Meal prepping can be a great way to prioritise healthy eating when you’re on a busy schedule, as it saves you cooking time during the week.
It also helps you save money, particularly when you’re on a budget.
Here are some tips and ideas to help you get started with meal prepping:
Set aside a day in the week to prep your meals
Schedule this into your diary. Having a day set aside to plan, create a shopping list and prep your meals for the week will save you a lot of energy from having to think about what to eat during the week.
Use similar ingredients for recipes
Sometimes meal prepping can become quite repetitive if you’re having the same meal. You can change it up by using similar ingredients for recipes which are quick and easy to put together. For example, you can make a bolognese sauce for spaghetti one night, and use the same sauce to make a cottage pie with mashed potatoes. This can be helpful if you get bored easily, and will reduce waste from leftovers.
Batch cooking
It can help to cook meals in advance so that you can just freeze and reheat during the week. This could be meals such as soup and lasagne.
Buy pre-prepared foods and recipe bases
It can help to have some prepared foods available to put together a meal with little time. This can be pre-cut vegetables to save time on preparation, and recipe bases such as butter chicken and stir fry which only require minimal ingredients to add.
Meal Prep Ideas
Breakfast –
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Overnight oats
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Smoothie
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Brekky wrap
Lunch –
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Burrito bowl
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Salad
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Soup
Dinner –
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Pasta bake
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Stir fry
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Casserole
Now that you have the meal prepping know-how, it’s time to take action and reap the rewards! Start by carving out some time this week to plan your meals, create a shopping list, and conquer the kitchen.
