Tips on Meal Planning and Prepping

Tips on meal planning and prepping.

1. Get inspired.  Pinterest is a great resource for recipes and doubles as a place to store your collection.
2. Keep it simple.  Too many fancy recipes can be hard to keep track of and gets costly.  Pick one meal per day to be more elaborate and then keep the rest of it easy-peasy. (I usually save more lavish recipes for dinner.
3. Don’t forget to plan your snacks!  Having snacks already prepared and portioned out will ensure you stay on track, especially when you’re on the go.
4. Make a list.  Look at the recipes you have decided to use and make a shopping list of the ingredients.
5. Create a schedule. Plan your grocery trips our meal prepping time.  Put it on your schedule as if it were any other important appointment.  
6. Prep food as soon as you get home from the store.  Wash produce, chop veggies, brown meats, and assemble salads.  You will thank your past-self for this later, trust me. 
7. Prep meal components.  Instead of cooking full meals, prep foods that can be used in several different meals.
8. Plan for leftovers. Make a little extra during dinner and take it for lunch the next day.  
9. Cook extra.  If prepping all of your food at once doesn’t work for you, than cook extra of the things you will need later in the week.  For example, when cooking your chicken breast for dinner, cook a few extra to eat later in the week. 
10. Start freezing.  Make double batches of crock pot meals, sauces, soups, etc. and reward yourself for your preparedness in a month. 
11. Keep a list of what’s in your fridge.  A visual reminder will help prevent meals and items from being forgotten and spoiled. 
12. Stock up on good storage.  Invest in quality storage containers.  Glass containers are best, especially for reheating.  Save the cheap, disposable plastics for items you don’t need to heat in the microwave.  
13. Do whatever works best for you.  Just make sure to have some sort of plan set.  Planning and then implementing that plan (prepping) is NECESSARY.  The people who fall off track with the eating plan are those who try to wing it. STAY PREPARED!