Trying to eat healthier? Weekly meal preparation is the key to your success. A study from The American Journal of Preventative Medicine found that spending time preparing and cooking meals at home is linked to better dietary habits overall. But between family activities, a career, social obligations, and more, it can be difficult to find the time to cook every meal at home. This is where planning and preparing meals ahead of time can be a major lifesaver. Instead of having to create dinner from scratch or run by the deli on your lunch break, you can pull a ready-to-cook meal from the freezer or throw together a salad in seconds. Plus, there are a ton of fast and easy tricks you can use when preparing a week’s worth of food to save money and reduce waste. Here are some of our favorite Sunday meal prep tricks.
Tip: Chop Raw Veggies in Advance
All those vegetables bought with the best of intentions will go to waste if they aren’t eaten, but when you need a snack right away and the vegetables still need to be chopped, it can be tempting to pick something more accessible. Prevent this by cutting up the carrots, celery, peppers, and whatever other veggies you fancy. Chop them into bits for salads or larger pieces for snacking and then store them in Tupperware or sandwich bags for easy grab-and-go snack options.
Tip: Pre-assemble Smoothies
Save time and measure your portions by preparing smoothies ingredients ahead of time. You can use muffin tin to create individual frozen chunks to pop in the blender. Simply chop up the greens and fruit, add the yogurt, and freeze in the tray. When you’re ready to mix, just add ice to a smoothie chunk or two.
Tip: Use Jars
Mason jars are more than just a hipster fad. You can use them to pre-assemble salads for lunches, oatmeal to take to the office in the morning, granola and fruit for an easy DIY cereal, and more. For salads, layer your ingredients from the bottom up in this order: dressing, sturdy vegetables like beets or peppers, then leafy greens, and top with nuts or dried fruit. Fold a paper towel into a square and place at the top to absorb moisture. This will keep your salad from getting soggy. When you’re ready to eat, just shake it all up and enjoy! Oatmeal can be served in a variety of ways. You could add dried oats and the desired mix-ins to a jar and just add hot water or milk when you’re ready to eat, or you could try these overnight, no-cook oatmeal recipes that include chia seeds for a burst of added nutrition.
Tip: Season Meats Three Ways with One Pan
Save dishes and time by dividing a pan three ways with aluminum foil. Divide all of one type of meat between the three sections and season each section as desired. You can cook buffalo chicken, lemon pepper chicken and chicken teriyaki all at the same time for three unique flavors that will work for three meals! This way, the meal options will be diverse and the prep time chopped by 66 percent.
Tip: Stock up on Soup
Throw a bunch of ingredients into a crock pot on a weekend morning and enjoy soup all week long, or freeze batches of soup in large sealed bags for weeks where you don’t have time to pull out the crock pot. Here are some easy slow-cooker soups that taste even better a few days after they’re made.
Tip: Hard-boil Eggs in the Oven
Place a dozen eggs in a muffin tin and bake at 350 degrees for 30-minutes (test this with one or two eggs first to make sure this temperature is right for your oven). Then plunge the eggs into a bowl of cold water until cool. Presto! You now have a whole batch of perfectly hard-boiled eggs for a protein-rich snack or easy addition to salads.
Tip: Use Functional Containers
Bento boxes, lunch containers originating from Japan, are the most efficient way to pack a lunch. You can find them in many different shapes and sizes, all with functional spaces for each type of food item. For salads or cereals, a simple mason jar will do the trick. For on-the-go sipping, a shatterproof glass water bottle is the perfect vessel for any beverage. And if you enjoy tea, but need a way to let it steep when you’re on your way out the door, a tea infuser is a helpful addition to your water bottle.
What are your tips for a hassle-free #MealPrepSunday? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter tagging #GlassticGoes.
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