Summary: Are you wanting to eat healthier but are having a hard time? Use these 10 meal prep tips to help you stay on track even with your busy life and career.
Eating healthy when you live a busy lifestyle can be pretty difficult, but it’s 100% possible if you prepare ahead of time and use a few special tips and tricks to make things quicker and easier. If you’re a busy professional who wants to try meal planning to make your week simpler and be able to eat healthier, here are ten essential meal prep tips for you:
- Make a plan. See what you already have in your fridge, choose some simple recipes that you can make during the weekend, and then pick out what you’ll want to have for snacks to keep at your desk.
- Keep snacks simple. You’re usually busy and on the go during the day, so it’s key to keep snacks simple. Try to avoid packaged goods and choose things like hard boiled eggs, fruit and nuts. However, if you want to have some bars to grab quickly, make sure the ingredients are all things you recognize and could find on your own in the store.
- Stick to your grocery list. It can be tempting to wander through the grocery store and just pick up whatever looks good, but you picked out those recipes for a reason. Stick to your list and you’ll get home knowing you didn’t spend extra money and you’ve set yourself up for success.
- Cook everything at once. Pick a time during the weekend that you can cook your meals and make your snacks. Just an hour or two during the weekend will keep you from spending time every single evening making dinner or making your lunch for the next day. It also helps you to avoid that morning scramble when you don’t know what to bring that day.
- Batch cook your food. Make a large batch of everything so you don’t run out of food. Roast several sweet potatoes, make a big pot of quinoa or rice, cook a lot of chicken all at once, etc. This will keep you from turning on your oven every day of the week and make meal prep that much faster.
- Use shortcuts. Pre-chop your veggies for snacks or meals later on during the week or put your chicken in a baggie to marinate ahead of time. Getting those little things done on the weekend can save you a lot of time and cleaning during the week.
- Use your crockpot. The crockpot is a magical appliance that can make your life so much easier. Make a big batch of pulled chicken, soup or oatmeal for breakfasts with very little time and effort.
- Pack your food ahead of time. Do this either the night before or portion out your food and put it in Tupperware for each lunch on Sunday. This will make it so easy in the morning to grab your lunch and head out the door.
- Change things up. Every week, change up at least one recipe. This will keep you from getting bored and skipping out on eating your planned meals. Also consider making several lunch and dinner options during the week, or planning to eat dinner leftovers for lunch. Try simple things like making the same dish but switching out the protein or vegetable.
- Keep your “why” in mind. Sometimes you’ll just want to skip the meal planning and grab takeout or fast food. It is during those moments that you need to remember why you did all this work in the first place. How do you want to feel at the end of the day? Why are you choosing a healthy lifestyle? Keep these things in mind when you have a tough moment.