These days, in our busy lives, we often forget how important meal prep is – or maybe you never knew its importance. In this blog post, I will go over some benefits and tips about weekly meal prep.
What Is Meal Prep?
Meal prepping is the brainchild of people who want to eat healthy and tasty home-cooked meals despite their busy schedules. Who would benefit from it? Busy professionals, parents, students or anybody who wants to keep track of what they eat.
Preparing for our daily eats in advance will help us stay on track and push us towards a healthy lifestyle. Having nutritious meals ready will also help you achieve your fitness goals. It’s also a great way to save time and money.
For some, meal planning may be overwhelming at first. As you continue to meal prep regularly, you’ll become a pro in no time, you will be a pro as you move forward every week. Here’s a great article Meal Prep 101: A Beginner’s Guide To Prepping And Portioning Meals that can help get you started.
Why Is Meal Prep Important?
1. You will save money
One of the best benefits of meal prep is saving money. Buying groceries in bulk and cooking ahead of time will seem more expensive at first, but as you continue you will be able to reduce your budget for food. After no time, you will naturally start buying things in bulk and Costco will be your best friend.
2. It will save you time
Most of us have the same problem – we don’t have enough time each day to exercise or to eat healthily. Preparing meals in advance is an excellent solution to this complaint. You will need to spend some time in your kitchen every Sunday, but think about the hours you will save during the week. Better management of your meals will allow you to manage your time better every day.
3. It will give you control over your nutrition and portion
When you meal prep, you will have total freedom about what goes into your food. It will help you cut back those extra carbs. You will also have the ability to portion out your food so that you do not overeat. Also, portion control is key to weight loss, weight gain, and general health. Having control over the quantity of food in each meal will help you get closer to your fitness goals.
4. It will help you reduce stress level
Stress affects us in various negative ways. It can mess with our mental health and promote weight gain or weight loss. Moreover, it changes the chemistry of our body. Prepping your meals in advance will simplify your life and you will always know that fresh and healthy food is waiting for you at home. You will also be less prone to stress-eating.
5. You will feed your family healthy food
Meal prepping will also ensure that your children and other family members get to eat healthy meals every day. You will feel happy about knowing that you provided them with healthy and nutritious food fueling their bodies.
Tips For Meal Prepping
Tip 1: Plan your meals and have a grocery list
Making a meal plan is the first step of your new journey. You can have a breakfast, lunch and dinner plan for the week in advance and post it so your family will know what meal to expect each day – especially kids. The planning will also help you to get your grocery list sorted.
Tip 2: Get the suitable containers
Keep some money aside to buy high-quality, leak-proof, air-tight containers. After all, these containers will provide you with fresh and delicious healthy meals every day.
Tip 3: Portion out the meat
When you marinate meat, divide it into separate containers with the amount per meal. You could cook the meat or store it raw in Ziploc bags. If you marinate your meat in advance, you will save about two hours of time.
Tip 4: Cook in large batches
Try and cook food in large batches, particularly beans and grains as they take a long time to cook. You can use your slow cooker for this to save time and energy.
Tip 5: Freeze extra food
Freeze any food that you won’t be able to eat within the next five days and save it for later.
Conclusion
I hope you can feel your confidence levels rising. Now that you have basic ideas about meal prepping, you can start planning your meals in advance. Remember, your first attempt might not be perfect but you will get there as you continue to plan.
Now that you have your meal prepping done, let’s talk shop. Have you considered a blog post strategy for your business? Check out our Blog Post Marketing Services article where we dive into how a blog can help your website get found and connect with your audience.
