Meal prepping is a practice that a lot of people have tried and failed multiple times. It can be something that is tedious, time-consuming, and flat out boring when you eat the same meal all week. Unfortunately, unless you have a personal chef, meal prepping is a key ingredient to accomplish your weight loss goals. Below are three simple tips to help you make meal prepping a part of your weekly routine.
Tip #1: Plan Your Prep
It sounds simple, but this is where a lot of people fail. The old saying that if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail is true. When looking at the weeks ahead on your calendar, you’re going to want to make sure you block out some time on your schedule to actually get your meal prepping done every week. When you put an hour or so into your schedule to meal prep, you are dedicating that time for strictly meal prep. This way, nothing can get in the way, and you can’t use the excuse that you didn’t have time. You also want to take a look at the week ahead, and see what other plans you have. Maybe you are going out to dinner with friends on Friday night, so you know that on Friday you should prep some lower-calorie meals and snacks so that you don’t go over your caloric limit when you are out at night.
Tip #2: Make Prepping Family Time
A great way to make meal prep enjoyable is to turn it into a family event every week. Get your kids and spouse involved with the cooking and prepping. This tactic will not only make it more fun to spend time in the kitchen prepping for the week to come, but it will also give you some quality time with your family, while also teaching them good habits that get the whole family involved.
Tip #3: Large Portions are Key
You don’t have to plan EVERY meal the week, but if you are cooking a healthy dinner one night, make a double portion of it. You are already doing the work to make the meal, so it doesn’t take to much effort to just double the portion. When you are all set and done, you will now have another meal to eat at another point in the week. If you take this approach to all of your healthy meals, meal prepping won’t be as much of a chore. You can also make an extra meal or two each week, and keep them in the freezer for the times where you don’t have time to meal prep. If you have a freezer with a few meals that are already prep, and you can just take them out and defrost them, it will save you a lot of time and energy.
