Our busy lifestyle made it almost impossible to maintain a healthy diet; people barely find time to eat, let alone prepare three nutritious meals daily. Unfortunately, we tend to favor fulfilling our business demands over caring for our health and body needs.

Who says that eating healthy should be time-consuming or stressful? You can have the healthiest diet and enjoy the most flavorsome meals without wasting too much time; it’s all about meal prep.

What is meal prep, and how to make this beneficial habit a part of your daily routine? This article will introduce the meal prep concept, its types, and best practices on how to stock your kitchen with meals.

What is meal prep?

Meal prep basically means preparing meals several days in advance. This practice is popular among people with busy schedules all week round and without a chance to cook. They use their weekends to fill their fridges with breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals to consume later when they’re strapped in time.

What are the main types of meal prep?

 

Prepared ingredients 

Cooking a meal, no matter how hearty, becomes a piece of cake if all the ingredients are ready to use; peel, chop, and slice everything needed for the week’s meals and leave them aside in your fridge; it will reduce the long cooking time, and you will thank yourself later.

Batch cooking 

Batch cooking is another time-saving meal prep approach. It involves preparing large amounts of one main recipe, freezing it, then consuming it later. You can batch cook an actual meal, like the Italian vegetable soup, and consume it over a couple of weeks. Or, you can batch cook a side dish, broccoli with cheese sauce, and accompany it with different entrées during the week.

Make-ahead meals

Make-ahead is the most effective way of meal prep. Cook the meals fully in advance, and heat them later whenever you want to eat. Although you will spend your whole weekend in the kitchen, you won’t need to do anything other than heating meals for the rest of the week.

Is meal prep right for you?

Meal prep is the right choice for busy people striving to treat their bodies fairly without racing against the clock. What makes meal prep a very flexible practice is that no matter what diet you follow, you can easily fit your favorite meals into a plan and save yourself all the stress of the week.

How to meal prep?

Stick to a schedule

Having a detailed plan about everything regarding the meal prep process will keep you on the right track and make everything organized. For example, divide your weekend into two parts, Sundays or Fridays for shopping, and Saturdays for preparing the week’s meals.

Plan a menu

Once your meal prep menu is ready, there’s nothing else to worry about. So, take your time to think about all the healthy recipes you love and establish the grocery shopping list accordingly.

Advanced Tip

You can utilize a mobile phone application to keep track of all the ingredients you need for your weekly meal prep; it’ll help you memorize everything and guide you through your shopping trip.

Use high-quality containers

One essential thing to remember when making meal prep part of your routine is choosing your food containers wisely. The meal prep concept mainly revolves around saving meals for a long time; however, if the food containers aren’t safe and efficient, the food will be spoiled, and you’ll lose your effort and time in vain. 

Advanced Tip

A good container must have airtight lids to keep the food fresh, and it has to be made of glass or high-quality plastic. 

How to avoid common meal prep mistakes 

Keep your meals simple

You will be cooking food for a whole week in a day or two, which is absolutely exhausting; however, when the recipes are simple and easy to make, cooking will be enjoyable and less stressful. So, always ensure you plan meals you’re familiar with and know how to cook effortlessly.

Keep a balanced diet

According to experts, certain foods must always be part of our daily meals. These foods include lean protein and vegetables; protein is found in fish, chicken, egg, nuts, etc. So, it could be incorporated into the three daily meals easily.

Carbohydrates and fats are other essential nutrients for fuelling your body with energy, and they’re found in red meats, cheese, butter, bread, cereals, rice, potatoes, etc. So, to keep a balanced diet, ensure you include the right amount of each nutrient in your weekly meals.

Cook meals you’ll eat

One might be tempted to try some new things from cooking platforms packed with different meal recipes; that couldn’t always bring the greatest outcomes and flavors. You might end up hating all the recipes, throwing them out, and being left without food for the rest of the week. So, ensure you try one or two new meals maximum to stay on the safe side.

What are the best foods to use in meal prep?

The foods and ingredients used in meal prep differ from one person to another depending on their preferences and the kind of diet they follow. However, besides the main sources of carbohydrates, protein, and fats, some foods must be included in all your prep meals to maintain your body’s alimentation.

Dried fruits are on the top list, as they provide the body with all the vitamins and nutrition to keep it healthy. In addition, dried fruits are rich in fiber, three times more than the amount found in fresh fruits; dried fruits also fight the blues and support bone health.

Oats, in addition, are rich in antioxidants that help in lowering blood pressure and blood sugar control. Oats, unlike many beliefs, aren’t a breakfast meal; many delicious lunches and dinner recipes could be made using them.

Conclusion

Meal prep will save a great deal of time and enable you to enjoy the week without worrying about what to eat and cook. Ensure you include as many healthy meals as possible to keep your body healthy.