Everyone talks about meal planning… either how much they love it or how much they despise it. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground with it. I am on the love side and for 3 reasons.
First, let’s go through a run-down of how-to meal prep:
1. First, develop a menu for that week. There is a misconception that you must eat the same thing the whole week. You can create as much variety as you like.
a. When you are creating your plan, make sure you are looking at your calendar and include planned meals out with friends and family or work obligations.
2. Then, make your grocery list and go shopping. Make sure to check your pantry for what staples you have that can be used for the meals that week.
3. Once you are ready to start prepping, put on your favorite playlist or tv show and get to prepping!
Now, why is it so important?
1. Saves TIME… in the long run. If you can devote 1-2 hours at the beginning of your week to prep, you will save yourself hours throughout the week.
· As meals are completed, put them in portion-sized containers to cool off before going into the fridge.
· When meal prepping, cleaning as you prep is important, so you don’t finish the prep and get discouraged by the large pile of dishes waiting for you.
· Once everything is prepped for the week, when it’s mealtime, all you must do is grab, heat up and eat. Plus, you will have even less dishes to clean throughout the week – saving you even more time!
2. Saves money and wastes less food! When you make a plan for what you are going to eat for the week and go to the grocery store with that in mind, you are more likely to only buy what you need. It may take some time to get in your groove to know exactly how much to make for each meal but after a few weeks, you should be in your groove, and saving money AND NOT wasting food!!
3. Allows you to stick to a healthy eating plan. No more questions of “what’s for dinner?” or getting so hangry that you will eat anything or everything in sight. All you have to do is grab from the fridge and re-heat.
The last thing I will tell you is that meal prepping is not for everyone. For one, I know people who don’t like to eat re-heated food – meal prep in this way is not for you. Meal prep can be repetitive unless you choose to make a variety of foods at the beginning of the week. Keep this in mind when deciding if meal prepping is for you. And of course, you can always put your spin on meal prep.
Let me know in the comments below your process for meal prep!
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📧: Stacy@keepinitrealorganized.com
