MEAL PREP LIKE A BOSS

You do a happy dance when you open your refrigerator and see healthy food available to eat and an even a greater feeling when you’re totally worn out or too tired to lift a finger to cook. This is where preparing meals ahead of time plays a big role. It helps you intentionally eat healthier, save time, money, reduces stress, did I say save money? Yes I did. However, it can be overwhelming at times but once time is created for it, the benefits are usually rewarding. Meal prep should not be something you dread. Rather than making multiple trips to the grocery store/market or making last minute decisions on what to prepare or forgetting important ingredients when preparation is already in progress, meal prep helps you solve these issues way ahead of time. I’m sure you have heard the slogan all your life “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” well sorry to burst your bubble but this also applies to healthy eating and fitness.

For many people, meal prep has proven to be the key factor to reaching their fitness goals. The simple reason is the continuous habit of preparing meals ahead prevents you from eating just anything that comes in handy. When one finally gets the hang of it, the results are usually more rewarding and it outweighs the thought stress.

There are a few basic rules to help you prep like a boss.

• First and foremost, pick a day ahead of time.

Pick a day ahead of time and plan towards it. You may want to choose either a Saturday or Sunday, reason being that the weekdays may not be so feasible. However, whichever day suitable for you is fine but ensure to plan ahead. Also depending on the amount of meals to be prepared, doing all the prep on a single day can be too stressful and time consuming. You can result to splitting the meal prep into 2days in such cases.

• Know your numbers.

You should already know exactly how many meals you want to prepare, their caloric content and the number of days you may allocate to cooking, even before thinking of the meal preparation itself. This would enable the ease of shopping and the meal preparation itself.

• Staple items should be of utmost consideration.

Focus on choosing basic and easy-to-cook foods that store well. You may want to choose foods like: Moin-moin and oiless efo riro, Brown rice or ofada rice and Efo riro with fish, cous-cous and veggies with chicken e.t.c. these are just easy examples. Also be sure to use well sealed containers to store them properly.

• Go grocery shopping or to the market.

Once you know your numbers and you’ve made the choice of the foods you want to prepare, the next step is to go grocery shopping or to the market. Ensure to buy all that would be needed for the entire meal prep. It is advisable to shop in bulk as far as they are not perishable and can be properly stored, so that important ingredients will not be deficit when preparation is already in progress. This helps to save money, time and energy.

• Invest in single serving food containers and insulating meal bags.

You will feel like a boss when you open your fully stocked fridge. It is advisable to invest in single serving food containers and insulated meal bags that would enable you grab your meal on the go. Compared to bigger containers, you would have to start dishing out your portion size which is usually stressful, frustrating and time consuming. So save yourself the daily frustration and invest in single serving food containers.

These are the basics for meal prepping like a boss! Time, energy and money are conserved despite yielding the best results.

Culled from The Guardian