Making food can take a lot of time out of the day, especially when you don’t have a recipe planned. But meal prepping is one of the easy ways to cut down on cooking time and making more time for the things that matter.
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Choice what to meal prep: You don’t need to meal prep every meal and snack. Get an idea of what meals you want to prep based on your schedule and eating habits. You don’t need to prep everything you eat if it doesn’t work for you, follow your body and eating habits.
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Look at recipes: It can be helpful to look at recipes to get an idea of what you want to make. Pinterest can be very helpful to get meal ideas, just type in cuisine or ingredient and you get so many results. You can also use google to get an idea of what you want to make if you have a more specific idea. If you have no clue what you want to make simply search for recipes until you find something that sparks interest, then build a menu around it.
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Figure out how you want to meal prep: Meal prepping is unique to every person, so figure out how you wanna meal prep your meals. Some people like making the food ahead of time and other people find it easier to simply prepare the ingredients ahead of time. Also think about bulk items for multiple meals like pasta, rice, potatoes that may be used in multiple meals.
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Create a shopping list: Once you know what you want to make it is time to make a shopping list, so you don’t forget any key ingredients. It can be helpful to try to include recipes with similar ingredients to cut down on food waste and cost.
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Prep the food at the same time: If you are simply preparing the ingredients or cooking the meal, it doesn’t matter do all the meals you planned at once. Whole that pasta is boiling, you could be cutting vegetables or staring another dish. Have a rough time estimate of each task/dish and try to schedule it so you don’t sit cooking all day.
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Store the food correctly/food safety: It goes without saying that food safety is important. If you plan to meal prep make sure that you don’t keep easily spoiled food in the refrigerator, you may need to stick some meals in the freezer. Check the expiration dates of all your food before eating and don’t leave raw meat out.