Scroll through the #mealprep feed and you’ll see rows of tupperware neatly lined up with perfectly portioned out meals, ready to be stored and consumed over the next week.
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Goals? Maybe. Practical? Not always.
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I lived this life once. I would spend hours every Sunday, cooking 4-5 different dishes for my meals that week. Sometimes it was fun, but as responsibilities started picking up and performance goals became less important, meal prepping just became more of a burden.
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How many of you feel me on this?
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Here are some tips to help you meal prep without meal prepping:
1. PREP COMPONENTS, NOT MEALS
Prepping full meals can be cumbersome. And you’ll probably get bored after day 3…
Prepping your raw ingredients or components of your meals instead of a full dish means you can pick & choose what you want to eat on the day, while saving you time in the kitchen. This can include:
– Washing and cutting raw veg and fruit
– Batch cooking proteins with simple seasonings so you can add flavour with sauces later (see below)
– Pre-cooking grains like rice or quinoa to use as meal bases
2. YOU DON’T HAVE TO MAKE EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH
If you’re one of the lucky ones that can find prepped ingredients in the grocery store like chopped veggies, salad mixes, and microwavable meals (check for quality!), this can be a huge time saver. Also, there’s nothing wrong with getting cooked proteins like rotisserie chicken, deli meats, and canned fish which you can quickly throw into your meals.
3. BATCH & STASH SAUCES AND DRESSINGS
Pick a few recipes of your favourite sauces/dressings, make a big batch and store in the freezer for later. By having these different toppings on hand, you’re unlikely to get bored as you can literally build a different meal each day. Pro-tip: portion out into ice cube trays and defrost when needed!
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Grab a cute container, mix & match from your fridge buffet style, and you’ve got your meal ready in minutes!
The Nourished Co. 