In my 31 Day Clean Eating, Meal Planning and Prep series I am sharing some of tips that I found helpful when I was learning to prep myself.
This past February is when I began to meal prep. I was nervous that it was going to be super overwhelming and I would probably screw things up, but it wasn’t.
Instead my time in the kitchen has become less and less making cooking so much easier.
Meal Prep Is Not Boring!
When I first looked into meal prep I thought it has to be the boring chicken, broccoli and rice for every meal.
I soon realized that all meal prep means is being organized and prepared for your week so cooking can be a stress free event.
I have learned a lot and I keep learning because I feel you can always keep improving on how you feed your family.
Make It A Family Affair
I usually meal prep on Sundays and I get my kids involved.
If we have a lot of veggies in recipes during the week I will get my food processor or other kitchen tools and let my kids have fun pressing buttons and using it as a way to teach them as well.
Keep It Simple
You can over think meal prep, but what I have found is if you first sit down and meal plan then you know how much ingredients you will need and what you will need to prep to cook.
When creating snacks use fruit that is easy to throw in containers, boil eggs, and use veggies and hummus as well to create easy meal preparation.
Cut Up and Cook Everything At Once
When I am chopping and cutting I get everything out.
I will chop it all up at one and then prep everything to put into the oven at one time. Sometimes I have so much I have to do stuff in stages, but it saves a lot of time.
Don’t Eat The Same Things
I never eat the same things more than twice and that is usually because what we have for dinner I also have for lunch the next day as a left over.
With kids it is harder to eat the same thing every night and I think that would be boring.
I personally like lots of variety to mix things up and it also helps me use what I have in my pantry and freezers too.
Food Storage Containers
As of right now I do not use the separate black food prep storage containers because I stay home and my kids had food storage containers that came in their lunch boxes.
I suggest having plenty of plastic or glass storage containers on hand because it makes life so much easier when meal prepping and a way to create meals faster.
Remember Why You Started
The reason I started to meal prep was to ensure I fed my family healthy, that I did not eat out on a busy night, and that I always had food on hand for my kids to eat when they were hungry.
Whatever reasons you choose to meal prep know there is no wrong or right way to do it, just do it.
Tomorrow I am going to share with you what a clean eating shopping list looks like so you can start feeding your family healthier and without the stress.
