Meal Prep Ideas – With the outrageous and scary increase in the rate of obesity, cardiovascular illness, diabetes, hypertension, and other similar ailments, many people around the globe are gradually keeping to healthy eating habits.
But, how easy can it be to avoid eating out and ditching processed foods? Not so easy! But with some fantastic meal prep ideas, you can have your healthy homemade at the tip of your fingers.
To start with, do you know what meal prepping is all about? Meal Prepping is preparing some of your meals ahead of time. So, you can make and store all the food that will last as long as a week.
It is a straightforward thing to do. All you need to do is to get ready for some serious cooking just once weekly. It could be during the weekend or when you have a day-off.
If you are always on a busy schedule just like me, meal prepping is a good shot you should try. It makes eating well a lot easier than you would ever imagine. And Yes! Don’t think the meal prep ideas in this post are for the busy folks.
If you want to save the time spent in the kitchen, save the cost of eating out, and keep a healthy diet, meal prepping will make all that possible.
So, how do you go about preparing your food ahead of time? Don’t forget; we have to get what you could eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week.
How easy could this be? Is that what you think? Don’t panic; you will find it easy. You can have these tips for meal prep to get your mind ready for the task ahead.
Read Also: 10 Beyond Delicious Easy Vegan Recipes That’ll Actually Fill You Up
Tips to Get Started for Meal Prepping
If you are planning to give a meal prepping a try, these few tips will be of help. But before I give you a list of some of the dos and don’ts, let me make something clear.
If you are not a fan of bulk shopping, you have to start cultivating some interest. Or better still, you could be lucky to get someone to do the shopping for you.
- Don’t start meal prepping with new recipes you’ve never tried before. You don’t want to have your storage cups filled with a fresh meal you probably won’t like. So, please, stick to the healthy meal recipes you love to eat.
- Always learn to plan. How do you do this? You have to pick a day to prepare all your meals for the week. You might love to use Sunday because you could be lucky to have some people around at home to work. Plus, you’re off work, and you don’t have to think about the kids going to school.
- When you have a convenient day for your meal prepping, what is next? The meals! You have to decide what to cook for “safe-keeping.” Get a notepad and jot some of your favorite meal prep ideas for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
- Oh, Yes! This is a point I must not fail to add. Your storage containers have to be the best. You don’t want to finish up with the stress of making all your meals only for them to get stale because of inadequate storage. Always ensure that you get containers that are freezer safe, dishwasher safe, microwavable, stackable, and reusable.
- You are going to have a lot to prepare to cook. But to shorten the time spent in the kitchen, being able to multitask could help, Try to make two or more sets of meals in the oven at the same time.
- Always make a shopping list. Make sure you write a list of all the ingredients you will need for the cooking. This will help you keep your budget and ensure that you don’t forget anything.
- Finally, for music lovers, a music box playing your favorite tracks at the corner of the kitchen can make you forget how busy you are. It makes cooking fun for me. If you are not a fan of music, having someone to gist with while meal prepping is a good one too.
Of what use are the tips above if you don’t know the suitable meals for meal prep? That is why I have rounded up some easy-to-make meal prep ideas for your healthy eating convenience. And guess what? They are recipes on a budget.
You do not need a fat bank account to have your meal prep done with any of these.
8 Healthy Meal Prep Ideas On A Budget
Are you ready to have some inspirational ideas for your meal prepping? Let’s get into it!
1. Oatmeal in Jars
A bowl of oatmeal seems to be one of the easy breakfast options for many. But it could be easier. Instead of brainstorming every morning about the toppings to use, you could prepare all that beforehand.
All you need is to have some customized mason jar and fill them with healthy oatmeal and different toppings. Place the jars in the freezer and pick any one of your choices when you’re ready to have breakfast.
2. Smoothie Freezer Packs
More than just a snack option, some people love to make smoothies for breakfast too. Well, it is a good pick because smoothie recipes could be super filling.
You know it is not healthy to whip up just any quantity of fruits and veggies for your smoothies. Prepping your smoothie ingredients before time can save you the stress and time to spend on measuring and scaling ingredients.
All you need to do is measure, cut, and place your favorite smoothie ingredients in a ziplock bag and arrange them in the freezer. For your early morning smoothie treats, blend the ingredients with milk or water.
3. Coconut Cilantro Tilapia
This meal prep idea is an excellent pick for lunch or dinner. You can prepare in clear stackable containers to keep in the freezer.
As a meal on the budget, you need just some coconut cilantro tilapia, carrots, peas, and a variety of spice and herbs. And yes! It can last as long as a week. You can decide to keep up to three servings.
4. Mason Jar Salad
Do you know it is safe to take a make-ahead salad to work than eat donuts and pizzas?
Prep time for this, mason jar salad is less than 30 minutes. Keep your fridge buoyant and flourishing with tasty-looking jars of salad for the week. You won’t have to brainstorm too much to make a pick and fill your stomach.
5. Variety Chicken Seasoning
Meal preppers get bored repeating the same taste of chicken all week long. But the thought of cooking varieties of chicken soup could stress you out already.
So what do you do? You can prepare two or even three variations of chicken all at once. How? Get aluminum foil dividers and place in pan to cook all at once.
6. Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls
Having my sesame chicken with rice, broccoli, and asparagus as dinner is now less hectic. I don’t have to spend more time in the kitchen after a busy day to have healthy food on the table for dinner.
All I do is get my packed meal from the freezer and set it in the microwave. And Boom! My dinner is set in a twinkling of an eye. What could be more satisfying than ending your day with a good meal?
Only some meal prep ideas could set you on that path.
7. Fruit Salad Prep
Do you always wait till the time you want to have your fruit salads before you start chopping your fruits?
If yes, meal prepping would make things a lot easier and fun. I love to buy different fresh fruits on the weekend to cut in my fruit salad jars. Guess what the fun part is! I can have up to 5 jars of fruit salad containing different fruits.
So, I have the honors of having a pick of the flavor I crave at any time. I love this idea so much because it saves me the time, the cost, and the stress of chopping fruits all the time.
Sitting in your fridge, you can have jars of healthy, colorful fruit salad ready to go when you need it.
8. Healthy Cookies
Let’s not forget that low-carb snacks are part of the safe options we can incorporate into our diet. So, while meal prepping for the week, you can also batch-make some delicious treats for the week.
Making some peanut butter oatmeal cookies with no sugar is just perfect. There are numerous other healthy snack recipes you can keep for a week.
Conclusion
Making a healthy eating a habit may get you stressed out if you have to cook each meal every time. And that option is not up for busy folks. Meal prepping makes cooking 100% smooth and also less tiring.
Though you get to do all the work in a day, the rest of the week would be a jolly ride for you. So, are you ready to try out some meal prep ideas this week? Common! Just do it! And gives us feedback. I’m sure you’d love it.
