Meal prepping for yourself can be time-consuming, stressful, and sometimes even expensive - here are my top 3 tips for making the process smoother.
One of the most frustrating things about meal prep is the time. It can seem like an overwhelming task, and in some cases it definitely is. Another issue people have with meal prep is cooking all of their food for the week - doesn’t it go bad?
Here are my tips for making meal prep easier, more doable, and how to maintain fresh food throughout the week.
TIP 1: HAVE TWO COOKING DAYS, RATHER THAN ONE.
Cooking everything in one day can get pretty overwhelming! I know this, I've been there.
You have all of your burners going, no counter space, and you can lose a pretty big chunk of your day. Cooking 2 days not only cuts down on the time and the stress, but also ensures your food stays fresh.
I cook for most clients on Sundays and Wednesdays. This way, they have a couple days worth of meals, and their meals are fresh all week long.
TIP 2: PORTION OUT + MARINATE YOUR PROTEINS
Another step that makes things easier (and tastier) is portioning out the proteins and marinating them the night before. This gives them extra time to soak up all of the flavors and all you have to do is pop them onto the grill or skillet and you’re good to go! Don’t forget to bring all of your meats to room temperature before cooking. This ensures that it’s tender and gets cooked evenly without the outside getting tough.
TIP 3: STREAMLINE YOUR MEALS!
Mixing and matching meals is fun, but it’s a lot of work, costs more money, and burns you out. If you’re meal prepping, try to utilize the same ingredients to make different meals. For instance, if you buy skirt steak - make Hoison garlic skirt steak for your lunches on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and make a Chipotle skirt steak stir fry for your dinners on Thursday and Friday.
This way you still get a variety of foods, and you can easily switch up the side dishes - but you won’t be pulling your hair out making 3 different meals for every day of the week. I find a lot of meal planning guides out there that do that - and it’s even chaotic for me!
BONUS TIP - ORGANIZE YOUR SHOPPING LIST
Having your shopping list nice and organized makes the day of shopping much, much smoother. I separate my list into categories - proteins, pantry, and produce. That way, I get everything I need from one section at a time and don't end up running back and forth because I forgot something.
So there you go! That’s how I make my prepping easier.