Do you cringe when you hear the phrase meal prepping? You aren’t alone and I can totally understand why. But the truth is, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming or time consuming. In fact you can make it as challenging or as easy as you want it to be. There are actually no official rules so you have tons of freedom to do what you need.
When I started meal preps I had the same impression as many of you. I set aside hours of my Sunday and spent a ton of money on containers, don’t tell my husband! It took me some time to break away from what I thought were “meal prep” norms. Now, I can have a week of lunches done in twenty minutes. My perspective around this practice has changed and I want to share the ways you can make meal prepping more attainable!
Having a Plan Is Essential For Success
A plan! No way! I’m sure you’re surprised but having a plan helps me so much. Again, this doesn’t have to be a big task. All you need is a piece of paper and your favorite pen. Now if you want a fancy planner I can totally back you up in your spouse doesn’t believe you! Just jot down your meals for the week, taking into account your schedule so you can be realistic. When I do this I also jot down my lunch meal preps and ideas for my kids lunch for the week.
Having this plan gives me clear direction for my meal prep. I know exactly what I need. It also gives me the opportunity to shop smarter. Maybe this week I buy more precut produce to save time. If I’m making a salad I might buy a cooked rotisserie chicken because it saves me from having to prep the chicken, cook it, and let it cool. I could go on and on but the big point here is making that little plan can help make the most of my time.
Batch Cooking: The Best Way To Meal Prep
Batch cooking can be a big lifesaver for you. But what is batch cooking? So when you are making a meal, you make more than you need and freeze or store the extra. The frozen meal can be taken out and used for a future meal prep. This was a game changer for me. I remember when I first started doing this. I couldn’t believe it had taken me that long to figure out.
Now I batch cook so many meals or ingredients! If I’m making soup, I make extra. I buy big packages of chicken breast and shred and freeze the extra that I don’t immediately need. Then I use that chicken in salads or wraps for the week. This small task helps me so much in the future and I don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen prepping lunch for the week.
Love Your Leftovers
In the beginning of this post I mentioned that with meal prepping there are no rules. Well this is where that comes into play. I really believe that the action of meal prepping lies in planning. If you plan your dinners for the week and make enough each night to take leftovers for lunch the next day well, that is meal prepping! You made a plan and took action ahead of time!
The idea of meal prepping is to have your meals put together ahead of time. No one said it had to be done on Sunday. No one is coming to check, promise. So you can avoid spending hours of your weekend prepping meals just by using leftovers of meals you are already making!
Why You Should Keep It Simple
Go ahead and start searching “meal prep recipes”. What you typically find are tons of amazing recipes that have tons of steps or ingredients. Now there is nothing wrong with them at all, in fact I offer tons of those myself. The problem I see is that is ALL you find. That does nothing but prove that meal prepping takes a ton of time.
What we need to remember here is there are no rules and if you want to keep it simple, you can! You can put in as much time into this process as you want. My best advice to you is to keep it simple. Plan simple meals. There is so much value in a basic salad or a wrap. You don’t need this 15 step recipe to be successful.
Meal prepping is something I could talk about all day. I think it’s because it has had a major impact on my life and there are so many misconceptions about it. I hope this can help you try and be more open to this strategy to help you be successful!
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