How To Start Meal Prepping
Do you make lunch to take to work with you before leaving home? Or rather than making lunch every day, do you instead make it beforehand for the entire week?
Those are both instances of meal prepping, which in simplest terms is the practice of preparing food to be eaten hours or days later.
Is meal prep something that you do regularly? Only on occasion? Never?
If you have health and fitness goals that are dependent on nutrition and you’re having difficulty with what and how much you’re supposed to eat, then you might possibly want to meal prep if it isn’t part of your regular routine.
Meal prepping may very well be the tool you’re missing to keep your eating on track because by having meals already made, not only do you save time on deciding what to eat and then putting it together every instance that you’re hungry but you also cut down on the possibility of throwing your hands in the air and consuming less than desirable food from a package or restaurant out of sheer convenience.
In addition to the availability of prepared meals contributing to nutritional quality by limiting the excuses to hit up a drive-thru window or food delivery app, another benefit of prepping is that it can help with quantity. On this front, you can easily portion out food in specific amounts that satisfy caloric and/or macronutrient needs, with the predetermined servings at feeding time then helping to prevent you from eating more than you possibly would’ve had you served yourself right at the moment of eating.
There are many more benefits to meal prepping but those are just a handful of reasons why you should consider it if it’s not something that you already do.
Making one meal to be eaten a few hours later or the next day is fairly straightforward and is something that everyone’s done. What may present a challenge is meal prepping several days worth of one or more meals at a time.
To help you along with that is the following guide that’ll show you how to start meal prepping like a pro. From the best foods for meal prep, to ideas about what to make, to the supplies that you might need, to instructions on what to do, you’ll find everything covered. That is, everything except your food actually being cooked and packed for you!1For that, do a local search for a meal prep service near you and pay the $10 or more per meal, which kinda defeats another benefit of meal prepping, which is saving money from eating out.
MEAL PREP FOOD
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Some foods have a short shelf life when refrigerated. And others don’t freeze well. When you clear those hurdles, there’s the matter of the food losing its quality once reheated, as it may become limp, soggy, or mushy and lack the desired flavor. As such, the best foods for meal prepping are those that are capable of lasting and hold up when reheated after a few days of refrigeration or upon several weeks of freezing. Some foods are better than others at this.
Foods that work well with meal prepping are:
• Whole fruit2e.g. apples, oranges, peaches, bananas, mango, etc.
• Vegetables3e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, kale, spinach, peas, peppers, butternut squash, etc.
• Lean protein4e.g. eggs, meat, poultry, fish, seafood, tofu, etc.
• Whole grains5e.g. buckwheat, oats, rice, farro, quinoa, couscous, etc.
• Pulses6e.g. black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc.
• Starches7e.g. corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, etc.
• Seeds
• Nuts
Foods that don’t work well with meal prepping are:
• Raw fruit8e.g. sliced apples, bananas, pears, avocados, and other cut fruit that browns quickly.
• Produce with high water content9e.g. watermelon, berries, lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers, courgette, cabbage, celery, etc.
• Fresh herbs10e.g. basil, parsley, etc.
• Cooked pasta
• Crunchy food11e.g. fried chicken, crispy tofu, tempura, etc.
• Milk-based sauces
• Egg-based sauces
• Mayonnaise
• Cream-based products12e.g. yogurt, custard, etc.
• Soft cheese13e.g. cream cheese, cottage cheese, goat cheese, etc.
MEAL PREP IDEAS
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Virtually any type of dish that you would serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner can be meal prepped. However, while you can cook and pack anything your imagination can conjure, the type of dish you should meal prep should be one that can be easily made in bulk in little time and with very little equipment. Below are a handful of dishes that are popular for meal prepping, with some better capable of long-term storage in the freezer than others.14For recipes, try searching “meal prep recipes”. Another ingenious search term is “meal prep ideas”.
