Tips for meal prep !
Meal prep is one of the most underrated tools for healthy living, but doing it can make a HUGE difference to your food choices the upcoming week. Meal prepping gives healthy food a convenience normally reserved for fast food, and that convenience makes it difficult for you to give the “I dont have time to eat healthy” excuse.
Usually when I meal prep, I will only prep lunches for the week, and then cook my breakfast and dinner on the day, so I don’t get bored of eating the same thing daily, however it is entirely up to you what you choose to do.
TIPS FOR MEAL PREP !
PLAN! Make a list of what you’re going to make, make sure you have enough microwave safe tupperware containers and space in your fridge/freezer to store the food, and don’t prep too much food, maybe 5 lunches at a time, or you will get bored of eating the same thing.
STORAGE? Most people are confused about how to keep meals fresh, I usually keep anything cooked (meat or veg) in the fridge for 3 days, and then I will store it in the freezer, and simply microwave it when I want to use it (this complies with ). When I take prepped meals with me for the day, I take an ice-pack to keep the chicken cold, however if its one of the frozen meals I don’t take one because its already frozen.
KEEP IT SIMPLE! Use chicken/turkey as they will keep longer in the fridge, try to avoid seafood which goes off quicker. Don’t cook lavish meals (eat the same basic meals for lunch) and have more fancy dinners. Add herbs and spices to your meals to make them tasty, but keep them simple with just protein, vegetables and carbs (brown rice/sweet potato).
ADD FLAVOUR: Adding fresh herbs and spices is one of the best things you can do for meal prep, to make your food taste better. My go-to spices include, freshly ground black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, tumeric, ground coriander, ginger, as well as fresh coriander, parsley, and lemon or lime juice.
FIND OUT WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU: Cooking meals the night before, or prepping 10 meals on one day during the weekend. You may prefer to cook only 3 at a time so none are frozen, but its really up to you. Try different ways so you can see whats easier and fits best into your schedule. You might even find that you only prep the night before, try cooked double the dinner you usually do, then you’ll have a leftover serve of your dinner to take for lunch the next day.
MULTI-TASK: The more stuff you have cooking at once, the easier and quicker your prep will be. Try having rice cooking, veggies steaming, half your chicken in the oven with spices and citrus juice, then fry the other half in a pan with different spices, or a satay or butter chicken sauce, this way you can prep 2 meals at once, and have some variety in your prepped meals.
REMEMBER: You don’t have to prep an entire meal, sometimes I’ll just cook some chicken (flavoured with lime, coriander, cumin, ginger, garlic and onion powder) then the morning before, I’ll spend 5 minutes adding in salad (tomato, lettuce, red onion, spinach, avocado, etc) and there you have a burrito bowl.
Meal Prep Ideas:
– 5 minutes prep time, 60 minutes oven cook time = or
– preprepped hot food + make quick salad in the morning = or
– saucy, flavoursome chicken, rice and veg meals = or
Breakfast prep? – overnight oats, preboiled eggs, protein shakes, portion out serves of frozen fruit and blend with ice in the monring for smoothies
If you have anymore tips please comment them below
– Lauren xxx
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