3 Tips for Quick, Easy Meal Prepping
For whatever the reason may be, some people don’t have several hours on Sunday afternoon to craft healthy, Pinterest-worthy lunches for the work week. Some of us are just trying to not eat out for lunch every day because we want to fit in our jeans! Meal prepping your food doesn’t have to be difficult, it doesn’t have to be expensive, and it surely doesn’t have to consume half of your Sunday! Here are my 3 fast tips for quick, easy meal prepping.
1. Don’t Prep for the Entire Workweek
When I first began meal prepping I would spend a couple of hours portioning, cooking, and then re-portioning the now-cooked food for all 5 work day lunches. I would get to about Thursday and be sick of eating the same meal and/or the meat wouldn’t be fresh anymore. This would lead me to throw away those last couple of meals and go out to eat for lunch; I was literally throwing money and time I spent into the garbage!
Now I usually prep 2 or 3 days at a time. I like usually prepping for 2 days because if someone invites me to a meeting over lunch, I can push one of those meals to the next work day and they will still be fresh. Meal prepping once on Sunday and once on Wednesday helps me balance the time it takes to prep and portion my food between two days so it isn’t as tedious.
2. Don’t be Afraid of Frozen or Packaged Foods
When healthy eating comes to mind, I’m sure the first few things that pop into your head do not involve anything frozen. Fresh foods are always a great choice, but when you’re in a pinch for time – or money – I think frozen and packaged items can be a great option. I always have frozen vegetables in my freezer when I need a quick side dish. On weekends where I have little time to meal prep, I take a bag of frozen peas and stick it in the work freezer, only heating a portion of it each day.
When I am looking for protein but don’t have time to thaw or cook some steak/chicken, I buy fully-cooked chicken sausages. I like to sear them on the stovetop in a pan, but if I am in a time crunch I just microwave them at work!
Other frozen and packaged foods I always keep on-hand in my kitchen for busy weeks include: frozen fruit for smoothies, pre-packaged instant oatmeal, canned beans (kidney, black, re-fried), pasta sauce in a jar, and microwavable packs of rice and pasta. If you still want to eat fresh food, I think fresh, pre-cut vegetables are a great way to save time during meal prepping.
3. Plan Meals Without Meat
One of my biggest cop-outs used to be that I didn’t have enough time to cook meat on Sunday before my workweek started. I kept forgetting to thaw my frozen chicken breasts or I would just get home from a fun weekend too late, so I started looking into meatless lunches that were a lot quicker to prepare. There are a ton of options out there!
I was recently in the same predicament, so I made a Caesar salad with no chicken. I put enough veggies to make it taste flavorful and filling, croutons, caesar dressing and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Last weekend I bought mini potatoes and and pre-cut brussel sprouts for another quick, meatless meal. I sprinkled them with olive oil, garlic and parmesan and baked them in the oven on a sheet pan. I didn’t even miss the chicken I would have normally eaten, and I made sure that my snacks and dinner compensated for the lack of protein in my lunch!
Yes, it would be ideal to prep grilled chicken, sweet potato and broccoli to eat everyday because that is undoubtedly healthy. And if that is what you like and what you want, good for you! But to be honest with you, I would rather eat cardboard than eat that meal 5 days a week. I also don’t want my Sunday revolving around what I now have to eat for the next 5 days. I want my Sunday to be filled with family and fun, and I want my lunch options to be flexible and tasty. These tips helped me achieve that!
