper Nachos on Friday!
4. Pre-Pack your lunch.
When cleaning up dinner, pack it in ready to go servings for grab-and go lunch in the morning. I love glass containers, but they can get a little spendy. I grab Gladware to keep it affordable and easy to organize in my cabinets.
5. Make your backups easy!
Nothing can derail your weekly plans like an unexpected event that sucks away your time. Traffic after work, kid's concert, sick family member etc. In this case you want to have a fallback plan already available that take the same amount of time or less than swinging by the drive through. We always have the following in our freezer for just an occasion.
Cauliflower crust pizza.
Burger patties ready to cook.
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