Meal prep is one of the best ways to save time and money while eating healthy home-cooked meals. By planning your meals for the week ahead and preparing ingredients in advance, you’ll avoid scrambling to figure out what’s for dinner or grabbing takeout on busy nights. Here are some tips to get started with meal prep:
Planning is key. Sit down on Sunday and plan out your meals for the week. Keep weeknight dinners simple, around 30 minutes or less. Look for recipes that use similar ingredients so you can prep them at once. Write a grocery list to stock up on everything you need.
Cook ingredients in bulk. Things like rice, grains, beans, and roasted veggies can be made in large quantities and used in multiple meals. Cook once, then portion into containers to use throughout the week.
Focus on proteins. Prepare proteins like chicken, fish, beans or tofu to add to salads, grain bowls, and stir fries. Cook the protein, then shred, dice or slice and store in the refrigerator.
Wash and chop veggies. Thoroughly wash, peel and chop veggies that you’ll use for snacks, sides and meal prep. Things like carrots, celery, broccoli, bell peppers and cabbage can be prepped in advance. Store in sealed bags or containers.
Make double batches. When cooking meals, make double batches of things like chili, soup, casseroles or pasta sauce. Freeze half for another week.
Use time-saving tools. Tools like a food processor, spiralizer, immersion blender and mandoline slicer can make quick work of veggie prep. They’ll save you a lot of time, especially when meal prepping.
Plan for leftovers. Cook extra portions of dinners that you know will taste even better as leftovers like pasta, curry and stir fries. Have leftovers for lunch the next day or freeze for another week.
Start small and build up. Don’t feel overwhelmed by the thought of prepping meals for the whole week. Start with prepping just a few dinners or doubling one recipe. As you get into the routine, you can prep more to save even more time. Meal prep gets easier the more you do it.