Meal Prepping: Is it worth it?

What if you didn’t have to cook meals? What if all you had to do was go to your fridge and pull your meal out? How much more time would you have?

I, personally, would save 90 minutes to 2 hours PER DAY! Now that is a lot of extra time I could spend ‘being’ and not ‘doing’. I could fit in a 10-minute meditation to refocus and increase my productivity. I could take a walk for some fresh air and exercise. I could call up a friend and have a long overdue conversation. All of these examples are ways that get us into the present moment and away from our to-do list, and it has been proven that frequent mindful breaks throughout the day increases our productivity and decreases the chances for illness.

Sounds great, right? No idea where to start? I got you… Below is my niece-in-law’s experience with meal prepping, why they do it, and tips on how to get started.

It is highly likely that you have at least heard about meal prepping in the recent years. Many nutrition and fitness experts rave about the benefits of doing a weekly meal prep and perhaps you have contemplated meal prepping yourself. But is it really worth the time and effort? From someone who is not an expert, the answer is yes!

My meal prepping journey began about 5 years ago when I was determined to put more effort into my health. I began by following the meal plan for a workout program I had started. The instructor highly encouraged planning, making, and portioning out all of the week’s meals and snacks ahead of time. Before I started, I thought it seemed unrealistic and too time-consuming. And yes, those first couple of weeks it took time to navigate the process. Eventually, though I got into a routine and it is now a quick and simple solution that takes me no more than an hour and a half on a Sunday afternoon. I am able to prepare breakfast, lunch and snacks all portioned out and ready to go for the entire week.

Not only does the process help me to eat healthier, but it saves me the time and stress of having to prepare meals each and every day. Instead, I am simply able to go to the fridge, grab out my meal and pop it in the microwave. In addition, my husband and I do not have the dreaded, “what do you want to eat,” conversation every single day.

Meal Prep for me was not an instant success. It took time and trial and error to get it right and it likely will for you too. What works for one person might not work for you, but the key is to find what does work for you and your lifestyle. Below are a few tips and tricks we have discovered along the way that might help you get started.

• Pick a dedicated day and time each week that you will do your meal prepping. Doing it at the same time each week will make the process easy to maintain.

• Personally, I decided it was easiest to have the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the entire week. Making things in bulk was easier than making smaller portions of 3 separate options. Dinner was the meal that gave me variety in the week.

• If having the same thing for every meal does not sound like something you want to do, find a meal prep buddy. You can make 7 days’ worth of one meal and they can make 7 days of another, then swap a few days’ worth of meals.

• If you want to save the most amount of time, portion everything out ahead of time and store the meals in individual containers instead of storing meals in bulk and portioning out at mealtime.

• When you start, set a goal of meal prepping each week for at least a month. The first couple of weeks likely will not go super smooth but once you get into a routine the process will go faster.

Sounds doable now, doesn’t it? I know I am inspired to begin and make more time in my day!