Does this sound familiar? You’re on your way home from a busy day, and you’re very hungry, so you grab some convenient junk food. You know you should have a healthier meal, but you’re so hungry you don’t feel like you can wait to get home and start cooking.
Figuring out what to eat daily can be stressful, especially when juggling a busy schedule. With so much going on, it’s easy to slip into eating habits that are convenient but don’t fully nourish your body. So, what if you made eating healthy convenient? That’s where meal prepping comes in. Meal prepping allows you to cook nutritious meals ahead of time, so you have grab-and-go food ready throughout the week. Meal prepping is a great way to save time, save money and eat better.
If meal prepping sounds like it could help make your week easier, here’s how you can get started:
- Plan your meals for the week: Determine what you’ll eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and other snacks for the week, and find recipes. Consider making food that is simple to make and can be easily frozen or otherwise stored. You can write down your meal plan on your phone or get a meal planner notebook.
- Assemble your ingredients: Look at the recipes and determine what ingredients you’ll need. Determine what ingredients you have and which ones you’ll need to buy.
- Cook in a big batch: Choose a day to cook most of your week’s meals in big batches to save time throughout the week. Instead of cooking every day, you’ll just need to reheat the meals you’ve already made!
- Prep for the week: Store the food you’ve made. Consider portioning the food into containers that are easy for you to bring with you.
- Eat convenient, healthy food: Grab your meal-prepped food throughout the week!
Questions
- How do you make sure you eat nutritious foods when you’re busy?
- Is there one meal (including a snack) it would be helpful for you to prepare ahead of time?
- What are some healthy eating habits you would like to develop?
- Have you ever tried making food ahead of time? Did that process make your week easier?
