Drop the stress of wondering what you’re going to eat tonight. Imagine coming home from a long day of work, taking a shower, and popping a fresh dinner into the microwave. You didn’t think life could be so simple, did you? Well, it can be!
I’ve always put off the idea of meal prepping because I thought it would take up too much of my time. After almost two months of successful meal prepping — I found that I got back time, it has helped maintain weight loss and it’s cost-effective.
Get back time.
Planning ahead saves time (even when working from home). Utilizing these efficient tips will give you back a handful of hours throughout the week:
- Choose your recipes and purchase the ingredients ahead of time.
- Prepare entire meals and divide them into portioned containers — so you can spend less time in the kitchen throughout the week washing pots, pans and dishes.
- Simple dishes like soups and chilis are easy to make and can easily pair with any grain (brown rice and simply cornbread are my go-to’s).
Helps manage your weight and maintain weight loss.
With meal prep, I was able to see which important nutrients were missing from my plate. My meals were missing a lot of fruit, vegetables, and protein. I went from having one to three servings of each group to now about five to six servings a day. Weight loss can be tricky if you have bad habits of overeating. With meal preparation you:
- Portion sizes.
- Create a better relationship with food.
- Reduce the stress that comes along with trying to eat healthier.
Save money.
If you’re anything like me, you’re easily tempted to eat out. In my household, we used to eat out twice during the week simply because we did not have the time to cook every night.
Now we:
- Reclaimed our time by cooking only on Sundays for two to three hours.
- Eat less take out.
- Have leftovers to use for different meals and waste less food.
Creating a healthy relationship with food can be tricky. Meal prep is definitely a step in the right direction and has helped me incredibly with my weight loss journey. Again, it’s only been about two months but I am the happiest I’ve been about my food journey since the pandemic started and I am finally seeing the combined benefits of meal prep and exercising 5 days a week.
Meal prep can be delicious and fun, you just have to consider what works for your needs and choose options that you look forward to. Your body needs nutrients, nourish it!
