So…What Is Meal Prep?
Meal prep is a great way to control what you eat. It involves taking time to prepare your food all at once instead of doing it every single day.
When I first started meal prepping, I prepared 2-3 meals each week that could be used as dinner or lunch. That way, I wouldn’t get too tired of eating one meal every day—instead, I’d have a choice. This is also how I structure the meal plans in 30-Day Healthy.
Getting started with meal prep can be as simple as prepping your lunch for the next day or as complex as having every single meal prepped and ready to grab for the next week. It just depends on your time and effort level.
Since you can make everything healthy and nutritious, meal prep is also a helpful way to lose weight faster and easier. Knowing I have tasty food waiting for me in the fridge, ready to heat up, has saved me from many less-than-ideal eating choices.
4 Reasons Why You Should Meal Prep
#1 Ready To Eat Food
The most important benefit of meal prepping is always having something to eat that aligns with your goals.
#2 Just Reheat Your Meal + Go!
Having something delicious in the fridge that you can heat up in 2 minutes is better than ordering or preparing your food from scratch daily.
#3 Save Money On Food
Avoiding buying food out daily will save money on restaurants. Plus, having a plan will prevent you from wasting groceries.
#4 Portion Control
Prepping your meals ahead of time in individual meal prep containers (my faves are listed below here) makes it much easier to adhere to the correct portion sizes. This can be a game changer if you're tracking macros or trying to lose weight.
What I’d Do First
Whether you want to “healthify” the food you and your family eat or feel overwhelmed whenever 5 p.m. rolls around each night, exhausted from the day and dreading walking into the kitchen to see what could be salvaged for dinner, meal prep can help.
And it doesn’t have to take a long time, either.
I recommend carving out a 2-3 hour window of time one day each week to cook your food. The more you focus in that time, the easier the week will be—glorious. That means no cooking the rest of the week, no pots or pans needing to be cleaned, and more time to rest and recover from the day with your tasty meal already prepped.
Recipes To Get Started
When first starting with meal prep, I recommend using meals you’re already comfortable cooking. The last thing you want to do is have your food turn out bad, so you won’t want to eat it. Meal prep should involve food you want to eat and that also aligns with your goals.
Here are 4 of our family’s favorite meal prep recipes:
It’s no surprise that this Healthy Beef and Broccoli recipe is a family favorite. It’s easy to make, absolutely delicious, and ready in just 15 minutes! This Beef and Broccoli is great for meal prep, clean-eating, paleo, and keto-friendly, and easily altered for GF diets.
This salmon is one of my most famous recipes. The spice rub is perfection, making the entire meal delicious. You’ll be amazed at how easily the meal comes together.
This recipe was on repeat when I first started meal prepping. It’s very easy to prep many mason jar salads in advance, making the prep time quick and easy. Plus, the honey mustard dressing is killer.
We love a good taco night in our home. These Quinoa Taco Bowls are packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, and a whole lot of deliciousness - plus they hit the spot for an easy taco night. To serve, we add plain, full-fat greek yogurt and diced avocado, and you can also swap the quinoa for rice if you’d prefer.
Check out my Meal Prep Ideas page on the blog to search over 130 of my meal prep recipes!
Final Words
Meal prep is a helpful tool for keeping me on track. It also helps me save time, energy, and decision fatigue when deciding what to cook.
While the meal prep methods I use have changed since I started 10 years ago, the simple truth remains: Meal Prep helps me set myself up for success.
I am ever so thankful for that. I hope this email helps you, too.
Some of my favorite things this week 🙂
- Quote of the Week → “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out” – Robert Collier
- My Meal Prep Containers → Since we’re on the topic of meal prep, I figured I’d share my favorite meal prep containers with you. I’ve used these glass meal prep containers for years - they’re easy to clean, can be microwaved or frozen, and they’re very durable. For all my meal prep container recommendations, click here.
- Featured A Sweet Pea Chef Recipe → 4-Ingredient Strawberry Frozen Yogurt: If you liked my 1-ingredient banana ice cream recipe and love strawberries, this strawberry froyo is for you. Just four ingredients until you have this creamy strawberry frozen yogurt goodness waiting for you. Get the recipe.
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