4 ways to make meal prep happen

After a long day at the office, when your bed is calling your name, often the last thing you want to do is prepare your meals in advance for the next day. However, if you are trying to lose weight, meal prep is worth the effort.

Preparing your meals in advance can prevent you from making spontaneous food purchases at the work canteen at lunchtime, rescuing your healthy eating attempts and saving you money at the same time. You also know exactly which ingredients are in your meal as you prepared it yourself!

Follow these 4 tips to ensure you make meal prep happen every time:

Buy plenty of Tupperware

Purchasing plenty of plastic storage containers of all shapes and sizes is a good first step as you can easily transport your prepared meals to work. If you find yourself rushing around on a morning; whether it be trying to get the kids ready for school or just because you often sleep in, prepare your breakfast the night before and put it in a tub to take with you to the office. Add Greek yoghurt, nuts and fruit to a tub for a nutritious breakfast that can be whipped up in less than 5 minutes. You no longer have any excuses for skipping breakfast!

Plan your meals and write a shopping list

An easy way to get yourself into the habit of preparing your meals is to plan what you are going to eat for every meal from Monday to Sunday. Think of when you will have time to cook and when you won’t and draw up a table of what you are going to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks each day. Base your shopping list around the ingredients you need for each meal. Most importantly, when you get to the supermarket, only buy the items on your list to prevent impulse buying.

Prepare your meals in bulk

Meal preparation doesn’t have to be difficult. When you are cooking a meal on an evening, prepare more than you would usually eat so that you can box some up to take for your lunch at work the next day. You can also prepare your meals in bulk. Batches of your favourite healthy meals, such as chicken and vegetables, can be stored in containers in your freezer and defrosted the night before you wish to eat them.

Make the time for meal prep

Preparing your meals in advance is worth the effort; trust me. It doesn’t have to take ages as you can easily prepare meals at the same time as you would be cooking anyway. Perhaps you could set aside some time on a weekend to prepare some of your meals for the week in advance? This will save you time during the week that you would have otherwise used deciding what to eat for each meal and cooking it.

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