4 Reasons To Meal Prep

If you’re on Instagram, you probably follow at least one person who does meal prep, or preparing your meals for several days (or a week) ahead of time. I’ve recently started to try it out because I would really love to be able to live on my own again one day – I currently live with my parents because I’m a disabled grad student – I need to be able to feed myself. My health as a whole needs to improve a lot before I reach that point, but I also need to be able to prove to myself (and my mom) that I can feed myself. I think that meal prepping is definitely something I can keep doing, so today I’m sharing why you should meal prep and how to do it.

4 Reasons To Meal Prep

1. Saves time during the week – Ever get through a long day and all you want to do is veg on the couch but you really need to eat a proper meal? Don’t be Olivia Pope whose average dinner is a bowl of popcorn. By meal prepping, you can get some good nutrients with just a minute in the microwave.

2. Eat healthier – By making your meals ahead of time, you can control what food you eat later and don’t have to listen to whatever craving you’re having that day. You’re a lot more likely to go to the food that’s already made than the unhealthy version that requires 30 minutes of cooking.

3. Prevents grazing – You know how when it gets closer to lunch or dinner and you’re hungry but you don’t feel like making that meal yet so you start snacking and then all of a sudden you’ve eaten an entire bag of chips for your dinner? Well, you won’t experience that if you have a meal in the fridge that is ready to go!

4. Use your money wisely – With meal prepping, you have to plan ahead, which means that you can go to the grocery store and buy only what you know you will need and not waste money on things that you don’t.

My Process

1. Make notes of what you want to eat – Because of my food sensitivities, there are a lot of things out there that I can’t eat. Because of my autoimmune disease(s), I try to put lots of good things in my body. I try to get lots of vegetables and protein in my meals, so I try to make bit batches of food that can be used in a variety of different combinations. For example, last time I made chicken, quinoa, sweet potato, and roasted broccoli. I get recipes off of Pinterest for things that I don’t know how to make easily.

2. Make grocery list – Again, this is a good opportunity to spend your money wisely by only getting what you need, so look at your recipes and make your list.

3. Block off time – If you’re going to make a week’s worth of food, it’s not going to take a short period of time to do. Schedule time to do it so you don’t have to worry about running out of time, and if you live with people, tell them that you’ll be needing the kitchen for a while.

4. Cook! – Hopefully, this is self-explanatory.

Have you ever tried meal prepping?