Do you find yourself stressing about what you’re going to eat throughout a busy day at work or Uni?
Or, do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed with the thought of preparing a week’s worth of meals in a single afternoon?
Meal/food prepping does not have to be complicated! You do not need to be spending all day in the kitchen cooking extravagant meals for the week to maintain a healthy, balanced diet to achieve your goals.
I know myself being a busy throughout the week, preparing a week’s worth of meals is not something I find myself wanting to do on my Sunday afternoon.
Yet I have found that preparing ingredients rather than meals at the start of the week has allowed me to be more organised in the morning and save money on food, yet still be excited about what I’m eating each day.
Some simple things I do for meal prep includes:
Filling a container of bananas and freezing them to pop into my smoothie at breakfast or as a snack
Cooking a few day’s worths of grains such as rice or quinoa
Portion out different snacks such as popcorn, nuts, or berries and having them in separate containers.
Roasting a bunch of mixed vegetables such as potato, pumpkin, or capsicum
Poaching and shredding chicken
Buying cans of tuna when I don’t have the option to heat my lunch
Chopping up veggies including tomato, carrot, avocado to add in a bowl or wrap
Buying pre-washed slaw or spinach to throw into a meal for extra colour
Making dressing such as beetroot hommus or lemon, tahini mustard in my nutribullet
Baking a treat such as banana bread loaf, cookies, or muffins to have as a snack
Having these ingredients ready to go allows me to quickly pull a meal together in the morning before I leave for work or Uni, giving me much more time to do other things at the start of the day. Just being able to simply add chicken, roasted and raw veg, some grains, and homemade dressing into a bowl creates a super nutritious meal with protein, carbs, and healthy fats all in under 10 minutes. Or having snacks portioned out and easy to pack means I don’t have to think about what to eat in the morning or during the day, as everything is sitting there for me already!
Prepping ingredients rather than meals also allows me to switch up what I’m eating based on what I feel like each day so that I’m excited to eat what I have made myself rather than purchase something.
Having such a basic ingredient in the fridge ready to go creates so many possibilities and options for meals.
For example, chicken can be added into a burrito bowl, put on a wrap, or in rice paper rolls! That is 3 completely different meal options made easy, all from prepping one key ingredient.
Just doing these simple things each weekend allows me to save money, be more organised, and ensure I am fuelling my body with nutritious food throughout the week. I recommend giving these super-easy tricks a go if you’re looking to save a bit of time and be more organised when it comes to food prep.