Over the past year and a half, those of us who have been working from home have become accustomed to a lunch break in our very own kitchen. This work-from-home setting has made healthy lunches easier than ever. If you are being called back into the office, you may have found yourself searching for ways to keep your healthy eating on track. Meal planning can be a helpful way to stay committed to your goals while juggling a more complicated schedule. Check out these six tips to master meal prepping.
Tip 1: Find Your Recipes
Use cookbooks, blogs, or Pinterest to find recipes. Aim to find recipes with ingredients that overlap or get creative with adjusting the recipes yourself. For example, it’s much easier to cook a big batch of quinoa than cooking quinoa, brown rice, and pasta in one week. Not only will this save you time when meal prepping, but it will also save your money when grocery shopping.
Tip 2: Take Inventory
What do you already have? Don’t forget to take inventory of your pantry, fridge, and freezer. This can help you avoid spending money on duplicate ingredients or let fresh produce that you already have go to waste. Bonus – meal prepping can reduce your weekly food budget!
Tip 3: Create the Grocery List
Make a grocery list of everything you’ll need. If you’re familiar with the grocery store, try organizing it by the path you usually take in the store. If not, then write it out by the food group! Be as specific as possible with amounts so you end up with the right quantity. No time to shop? No problem. Grocery delivery companies, whether local from your store or via an app like Shipt or Instacart, are ready to do the shopping for you!
Tip 4: Stock Up On Reusable Containers
An essential tool for meal prep is containers. We recommended purchasing glass containers as they last longer and can usually be heated or frozen. Consider purchasing multiple shapes and sizes. With these containers, you can even pre-portion meals into individual servings that are ready to grab quickly as you head out the door.
Tip 5: Invest in Time-Saving Tools
Large baking sheets are a must for roasting vegetables, baking protein, or following “easy sheet pan meals”. In addition, there are several small appliances that may make your meal prepping easier, including pressure cookers, rice cookers, slow cookers, air fryers, food processors, blenders, and toaster ovens. While you likely don’t need them all, it’s worth asking around or doing some research to see which one (if any) you might want to purchase.
Tip 6: Freeze or Repurpose Leftovers
The reality is that sometimes our plans don’t go as planned – maybe you got invited to a working lunch, you forgot your lunch at home (been there!), or it just doesn’t sound so appealing come Thursday. Rather than let it go to waste, simply transfer the uneaten, pre-portioned meal to the freezer. If the meal can’t be frozen, try adding additional herbs, sauces, spices, or ingredients to repurpose it into another meal that might be more appetizing!
Where do you find your recipes? We’d love to hear – share those resources and any meal prepping tips below.
Edited by: Anna Smith, MS, RDN, LDN
Lose It! Team
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