Meal prep is something that is becoming a lot more popular since we are all so busy and there is less time to cook from scratch every night (yet it’s such an important thing to do).
Meal prep or meal prepping is the practice of preparing meals in advance to make cooking them easier and quicker. It’s a great way to ensure you stay on track with any diet you might be participating in, and it means you can keep up with your nutritional goals.
Another benefit is that it will usually save you money. However, there are some mistakes that it’s crucial to avoid when you are meal prepping; read on to find out what some of them are.
Don’t Make It Up As You Go Along
It might not come as much of a surprise that it’s best to plan your meals in advance rather than just hoping for the best and ‘winging it’.
In other words, you need to know what you’re going to eat for every meal for the next week or so as this means you can buy exactly the ingredients you need, which saves you money and time.
Knowing what you’re going to cook in advance also means you won’t resort to ordering takeout because there seems to be no food in the house or because you’re panicking and running out of time to make anything at all. This is healthier and means you can continue eating well without straying off track.
Don’t Use Cheap Ingredients
It’s true that one of the reasons for meal prepping in the first place is to save money, but that doesn’t mean you should buy cheap or lower quality ingredients because that will lead to bad food, putting you off the idea of cooking potentially for a long time to come.
Buy the best ingredients your budget can allow for, such as Satin Ice edible glue if you’re making a sweet treat or the best meat for your main meal. In this way, the food will taste better and you’ll be more confident in your cooking skills as a result.
It might be that you can save money by buying in bulk and, of course, if you’re not buying takeout, you’ll have more money to spend on the best ingredients.
Don’t Make Meals Too Complicated
It’s fun to look through recipes online and imagine what the delicious food would taste like, but be careful when you’re choosing the meals you’re going to create through the week – some are going to be very complicated, need a lot of ingredients, and take a lot of time.
As much as you might enjoy cooking, choosing complicated meals with lots of steps isn’t always a good idea. Imagine if you come home from work feeling tired and there is a complex recipe ahead of you before you can eat. You might be tempted to skip the meal or get unhealthy food instead.
By keeping your meals simple, you’ll be able to cook them without any trouble. If you want to experiment with more complicated meals, why not save them for the weekend when you have more time?