If you are like many people, you have such a busy life that making homemade, healthy meals each day is a constant struggle. Instead of just giving in and going through the local drive-thru or ordering pizza three nights a week, why not give meal planning and prepping a try?
Make the decision to make one part of your life easy
-Anonymous
Here are some things to know about each option to help save time and money and prepare healthy meals each day for you and your family.
WHAT IS MEAL PLANNING?
Before starting your meal prep, you need to plan your meals. Naturally, this is what you will focus on with meal planning. Meal planning is just figuring out what meals you will make shortly. It can be as detailed as you want, though the more information you include in your meal scheduling, the better off you will be.
By starting with meal planning, you will know what and how to better meal prep. This is going to help save you time because you aren’t running to the supermarket every day trying to figure out what to get for dinner that night.
You already know the meals for at least a week beforehand. Here is a rundown of how meal planning works, though keep in mind that there is much room for variation.
HOW MANY WEEKS TO PLAN FOR
The first thing you should decide is precisely how much meal planning you want, regarding how many days or weeks to plan ahead of time. This depends on you, and several factors should be considered. Think about how much time you have for meal planning and prepping, how often your family likes to switch up recipes, and realistically what you can spend at the supermarket for planning these meals.
You should also consider your room in your refrigerator and freezer. Planning three weeks is acceptable for the schedule, but you might not be buying food for this long if you don’t have somewhere to put everything.
When you are just starting, try to plan for just one whole week and see how it goes. This should include all meals and snacks your family will eat for that entire week, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts.
It includes meals you will prepare at home with leftovers, lunches your kids will bring to school, and any extra items you need, such as bringing morning tea to work or any other special occasion.
A GOOD WAY TO START MEAL PLANNING
If you’re unsure where to start planning your meals, you can make it easy by taking stock of what is in your kitchen. Take note of everything in your pantry and refrigerator, write it down, and see what meals you can make from those ingredients.
This should be a good start; all you might need are filler ingredients. You may have almost all of the elements you need for homemade base sauce, so you know you can have a meal that uses that base sauce to save money and time.
Once you know everything you already have, start considering the meals your family will be interested in, but don’t forget how each meal will be prepared. If you know you will be pressed for time, try to think of meals you can make ahead of time or that can be made in the slow cooker while you are at work.
HOW TO BE DETAILED IN YOUR MEAL PLANS
Once you have noted some meals you would like to make during the week, try to be as detailed as possible. If you think you will have leftovers from a chicken dinner to have lunch for 2-3 days, note that in the plan!
This helps you reduce how many lunches you need to prepare, which further saves you much time when it comes time to prepare your different meals for the week. After listing the meals, make another list with all the groceries you need to purchase, minus what you already have on hand.
LEAVING ROOM FOR FLEXIBILITY THROUGHOUT THE WEEK
While planning every meal is a great way to save time during the week, there will be some situations where it doesn’t go as well as planned. Make sure you leave some room for flexibility in your meals and meal planning.
For example, you might have a day when you want to go out to dinner because your spouse has a big promotion, and you want to celebrate. Don’t hesitate to celebrate just because you planned to make Pad Thai with Cauliflower Rice that night. Just readjust your schedule and make it another night. Meal planning is meant to simplify the process, not restrict yourself too much.
INCLUDE LEFTOVERS IN YOUR PLAN
Always think about leftovers or using certain ingredients in your meal planning that can be used for multiple meals. If you know you want to make chicken and super greens and are going to buy a pack of chicken breasts, buy more than you need and freeze them. This lets you have enough chicken for that meal and chicken soup, salads, a traybake, or other dinner ideas. You will save money and time by having the extra chicken on hand.
HOW IS MEAL PREPPING DIFFERENT?
Meal planning and meal prepping are often confused, but these are two entirely different things. With meal planning, you decide what the future meals will be. When you meal prep, you buy those ingredients, then start getting certain aspects of the meal prepared so that minimal needs to be done each day when the cooking time arrives.
TYPES OF MEAL PREPPING
There are two essential elements to preparing meals ahead of time: chopping vegetables and putting ingredients into containers. Second, cooking some aspects of the meal and freezing them. You can do one or both of these options depending on how much time you think you will have. Some people do the prep work, such as getting all their veggies chopped up, dry ingredients, like quinoa, measured, and snacks into portion baggies to be used during the week. Others cook the casseroles and chicken and then freeze them, so dinner involves popping them in the oven. I’m a big fan of making base sauces that work in several meals. And also cook my high-protein breakfast loaves on a Sunday evening in readiness for the week ahead.
