The Art of an Organized Meal Prep: 5 Tips to Stay on Track
You’ve probably heard of meal prep, but are you taking advantage of all it has to offer? The art of an organized meal prep will not only give you more time back in the day to do other things, but it will also keep you on track to reach your goals. And it should only take a few hours.
Here are some tips and guidelines to properly organize your meal prep, and add productivity to your week.
Meal Prep Tip One: Plan ahead
The most efficient method to a solid meal prep is to not go too crazy with multiple dishes. Keep it simple, and stick to the same food throughout the week. You can always change it up next week. And, by eating the same few dishes throughout the week, the cooking time and the Tupperware packing time is greatly reduced.
Meal Prep Tip Two: Buy enough
When you hit the grocery store, stock up on enough of your planned food to get you through the week. This means if you cook on Sunday afternoons, then you want to cook just the right amount of food to take you through lunch on Sunday.
How does this help?
You aren't over eating, because you don't want to run out of food and have to order in or go back to the store.
You are getting through all of the healthy food you prepared. This way none of it goes to waste.
When the weekend comes, you can't say you have nothing in the house. In fact, you have prepared food for you ready to go. No cheating allowed.
Meal Prep Tip Three: Don't just cook in bulk. Pack in bulk.
Meal prep is not just about cooking in bulk. Sure, bulk cooking is definitely a great start. Plus, it saves time. But, if you stop there then you will still have to worry about packing your lunch every day. And, chances are, you will be short on time one day and end up grabbing an unhealthy snack at work instead. A long time ago, I used to bulk cook on Sundays, and then every night re-pack my lunch. Because I measure my food to track my macros, this process would take me 45 minutes to an hour every night. Think about how much time is lost unloading the refrigerator, pulling out the Tupperware, sorting and measuring food, cleaning up, and so forth! That's roughly 4 1/2 hours during the week. Time I barely had. Think about all the stuff that could be done during that time instead.
Even if it is just unwinding from the day!
Instead, before you put all of the food away and clean up after your bulk cooking, evenly divide out the portions at the same time. The food still holds up, and you don't have to dread re-doing the same monotonous task every day. Plus, by doing all of the division and measuring at once, it takes less than half the time than if you were to do it daily.
Meal Prep Tip Four: Don't only prep and pack cooked food.
Think about the art of an organized meal prep as akin to a 'grab 'n go' concept. Most of us, at least those on a specific meal plan, eat multiple times in a day. That means we are probably snacking on more than the food we just cooked. While you are doing your meal prep, think about everything you eat in a day. Are you going to have almonds? Pre-portion them out in individual Ziplocs and throw them in the fridge. Having some apple slices? As long as you place them in plastic wrap, the pre-sliced apples will hold up. Spending a little money ahead of time to get different types of Tupperware to hold pre-measured salad dressings, creams, and more will save time and money in the long run. Those vending machine visits, when you realize you forgot something or didn't have time to pack everything do add up. On the wallet and the belly. Really, you should easily be able to pull out all of your prepared food for the day, throw it in a cooler and head out the door daily. Grab and go!
Meal Prep Tip 5: Take it a step further
In addition to meal prep for what I will be eating during the week at the office or in the evenings, I prep my morning food as well. I admit, I do this one daily. Mainly because it will take up too much counter space. But also, because it takes almost no time. Each morning when I clean up from breakfast, I re-fill my coffee filters, load up my protein scoops, add my supplements to my coffee mugs, and have everything prepped for me in the morning. Our time is precious, as is our sleep. We don't want to have to get up even earlier, or start running late because we have to start organizing our morning food as well.
In summary:
The truly organized and well-planned meal prep can help you stay on track diet-wise, life-wise, and productivity-wise. They help us stay in control of our diets on the weekends, and give us precious time back during the week.