People get into the habit of weekly meal prep for a few reasons. Sometimes it is about calorie control, other times it is about ensuring you have the right amount of nutrients for the fitness goal you have planned.
However, once you start meal prepping regularly, you start to notice that there are more benefits than simply weight loss, fitness goals and improved health, and these unexpected benefits can be the difference-maker for helping you stick to your long term fitness plan.
Saving Money
Shopping can often be unexpectedly expensive and complicated, and all of those last-minute trips to the shop for last-minute ingredients or a quick meal to heat up can really add up.
However, because meal prepping inherently means that you are buying, cooking and preparing all of your meals in advance, you are only buying what you need, saving you a lot of money.
As well as this, less of the fresh vegetables and produce you buy will go to waste or spoil, and your shopping trips will become somewhat more focused.
Save Time, Save Stress
Cooking is a lot of fun, most of the time. However, if you are stressed, have finished late or simply had a bad day, having to get ready to cook for dinner can be more stressful than you might expect.
With meal prepping, you get the convenience of having a ready meal to hand but with none of the added ingredients, fats and salt content that is common in ready meals.
As well as this, you are cooking when you want to, so you don’t have to worry about it when you need to.
Stress has several unexpected side effects on your mental and physical health, so reducing this will itself benefit you in the long run.
It Makes Willpower Easier
When we are stressed, we often crave foods that are not good for us. This is not just because they are unhealthy, but we often associate takeaways and ready meals with convenience and ease and choose the path of least resistance.
By making the healthiest, most nourishing and most nutritious option the easiest one, it helps us to make a habit of healthy eating, and gradually makes our cravings for fatty, sugary foods disappear.