Healthy Meal Prep for Beginners: Full Details

Healthy Meal Prep for Beginners: When you have a lot of obligations and a hectic schedule, it’s easy to neglect your health. Many healthy eaters rely on meal preparation as a time-saving and time-management strategy. Let’s examine all the specifics!

To make healthy eating easier on your busiest days, meal prep entails preparing or batch cooking meals, snacks, or ingredients in advance.

Renowned Food Expert Homan says, “You can quickly prepare enough food for several days and then not have to worry about meals for the rest of the week”.

Additionally, you might be less inclined to order takeout for dinner or go through the drive-thru for lunch if you know you have something waiting in the refrigerator.

Health Benefits of Meal Prepping

According to Homan, meal planning:

• Decreases decision fatigue: Saying, “What should I eat?” while gazing at the refrigerator is no longer an option. Making fewer decisions every day when your meals are prepared and ready to eat reduces decision fatigue.
• Saves time: By taking a few minutes to prepare a few meals in advance, you can free up more time during the week to spend cooking.
• Results in more deliberate meals: Meal preparation allows you the time to plan and prepare meals that are well-balanced and full of different nutrients.
• Saves money: By ensuring that you are only purchasing the food you need and intend to eat, meal planning can help you avoid food waste and save money.

Meals can become less stressful and more fun as a result of all of this. Additionally, if weight loss is one of your health objectives, meal planning may even aid in that process.

According to Homan, “meal planning and preparation help you eat more consistently throughout the day.” “Eating at a consistent time each day helps regulate hunger levels and avoid overeating, so it’s helpful to know you have something ready to eat.”

How to Start Meal Prepping

When you hear the phrase “meal prepping,” do you picture boring chicken breast, rice, and green beans that have been expertly portioned out into containers for a week? Let’s start by backing up and revising your mental picture.

Part of the appeal of meal preparation is that there is no one right way to do it. It’s a technique that may be tailored to your own routine and way of life to help you become a more effective cook.

That could entail preparing enough breakfasts and lunches for a week for one individual to reheat at work. For someone else, it can just entail chopping up some extra vegetables and preparing a fresh salad dressing that they can use all week long. Preparing meals can involve:

• When you think about meal planning, you most likely picture preparing individual amounts.
• Making one large dish, such as a large casserole or a pot of chili, to consume throughout the week is known as batch cooking.
• Preparing one or two major tasks ahead of time, such as roasting a chicken that will be used for dinners every other night of the week, is known as ingredient prepping.
• An extension of all the previous forms of meal preparation is making freezer meals, which lets you store prepared foods or whole meals for later use.

All of these methods of meal preparation are quite legitimate, and you might want to try one or all of them out when you first start to discover which ones you prefer. Here’s how to begin meal prep, regardless of your preferences or motivations.

Step 1: Think About Storage

It’s crucial to plan how you’ll keep things organized and fresh before you even start thinking about what you’ll prepare.

“For hot lunches, I advise selecting microwave-safe containers,” Homan advises. “In addition, mason jar salads help keep ingredients fresh in the refrigerator for several days.”

Just make sure you have a few tiny containers available to keep dressing and sauces apart. A sloppy salad is disliked by everyone!

Oh, and remember what you’ll put in your freezer.

According to Homan, “you can portion out ingredients for smoothies ahead of time and freeze soups and chilis in smaller containers so you only have to heat up what you’ll eat for the week.”

Step 2: Decide on A Prep Day

Finding a day when you can regularly set aside time for meal planning is important because one of the main concepts behind it is creating a habit. Additionally, choosing a day when you truly have time is crucial because meal preparation takes time.

Homan says, “Make sure it’s a day where you have a few hours to spend.” Although Sunday and Wednesday are common days for meal prep, you can pick the day that best suits your schedule.