• Overnight oats
• Pancakes
• Waffles
• Crepes
• Egg Muffins
• Quiche
• Frittata
• Burrito bowls
• Power bowls
• Buddha bowls
• Bibimbap
• Enchiladas
• Stuffed peppers
• Roasted vegetables
• Soup
• Stew
• Chili
• Casserole
• Lasagna
• Baked ziti
• Stuffed shells
• Meatloaf
• Meatballs
• Meat pies
• Empanadas
• Potstickers
• Dumplings
MEAL PREP SUPPLIES
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What you need for meal prep largely depends on what you’re making. For the most part, all you need are the basics. When you become more comfortable with meal prepping, that’s when you might want to invest in fancy appliances and gadgets to make things easier and possibly faster.
• Kitchen utensils15e.g. whisk, spatula, tongs, ladle, can opener, etc.
• Meat thermometer
• Knives
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Food scale
• Mixing bowls
• Colander
• Grater
• Cutting board
• Spiralizer
• Skillet
• Saute pan
• Roasting pan
• Dutch oven
• Cooling rack
• Casserole dish
• Baking dishes16e.g. muffin pan, cake pan, loaf pan, etc.
• Sheet pans
• Silicone baking mats
• Food processor
• Blender
• Air fryer
• Instant pot
• Rice cooker
• Slow cooker
• Food steamer
• Vacuum sealer
• Food storage bags17Fold top and zip top storage bags are great for separating salad ingredients, sandwich fillings, and other items for meals that don’t work well with batch preparation but whose components can quickly be thrown together in creation of a ready-to-go meal. These types of bags are also perfect for portioning out chips, crackers, pretzels, chopped fruit and vegetables, and other snacks. Yes, that’s right, meal prepping is a technique that can also be done for snacks!
Freezer bags are another bagging option. In freezers where shelf space is often limited, freezer bags come in handy because food stored in them usually takes up less space than those in a container, especially in the case of liquid foods like soups and stews that can be frozen into a flattened shape and then stacked. Freezer bags are great for that reason but their most intriguing use is for storing any kind of food in the freezer for weeks, possibly months, without changing the taste and texture of the contents because the bags are specially designed to minimize freezer burn, so long as precautions are taken to remove all the excess air before sealing.
• Food storage containers18The type of container you should use will vary upon the need. For example, if transporting the food instead of eating it at the location where it was prepared, then it behooves you to use leak-proof containers. For transport, the vessel should also be lightweight, which more often than not calls for plastic. Here, you can buy new Tupperware or upcycle delivery and takeout containers from restaurants, Country Crock butter tubs, and other commercial food packaging. However, if you need to reheat the food with it still in the container rather than transferring it to a dish or pan, then purchase a microwaveable container made of BPA-free material so microplastics and other contaminants don’t leech into the food when it’s zapped. Need something that can be frozen or refrigerated and then placed in the oven or microwave and is also dishwasher safe and doesn’t stain, then glass is your friend.
MEAL PREP INSTRUCTIONS
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Preparing a series of meals in advance to last a number of days can seem daunting when first starting out. However, the process is relatively easy. All you have to do is follow the provided steps!
1. Decide what meals you’re going to make and for what days.19Beginners should prep one meal rather than two or three and it shouldn’t be that elaborate. This meal should be the one that you usually skip or order out. If neither situation applies, then select the meal that’s the most inconvenient to make during the week.
2. Decide what day(s) you’re going to do the prepping.20For freshness, you should plan to meal prep on two separate days, making enough food for four days on one day and three days on the other, or vice versa. If prepping once a week is more convenient, then a few days worth of food should be refrigerated and the remainder frozen. As for the specific days, most people meal prep on Sunday and/or Wednesday but that comes down to personal preference.
3. Shop for items you don’t have at home, if necessary.
4. On the dedicated prep day, start by cooking the food that takes the longest time.
5. Multitask by using your burners, oven, air fryer, slow cooker, food steamer, and other cooking gadgets at the same time while also doing all the chopping, washing, cleaning, and other stuff.
6. Allow the food to cool.
7. Portion the food into airtight containers.
8. Label the food storage bags and containers with a date so you can track when to use the contents by.
9. Store food that will be consumed within 4 days in the fridge.
10. Store food that won’t be consumed within 4 days in the freezer.