The fundamentals of meal prepping: How to become a meal prep guru
Meal prep. It might seem like there’s a thousand ways to do it but, to start, here are some need-to-know basics.
When I was first introduced to meal prep, I’d only seen how my sister did it so I thought her way was the only way; however, I soon discovered there are many different ways you can approach meal prepping.
My sister usually gets back from work pretty late so she often cooks food before she leaves for work and stores it for later. This saves time and ends up being pretty convenient for her lifestyle — if work or school isn’t taking up her time and attention, her kids are. So, if you are in a similar situation, this may be a good practice you could adopt into your life.
Good Housekeeping mentions three different ways to meal prep: individually portioned meals (what my sister does), prepped ingredients and batch cooking.
Batch cooking is making “big recipes at once (like on the weekends) and freezing or saving for use later on.” This may be useful if you are cooking for more than a party of two.
Individually portioned meals is when you cook and “divvy up portions into containers ahead of time so you can grab and go.” This method is a big time and money saver and can be helpful if you are trying to lose weight or simply eat healthier.
Prepped ingredients is — you guessed it — prepping ingredients. In other words, you get ingredients for a meal ready beforehand. This could be by chopping, peeling or slicing ingredients for later use.
Once you decide which type of meal prep to go with, follow these next steps from Wellnessaurus: decide what you’re going to make, pick a day (to grocery shop and prepare the meals, choose how (glass or plastic containers, bags, etc.) you’re going to store meals and choose where (fridge or freezer) you’re going to store meals.
According to Meal Prep Haven, that third step requires some extra discussion. They claim that, “good storage containers are really the foundation of your meal prepping” and “how you choose to store your meals can make or break your meal prepping efforts.” That’s a lot of pressure to put on a little tupperware bowl if you ask me, but they have a point. You don’t want whatever meal you took time in preparing to be ruined just because it wasn’t stored properly.
Meal Prep Haven recommends investing in containers that allow you to divide parts of your meal to prevent them from becoming a messy pile of mystery — yuck. In addition, be sure your containers are airtight to preserve the food better; it will be fresher as a result. Lastly, some other boxes your container should check are: BPA free, freezer safe, dishwasher safe, microwavable, stackable and reusable. Be sure it has all that, and you got yourself a “proper container.”
Well there’s all the fundamentals you need to know to ensure you don’t start awry on your path to becoming a meal prep guru. Now time to make your plan, pick a day, and start storing some meals! (properly of course)
