Set Yourself Up for Success with the Magic of Meal Prep
If you find yourself reaching for a lunchtime convenience store burrito more often than you care to admit, you’re not alone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spend 43% of their annual food budget on eating out, a percentage that costs the average person more than $3000 per year. Luckily, lifehackers across the Internet have come up with quick and easy ways to develop meal prep strategies, allowing a little extra time to go a long way.
Beyond immediate financial savings, consider the numerous advantages that taking the time to plan and prep your meals in advance can offer:
Save time
Prepping your meals a week (or even a day or two) in advance gives you the opportunity to eat what you want, when you want. Portioning out meals in single-serving containers requires very little effort and can be grabbed from the fridge or freezer at a moment’s notice for an enviable office lunch or a satisfying dinner that only requires a quick spin in the microwave.
Have more satisfying options
At the end of a long work day, the last thing you want to do is think about creating a meal from scratch. Leaving meal prep until your last exhausted and ravenous moment means that you’re more likely to resort to unhealthy choices like delivery pizza or, worse yet, a big bag of potato chips before you even have the chance to think about a balanced meal. (And if that doesn’t sound so bad, remember that even the most calorically indulgent meals will be cheaper if made with ingredients you bought yourself.)
Live a healthier lifestyle
Weight loss aside, when you cook well-balanced meals and have them available at the ready, you take control of exactly what goes into your body. Especially important for vegetarians, vegans and people with food intolerances, a solid meal prep plan will make sure you stay nourished with ingredients 100% approved by you.
Hungry for more? Here are some tips to get started:
Do Your Research
Knowledge is power, and hey, you have the Internet. As meal prep has become a popular lifestyle trend in recent years, a simple Google search will provide you with ample tips, tricks and strategies to become a single serving storage savant. To get you started, here’s a fact-filled meal prep beginner’s guide by the Harvard School of Public Health and a Greatist article featuring an 8-ingredient shopping list that will give you five nights of healthy dinners.
Make It Personal
Once you get started, the most important thing you need to remember is to stick to a meal prep schedule that works for you. Not everyone has an entire afternoon to devote to a week’s worth of meal prep, but a little extra time spent strategizing before heading to the grocery store will pay dividends if you can make even one extra portion per kitchen session. Take inventory of what you need vs. what you already have and spend a few weeks getting into a food preparation habit that feels reasonable for your schedule and suits your taste (buds).
Shop Online
Prevent checkout counter impulse purchases and skip the line, not to mention the heavy shopping bags, by ordering groceries to your door (where available). Many major grocery store chains feature free or inexpensive delivery rates and deep discounts with your first purchase. Use the opportunity to stock up on long-lasting staples like grains and canned goods.
Multitask
Strategize your kitchen time to make multiple dishes at once. Boiling water? Use the time to chop veggies, measure out ingredients or set out your meal containers. And don’t forget — cleaning up after yourself as you go gives you more counter space while cooking and is a chore you’ll thank yourself for having completed later.
