I usually want to chill during the weekend. After a long and sometimes stressful week, the last thing I want to do is chores or not fun stuff. But it turns out that a little planning and a couple of hours of work on Saturday can make the rest of your week easier, healthier and cheaper. If you have never heard of meal prepping then you and I don’t access the same Pinterest boards or follow the same Instagram accounts because for some people this is an actual lifestyle. You can find advice from busy moms, “do you even lift” bros and broke millennials. Personally I just think of it as a smart life simplifying hack.

Instead of cooking every day, preppers will cook large batches of food, pack them in individual serving containers and stock their fridge and freezer. You can prep breakfast, lunch, dinner or any combination of these. You can even prep snack bags or boxes. It is a huge timesaver because for some magical reason cooking one meal or seven usually takes the same amount of time. There’s also a money saving element involved, because you are less likely to order take out if your lunch is already taken care of. And it can be cheaper to buy in bulk compared to buying smaller amounts of your fresh ingredients.

How you actually do it will vary depending on your dietary and lifestyle needs. If your end goal is to eat more protein rich lunches at the office before you hit the gym then you will probably be oven baking a lot of chicken. If your goal is to feed a hungry family of four at home, without needing to cook every day then your focus will be on finding good casseroles or dishes that freeze well.

Regardless of what you will be prepping, you do need to plan ahead properly. Give me the right checklist and I might be able to conquer the world.

Shopping

I prefer buying my fresh produce the day before I do the bulk of the cooking. It is less exhausting and I have enough time to rethink my strategy if I wasn’t able to find all of the ingredients I needed. I also make sure that I have all the spices, herbs and tools I might need.

Cooking

I have a small dry-erase board mounted in my kitchen where I will list the tasks I need to take care of in order. Because my kitchen is small and I don’t have a sous chef, I need to be as organized and efficient as possible. For example if I am planning to make meatballs and grilled chicken. I might start with marinating the chicken, making the meatball mix, putting the chicken in the oven, making the meatballs and finally once the chicken is done adding the meatballs to the oven. Before you start a task make sure that all of your ingredients and tools are laid out and accessible, and once you are done wash the dishes and tidy up. Think of it as micro Mise-en-place which will help you strategize better and save time without getting overwhelmed.

Storing the goodies

Properly packing the cooked meals can make or break this whole thing. If your food goes bad or ends up tasting stale then the whole endeavour is a failure. Airtight containers will keep everything fresh and tasting great. I prefer single portion sized boxes that easily stack on top of each other. You can also label the meals with a dry erase marker, don’t forget to add the date too.

Enjoy!

All you have to do now is to remember to grab your lunch on your way out. If your commute is long or you don’t have a fridge at the office, invest in an insulated bag to keep your meals fresh. Bon appetit!

Photo by Gareth Hubbard on Unsplash.