Meal prep tips seem to be a popular topic these days, especially on social media feeds, as more people assess their goals and decide to prepare their food in advance for various reasons including:
Having food ready in the fridge for you and your kids to snack on
Busy and stressful work week schedules with no time to cook dinner
Cost savings to avoid high takeout food prices
& the big one: to achieve health and nutrition goals
The beauty of meal prepping is that you have foods you want to eat readily and conveniently available to you, and know exactly what ingredients are in the food you made. You can worry less about added mystery ingredients that leave you wondering (like wtf is dextrose???), or getting sudden upset stomachs and foodborne illness. Meal prepping puts you in control over yours and your family’s bodies, and makes you accountable for achieving your nutrition goals.
So you think, “hmmm, okay cool so I can meal prep too, this is a good idea”. Then you start scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest feeds with all the meal prep hashtags #mealprep #mealprepsundays #mealpreptips and pictures of a thousand containers on a table all filled with pre-portioned and complete meals and then suddenly it becomes very daunting. You think “I don’t even own a thousand containers”, “I don’t have time”, “this kills an entire Sunday”, and “this is way too much effort”.
I get it! The idea of spending an entire day in the kitchen ruins the phrase “Sunday Meal Prep Funday”.
That’s why you need to find your meal prep style and figure out the ideal schedule for YOU! Just because Jill and Jane can dedicate an entire Sunday in the kitchen making a week’s worth of meals, doesn’t mean you can. You may have work. You may have your kid’s dance practice. You may have family plans. Or you just might be tired. Plain and simple. But always remember one tidbit of wisdom from me…..
This is one of my favourite quotes. It captures the idea of setting a goal and to achieve it. When I do my own “Sunday Meal Prep Fundays”, often others ask me how I dedicate my time to meal prepping, which I then repeat this wise quote. Preparation is part of my lifestyle, and it’s part of achieving my nutrition goals.
What’s your Meal Prep Success Style:
1. The Meal Prep Marathoner
The Description:
This is a full-day of meal prep, where you are in the kitchen for the duration until your meal prep mission is accomplished. This is commonly the “Sunday Meal Prep Funday” or whatever day-off from work you have. Comfy attire and a loud speaker with your favourite playlist may be required. All meals are made from start to finish for your week ahead. The pros are that everything is done in one day, and every meal is ready to eat.
2. The Meal Prep Events Planner
The Description:
A planned schedule of days is pre-determined by you at the beginning of the week for you to batch cook/meal prep. This could mean more weekend Netflix n chill, and showing up to the kitchen on your own terms. The pros are that you have freshly cooked food throughout the week, possibly more variety, and an increase in fridge space and storage containers available.
Example #1: Cooking on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays with leftovers for the days in between.
Example #2: Making all of the breakfast and lunches on Sunday. Cooking dinner on Sunday for half the week and then again on Wednesday, for the other half of the week.
3. The Go-Hard Grocery and Meal Prep Master
The Description:
This is where you combine your grocery shopping time and meal prep time together. Upon arriving home from the grocery store, you would wash, chop, peel, etc. and either store the foods for easy weekday cooking or proceed to make the weekly meals. The pros are having the meal ingredients ready to use, and having healthy snack items available post-shopping for yourself and/or children.
4. The Fam Jam Meal Prep Boss
The Description:
This is where you call in your family (spouse, kids, grannies, and all) to help you with the weekly meal prep. Your spouse may do all the peeling and chopping, children may do the safer tasks (like wash the produce, blend the sauces, combine the ingredients), and you can do the stovetop stirring and food storage. If everyone is eating, everyone can help prepare the food. It’s beneficial for children to develop culinary skills to use into adulthood and to help them connect with the foods they’re eating. The pros are that it’s less time and effort for one person, meaning faster meal prep and more family-bonding fun.
Go through your options and think about what works best for you. There is no “right” way to meal prep, as long as it’s efficient and effective for your lifestyle and schedule.
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