Meal prepping is usually associated with body builders and/or gym junkies. But in my case (being neither of the two), I meal prep for the convenience of it during my hectic schedule during the school week. Plus, it saves me a decent amount of money. I have been meal prepping on-and-off for eight months now and I have saved approximately $450 in groceries. Also worth mentioning, I live by the 6- small-meals-a-day rule so my tips for meal prepping are relatively healthy.
Before we get into these tips, there is some planning that needs to be done in terms of figuring out what meals you are going to make for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
To get some inspiration, I look on Pinterest for easy and healthy recipes. I like to find “quick” recipes for breakfast because let’s get real, who doesn’t hit the snooze on their alarm clock?! My go-to breakfast items are muffins that I pre-make so I can just heat them up in the oven and take them with me on the go. For lunch ideas, I prefer items that do not need to be heated up because sometimes the nearest microwave is in a building across campus. That being said, my go-to lunch items are pasta salads, sandwiches, or anything that tastes good at room temperature. For dinner, I’m okay with taking all the already cooked ingredients, putting them together, and heating them up. As for snacks, they can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be; I usually opt for fruit or granola bars.
Now time for the fun part! Here are five tips that will make your life easier and have your wallet thanking you for it.
1. Look at your local grocery store’s deals for the week
I cannot stress how important this tip is if you really want to save money. Look at what produce and meats are on sale for that week and you can start building your meal off of those sale items. For example, if chicken breast is on sale for 2 packs of 5 for $7, you can purchase the two and use one pack for the week and the other pack for next week by freezing it. Also, since different produce goes on sale every week, just buy whichever is on sale and incorporate that into your weekly meal plan.
2. Pick ONE day out of the week to meal prep
I usually choose Sunday to meal prep since it is my day off from work and it is the start of the new week. I dedicate about an hour and a half just to meal prep, which includes preparing the ingredients and cooking the dish depending on the recipe!
3. Buy plasticware/tupperware that is going to last
I’m sure you do not want to buy plasticware only to have it break in a few weeks, so I highly suggest investing in plasticware that is durable and long-lasting since you will be using it every week. I personally like the Ziploc brand, which has plasticware that comes in multiple sizes for sandwiches, entrees, snacks, and sauces. Using plasticware also reduces the amount of disposable plastic baggies you use, so yay team eco-friendly!
4. You don’t always have to eat the same food, you know
People have this perception that meal prepping is so “boring” due to it being the same food items consumed every day. But it doesn’t have to get monotonous. You can go a few days preparing the same dishes and then a few days preparing other dishes, it’s totally up to you! You also won’t be wasting food by switching it up this way, since you won’t get tired of eating the same meal five times a week.
5. There are no rules to meal prepping!
You could honestly just buy a frozen pizza and split it up among the days of the week if you wanted to. No one said that’s a bad thing and tbh, I did it a few times during finals week!
Meal prepping for convenience is what makes life easier throughout the week.