Meal prep is a great way to save time and money in the kitchen, as well as to help you eat more healthily. If you have diet or fitness goals such as losing weight or gaining muscle mass, but often find yourself lacking the time and energy to cook a meal from scratch, here’s how meal prepping can help you.
If you are just too busy or find the whole process of cooking too much of a chore, it might be time to investigate a meal prep delivery service. You can arrange weekly or monthly bundles and customise your meal choices to suit your needs, whether that’s vegetarian or vegan options, halal, or tailored diets for fitness or weight management.
Simple tips to get started with meal prep
Start with two or three meals at a time
The prospect of cooking up huge batches of food to store in containers for the fridge or freezer can be rather daunting, and you may find it easier to take smaller steps first of all. Start with something fairly simple, such as a pasta based recipe with vegetables and a sauce, adding meat, fish or cheese if you wish.
Cook a double or treble batch that can be stored in meal-sized containers in the fridge to eat for weekday meals. You will probably get bored of eating the same meal for more than two days in a row, so plan other quick dinners to alternate with.
Make base recipes
Instead of preparing whole meals, make a big batch of a base recipe that can be used to combine with different foods throughout the week. This gives some variety over your meal choices without the need to cook from scratch every day.
For example, you could cook a batch of bolognese with meat or vegetables, and eat it with a variety of accompaniments, such as the traditional spaghetti; sweet potatoes; rice; kidney beans; or tortilla wraps. A basic chilli recipe can be combined with similar alternatives.
Use a slow cooker
Slow cookers are ideal to make large amounts of one-pot meals with minimal time and effort. They are perfect for making casseroles, curries, and chilli con carne, but you can also cook a surprisingly diverse range of foods in them, just by chucking in all the ingredients and leaving it to bubble away for a few hours.
Plan out your whole week
To avoid wasting ingredients or the temptation to eat convenience foods, plan out each meal of the week so you know what to put on your shopping list, and to make use of what is already in the freezer.
Prepare batches of chopped vegetables
If the faff and fuss of chopping vegetables and clearing up afterwards is your downfall when it comes to healthy eating, set aside some time over the weekend to chop up the veg that you will need for the week’s meals. Chopped vegetables such as onions, garlic, celery, peppers and broccoli will keep well in the fridge in bags or containers for several days.