How to Make Meal Prep Easier
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Struggling to make meal prep and meal planning work for your family? Here are some tips on how to make meal prep easier!
How to Make Meal Prep Easier
I truly enjoy cooking healthy and delicious meals for my family, but sometimes life happens, and I do not have enough time to prepare anything.
Meal prepping is an excellent way to save time and eat healthier meals with the family. But it can be difficult to get started, especially if you’re new to it. In today’s blog post, I’m sharing some top tips to make meal prep easier and more enjoyable.
What exactly is meal prepping?
Meal prepping or meal preparation involves preparing entire meals, dishes, or key dish ingredients ahead of time. This is usually done in bulk (between 3-7 days worth of food) to have access to quick and instant meals anytime.
Tips on How to Make Meal Prep Easier
Making meals ahead of time isn’t new to me; I’ve shared some Make-Ahead Meals and Frugal Meal Planning tips in the past. Here are more tips to help you make the most out of meal prepping.
- Plan your meals in advance. In order to prep meals, you also have to plan in advance. This will ensure that you have all of the ingredients you need and don’t waste time cooking meals that you don’t end up eating.
- Cook in bulk. This will save you time in the long run, and it might also help you save money on groceries. Tip: You can always double whatever you’re making and freeze the leftovers. I talked more about this here: Large Batch Cooking.
- Use simple recipes. The simpler the recipe, the better and easier it is to follow. There’s no need to complicate things when it comes to meal prepping.
- Minimize your meal prep time. If you want to minimize your prep time, you may chop vegetables ahead of time or use pre-cooked ingredients.
- Store your meals properly. Make sure that you store your meals in airtight containers and label them with the date so that you know when they were made.
Dealing with Pain Points When It Comes to Meal Prep
Here are a few tips for dealing with some of the common pain points of meal prepping.
- Lack of Time: One of the biggest pain points of meal prepping is finding the time to do it. Many people struggle to find the time to cook and prepare meals in advance, especially if they have a busy schedule. To give you some insights, read “Why We Fail at Meal Planning.”
- Limited Storage Space: Another pain point of meal prepping is finding enough space to store prepped meals. This can be especially challenging for those who live in small apartments or homes with limited storage space.
Tip: I find that using stackable containers and bins is a great solution, not just for storing meals but for general storage.
- Boredom with Meals: Meal prepping can become monotonous if the same meals are prepared week after week. This can lead to boredom with meals and a lack of variety in the diet. My suggestion? Try new recipes every now and then, or mix and match various ingredients.
- Food Spoilage: Meal prepping requires planning and organization to ensure that food doesn’t spoil before it’s consumed. This can be a challenge for those who are new to meal prepping or who are not familiar with proper food storage techniques.
- Cost of Ingredients: Meal prepping can be expensive, especially if high-quality ingredients are used. This can be a pain point for those who are on a tight budget or who are trying to save money on groceries..
Tip: Growing your own vegetables and herbs (if you have the necessary space and tools) is such a wonderful way to save money on ingredients.
Despite the popularity of meal prep, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every family has a different meal-planning style, so what works for my family might not work for yours. Make sure you take time to figure out the best meal prep style and schedule that works well for you and your family. If you’re still unsure how to start meal prepping, check out my Meal Planning Made Simple e-book below.
Have you been wanting to get started with meal planning, but you aren’t sure where to begin? I want to help you!
I’ve you’ve been thinking that meal planning is all about a written-in-stone plan each and every week, you couldn’t be more wrong! Meal Planning Made Simple will help you explore the 3 main types of meal planning so that you can pick one that will work for your family and your lifestyle.
Not only will this e-book help you figure out your meal-planning style, but it will also show you how to have a successful baking day, how to avoid common meal-planning pitfalls and much more.
PLUS, you will find ten different printables within the e-book to help you make your meal planning even more effective! Get your copy here.
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How do you make meal planning and meal prepping easier on yourself? Leave a comment below!
Merissa Alink
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
This blog post on How to Make Meal Prep Easier was originally posted on Little House Living in February 2024.
