7 Easy Tips for Mastering Meal Prep and Eating Healthily

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Mastering Meal Prep

Serve up healthy meals with ease when following these 7 tips for mastering meal prep.

Eating healthy can be hard to achieve if you don’t have a plan in place.

Make healthy eating easy and delicious with a little planning and organising as part of your weekly routine.

With meal prep, you can save time and money while still satisfying cravings and staying nourished. Here are 7 tips for mastering meal prep so you can serve up healthy meals with ease and relieve some stress around meal times!

Make a Plan and Set Goals

Before you start prepping your meals, you need to plan.

Firstly you need to assess your weekly schedule including work, family, and other commitments as this is going to determine how much extra time or lack of time you have to prepare and cook meals on each particular day.

Next, you need to decide,

how many days do you want to meal prep for,
what types of meals or snacks you’ll be making,
and how much time you want to devote to cooking each week.

This will help keep you organised and on track with your healthy eating goals and the first step to mastering meal prep.

I have a free meal planner and grocery list that I have created to help me each week and I would love for you to use it to help you achieve your meal prep each week.

Use a Journal or Daily Schedule

Not only does a Journal or Daily Schedule help to plan and schedule for work and family commitments including tasks and events such as birthdays, but it is also a great way to help you process your daily thoughts and emotions, and helps you start your day in a positive way by recording your gratitude.

Journaling can be a great way to help you not become overwhelmed by collating all the important tasks you have to complete within your day, week or month to ensure you stay on top of things. The same goes for meal planning and meal prep.

When you know what is happening in your week, you are able to forecast the days when you need to meal prep in order to have a meal ready in time.

Create Your Grocery List

Before you head to the grocery store, you need to create a list of all the ingredients and supplies you’ll need for your weekly meal prep.

This is where your meal planner comes in handy and takes out the guesswork when it comes to shopping for ingredients.

When you write in each meal including snacks for each day you are able to get a better idea of what will be needed in order to prep and cook successfully for the week.

Make sure your list is comprehensive so that you don’t end up making multiple trips or forgetting any essential items.

Another tip is to purchase in bulk where possible to save money and time, for example buying larger packs of mince or chicken and dividing it into portions to freeze. Bulk shopping is discussed in the next point.

For me, I love to shop online. Mainly for convenience and I also know how much the total is upfront on how much I am spending.

I love that I can look at what is in my online cart from my account to review the items I have to ensure I have everything I need.

Shopping online also frees up time from not having to go into the store to pick out my items. I can shop in my free time online, select a time for pick up, or even have the groceries delivered to my house.

Another positive is that I am not tempted to place other items in my cart which in turn helps to reduce the cost of my weekly grocery shop.

Check your Pantry and Fridge

It’s always a great idea to have a look through your pantry, fridge, and freezer to use up what you have on hand to avoid wastage.

Checking the pantry cupboard and fridge can also save you money as it helps you avoid buying numerous of the same products.

Avoid Processed Foods

Processed foods often contain very little nutritional value and can be high in sugar, sodium, fat, calories, and artificial ingredients.

Eating an abundance of processed foods can lead to weight gain and other health problems over time.

Instead, focus on whole food options that are more nutrient-dense, contain essential vitamins and minerals, and offer other health benefits to achieve a healthy balanced lifestyle such as the 5 food groups including lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy.

When prepping meals for the week ahead, ensure you include these healthier whole food options at each meal and snack time.

Mastering Meal Prep

Cook in Bulk

When prepping meals, it’s important to consider how much time you want to spend in the kitchen. If you have more time, cooking in bulk will save you a lot of time and energy each week.

Bulk cooking can be as simple as doubling or tripling the amount of whatever you’re making that day so that all the ingredients can be used for multiple meals over the course of a few days.

Bulk cooking can be as simple as creating a dish that can have several different ways of making it into a different meal over a few days. For example a bolognese sauce. The first dish could be a spaghetti bolognese, the next still using the sauce could be nachos, and another night you could make a lasagna.

Another tip for making meals in batches is to portion the dish into freezer-safe containers to be placed in the freezer to be taken out when needed.

This means you will only need to reheat for a quick and easy meal when time is short.

Alternatively, if you have less time, pick recipes that are quick and easy to make or use pre-prepared ingredients like pre-chopped veggies, or frozen vegetables. There is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables, in fact, they contain the same goodness as fresh if not more as they are frozen within hours of being picked.

Prep Food Ahead of Time

One of the keys to successful meal prep is to do as much work ahead of time as possible.

Prepping food while you’re in pre-cook mode can save a lot of time and stress when it comes to cooking later on. It also is an opportunity to walk in from a busy day and know you have a meal ready to heat up and serve in minutes.

Some of the tasks you can do ahead of time include:

washing and chopping vegetables,
portioning protein and other ingredients,
marinating meats and other proteins,
and making big batches of sauces or dressings.

This way, it will just be a matter of combining the elements come time for cooking.

Mastering Meal Prep – Final Thoughts

If you have been wanting to try and organise your schedule and be more prepared on the days your lacking time to cook a healthy delicious meal, then meal planning and meal prep are worth trying.

Not only can you save time in the long run, save money by not being caught out and having to buy expensive takeaway and ruining your healthy eating habits but you have more chance of succeeding with your health and wellness goals.

Give it a go, I know you will get the hang of it and love it just as much as I do.

Amy xx