CONTAINERS TO USE
When you are planning on prepping meals, you need to be careful with the types of containers you use. These containers are not just storing the ingredients and cooked food items but are meant to keep them fresh in the refrigerator or freezer for an extended period. Here are some recommendations for food storage containers:
CHOOSE CONTAINERS WITH AIRTIGHT LIDS
Make sure that your containers keep the food fresh with airtight lids. If you intend to use Tupperware-type containers, try filling them with water, then turn them upside down and make sure no water leaks. This is an excellent way to tell how fresh your food will be in the containers.
TRY STORING ITEMS IN OLD JARS
Old jars are perfect for storing specific items and meals. For example, if you like to take a salad to work, try putting each day’s salad in a separate jar. Choose the wide-mouth jars and add the dressing and denser items at the bottom. The greens should always be at the top, so they don’t get wilted or weighed down.
BE CAREFUL WITH PLASTIC STORAGE ITEMS
Plastic is acceptable, but you should know what type of plastic you use. Ensure it is a refrigerator, freezer, microwave, and dishwasher-safe first. Also, check that the plastic containers don’t have any BPA, which can be dangerous when adding or cooking food in these containers.
CONSIDER CASSEROLE DISHES THAT WORK FOR BAKING AND STORAGE.
You want to use multi-purpose casserole dishes when cooking bigger meals ahead of time just to be reheated each evening. Use glass dishes that you use for baking, but that can also be used for storing them in the freezer. Just make sure you leave them out at room temperature after cooking to cool down before freezing them, or they might crack.
TIPS FOR MEAL PREPPING
As you start meal prepping, there are some other things you need to keep in mind. Follow these simple tips for ahead-of-time tips after you are done with meal planning:
- Cook all your lunchtime protein, e.g. shredded chicken, boiled eggs or strips of beef, at once.
- Label every container, so you know when to use it. I keep a roll of masking tape in the kitchen drawer and a permanent maker to make quick, inexpensive labels.
- Note what prepping needs to be done for leftovers.
- Use ingredients that can be prepped for multiple meals.
- Get freezer bags together with ingredients that will go in the slow cooker.
MEAL IDEAS FOR PREPPING
Now that we’ve covered the basics of planning and preparing, here are some meal ideas that work perfectly with meal planning and prepping.
PUT TOGETHER DIFFERENT OVERNIGHT OATS OR CHIA JARS
To prepare some healthy breakfasts, add overnight oats (Chia if you prefer a lower carb option) to multiple jars, one for each day of the week. In addition to the oats or Chia, you can add different toppings for each day. Some toppings include cinnamon, frozen berries, slivered almonds or other nuts, grated apple or fresh fruit and muesli.
ROAST YOUR VEGETABLES BEFOREHAND
To get vegetables ready for lunches and dinners throughout the week, spend one day roasting all the vegetables at one time. Choose vegetables with about the same cooking time, roast them together, then place in containers and freeze them.
USE A VEGETABLE SPIRALISER INSTEAD OF PASTA
To make healthy, low-carb meals and meal prep simultaneously, consider using a vegetable spiraliser. This takes vegetables like zucchini and squash and creates pasta out of them. Spiralise your veggies on a Sunday, then save them for the week’s ‘pasta’ meals.
BAKE ALL OF YOUR MEAT FOR LUNCHES, THEN FREEZE PORTIONS FOR EACH MEAL
Decide what protein you want for lunchtime, then bake or cook it all simultaneously. Do this in the oven or your slow cooker—meat like chicken breasts, fish filets, and steak strips work great.
KEEP SALAD, VEGGIES, AND TOPPINGS IN ONE CONTAINER
For your salads, you can make it faster to put them together by putting all the greens and vegetables together in containers. Keep all your greens in one big container and all the chopped veggies and other toppings in another container.
IN SUMMARY
With these tips, you will be on your way to meal planning and prepping. This will save you a lot of time, not to mention help you make healthier meals for your family.
Sharon is a New Zealand-qualified Health & Wellness Coach and Personal Trainer. Sharon was awarded the Health & Wellness Coach of the Year 2022 by The Health Coaches Australia & New Zealand Association.
She focuses on you as a whole person, mind, and body. And understands how your physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and social dimensions play an essential role in your life and wellness. Using powerful Coaching techniques, evidence-based Lifestyle Medicine practices and Personal Training, her approach guarantees you’ll gain greater health, more resiliency, a stronger body, and next-level support.
From individual coaching and personal training to team training and workshops, Sharon is passionate about helping more people to find fun, creative ways to be and stay -healthy.
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