Step 3: Make a Game Plan

Now that you’ve picked a day and time, you’ll like to ask yourself (and answer!) these questions:

• “What dishes am I going to prepare?” According to Homan, believing that one must prepare every meal for the week is one of the most common meal planning errors people make. Instead, go slowly: “Select one meal that you find most difficult to eat healthily,” she suggests. “Save time by having breakfasts prepared for the week if you’re constantly on the go in the morning.”
• “How much food should I prepare?” Once more, take it slowly. To give yourself time to adjust to the process, you should start by preparing only two or three meals rather than five or six. Additionally, make sure your food preparation schedule aligns with your overall life goals.

Step 4: Choose Your Recipes

It’s time for the fun part as Homan shares her best tips for figuring out what you’ll prep for the week.

• Select easy recipes. Start with dishes that are simple to make and don’t require a lot of ingredients. You shouldn’t try boeuf bourguignon right now! To make things even simpler, you may also search for dishes that can be prepared in a slow cooker.
• Think about recipes that make use of leftover ingredients. Homan advises, “Consider how you can prepare various foods that can be used with multiple meals.” One day, for instance, you could serve a batch of roasted chicken with sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.
• Change up the ingredients. A range of colors and textures are essential for well-rounded meals because they add interest and a diversity of micronutrients. “Make meals satisfying,” advises Homan.

Having trouble deciding where to begin? There’s no need to start from scratch. Start by looking through our list of 75 nutritious breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal prep ideas. Next, look through cookbooks, read food blogs, and ask friends what their favorite recipes are.

“To get ideas before you go grocery shopping, make a Pinterest board or keep a list of recipes that sound good,” she continues.

Step 5: Make Your Grocery List

You must prepare a grocery list before you go to the supermarket. This is a perfect moment to decide which ingredients you will buy premade and which you will manufacture yourself.

According to Homan, “You don’t have to make everything from scratch.” “You can save time by purchasing a veggie tray, tuna packets, or a rotisserie chicken.” Additionally, keep frozen veggies and berries on hand.

However, some prepared items, such as individually packed foods, are unquestionably worth omitting.

Homan notes, “You can save money by portioning things out yourself instead.” To keep items like salad dressing, trail mixes, and dips like hummus and guacamole, make sure you have tiny containers that are the size of condiments and snacks on available.

Once you’ve made your list, head to the grocery store to grab everything you need for your first foray into meal prepping.

Step 6: Get to Work!

Are you prepared to start working? Play some music or switch on an audiobook or podcast to make your time in the kitchen as pleasurable as possible.

Homan advises “preparing food on an individual basis, such as cleaning and chopping vegetables for the week that can be used in a variety of recipes or as a snack with dip.”

Your meal should be kept in the refrigerator for three to four days after it has been prepared, cooled, and placed in airtight containers.

Bonus Step: Freeze the Extras

Put any leftover portions in the freezer if a recipe makes more food than you can consume in a week (or if you just want to leave yourself some leeway for the future).

When you don’t feel like cooking one day, “that will give you a quick option,” she says.

How to Meal Prep Without Getting Bored

When it comes to meal planning, there are strategies to avoid boredom if you’re cringing at the thought of eating the same thing every day for a week.

First and foremost, Homan advises choosing foods you truly enjoy. This may seem obvious, but it’s crucial enough to be emphasized.

According to Homan, “Consider the meals you like to eat and then try to replicate them at home.”

Simply put, avoid returning to your favorite repeatedly. If you use your favorite recipe too frequently, it can get stale and outdated!

“To keep it interesting, set a weekly challenge for yourself to try one new recipe,” advises Homan. “You can also try adhering to weekly themes, such as Sunday brunch, Taco Tuesday, or Meatless Monday.”

Last but not least, even while meal prep is a fantastic method to eat healthier, you shouldn’t feel pressured to deny yourself small pleasures, particularly if the meals you’re preparing are balanced and generally healthful.

In conclusion, there is no right or wrong way to prepare meals; it’s not all or nothing. Don’t worry about being flawless; just try a few things to see what suits you. Even a small amount of preparation can make a big difference!