Let’s talk meal prep! Preparing your meals in advance is a great way to set yourself up for the week to make healthy choices. It removes the guess work from your day and can help prevent eating out during times you were ‘too busy to pack a lunch’. There are different types of meal prep, so it’s important to find the one which works for you and your lifestyle. These are ingredient prepping, batch cooking and make-ahead meals. But how do you know which meal prepping style will work for you? Keep reading and we will break them all down to help you decide.
Ingredient Prepping
Are you someone who can’t stand the idea of meal prepping because it just seems too repetitive? If so, ingredient prepping might be the meal prep for you. Ingredient prepping involves preparing the individual components of a meal so you can easily mix and match through the week. Here are some general guidelines for ingredient prepping:
- Vegetables/Salads: Choose 2 or more vegetables for the week. Pre-chop, slice or dice and store in airtight containers raw or roast them in the oven with your favourite seasoning.
- Protein: Pick a protein that is easy to prep (boiled eggs, tinned tuna/salmon) and one that may take a bit more time (chicken, pork, beef). Cook this to your liking and once again store it in an airtight container until needed.
- Carbohydrates: Roast some potato, sweet potato or corn and pre-cook your favourite grain, such as rice, barley, quinoa to be stored in the fridge until you need them.
Now that you have each part prepped and ready to go it’s as simple as picking a few of your prepped vegetables, adding a serve of protein and carbohydrates to a container for lunch or your dinner plate. You can also add more flavour with some cheese, a dressing you enjoy or topping with some dried fruit or nuts.
Batch Cooking
Batch cooking is another great choice if you like variety and have the time to make a few different meals. It involves picking a recipe you enjoy, cooking extra and pre-portioning into containers to freeze and re-heat as needed. This takes a lot of the guess work out of your week because once it’s done you can just grab it and go! A bonus is that once you have a nice stockpile you might not need to make another batch for a few weeks.
Make-ahead Meals
Make-ahead meals are a combination of ingredient prepping and batch cooking. If you’re someone who thrives with routine and enjoys similar meals on repeat, this might be for you. Like ingredient prepping, you would pre-make your carbohydrate, protein and vegetable components or cook one batch of a favourite meal then pre-portion them out into ready-to-go containers for the week. This method is also good if you are someone who doesn’t love frozen meals as they still feel fresh and each week you can choose a new menu for yourself.
Now that you are aware of some of the different meal prep techniques, have a think about which one works best for you and give it a try! Just make sure to have plenty of veggies/salad, a good source of lean protein and some low GI carbohydrates.
Try this Moroccan Roasted Vegetable Stew which would be perfect for batch prepping
TRY THIS WEEK’S RECIPE: Moroccan Roasted Vegetable Stew
Written by An Accredited Practising Dietitian, Accredited Nutritionist from Healthy Lifestyles Australia
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