Photo Credit: Alyson McPhee via UnSplash
Meal Prepping is preparing some, or all of your meals ahead of time. It is having grab-n-go options like buying those ready made lunches at your local café or having frozen meals on hand, only better, healthier and with unprocessed ingredients.
It can even be as simple as setting up ingredients you will use throughout the week. You can have your veggies pre-chopped and sealed in Tupperware so they are ready to assemble when you are (think salads, soups, porridge, stirfrys, etc).
Benefits:
- Saves you Time
- Saves you Money
- Helps you Portion-control
- Keeps you Healthy
- Prevents Skipped Meals (which can lead to binging later on)
How to Meal Prep:
- Pick a Day! Choose a time block. You can prep a Frittata to last a week in less than an hour (and chop veggies for other meals/snacks while your cooking).
- Choose a Meal (or a few). Whether you decide to make a huge pot of soup, a healthy casserole, or simply want to have your Breakfasts ready to go (i.e. Overnight Oats). You can even keep it simple by batch-cooking your favorite grains, poultry and boiling a bunch of eggs for your options to build meals.
- Chop, Chop, Chop! Never hurts to chop up veggies. If you have carrots, celery, radishes, bell peppers ready to add to salads or meals, you will be more likely to use them when you are cooking. Even if it’s as simple as an omelet with veggies. And it comes in handy for grab-n-go snacks (i.e. hummus and carrots).
- Keep it simple.Start with simple meals and/or snacks. Hard boiled eggs are a no-brainer. They are an easy protein choice you can pair with fruit or veggie for a snack or use them to add to your salads.
- Choose Time-Saving Options that fit in your budget: You can buy pre-chopped, pre-washed veggies/leafy greens. Having these ready-to-use veggies keeps you from letting them rot in the fridge.
Stay tuned for an upcoming post: Batch-Cooking For Success!
It will include recipes and tips from my fellow registered dietitians.
