How to Meal Prep: A Complete Guide

In today's fast-paced world – where most of us are permanently tethered to our email inboxes like a ball and chain – finding time to cook healthy meals every day can be a challenge. A lack of time is why a lot of us turn to instant gratification items like frozen pizza and chicken nuggets to keep us fed after a hard day’s work. That's where weekly meal prep comes to the rescue. Not only does prepping your meals ahead of time save you time, but it also helps to ensure you make more nutritious choices throughout the week. In this beginner's guide to weekly meal prep, we'll walk you through some of the steps to get started and stay on track. Ready? Ready.

If you've found yourself here, chances are you already know what meal-prep is. But just in case, meal-prep is the practice of pre-preparing a meal (or snack) in advance so it is ready to eat at a later date. Lots of us do it to take lunches into work, but if you're looking to up your meal-prep game, you might want to do this for other meals and scale it so you have enough food for the entire week.

That’s a really good question. If you love to cook on the fly and don’t have any problem with whipping yourself up something from scratch everyday, then meal prep might not be for you. However, if the last thing you want to do at the end of the day is spend 50 minutes slaving over a soup, then I think it’s worth taking a punt. Besides, you might even find that meal planning can be fun. Here’s a few of the reasons why you should consider doing some weekly meal prep.

Imagine having ready-made meals (that aren’t just a mircrowaveable chicken korma) waiting for you after a long day at work or school. Weekly meal prep eliminates the need for last-minute cooking, allowing you to enjoy your evenings without spending hours in the kitchen.

With meal prep, you have complete and utter control over the ingredients, portion sizes, and nutritional content of your meals. This can help you make healthier choices, reduce the temptation of ordering expensive takeout, and manage your five-a-day intake.

Buying groceries in bulk for meal prep can save you money in the long run. Unless you’re really dead set on meal-prepping with caviar and lobster, that is. You can take advantage of sales and discounts and avoid the impulse purchases that often occur when shopping daily.

But where to begin? Well, the good news for you is that you don’t need to be a professional chef to cook in bulk. All you really need is enough ingredients and a free afternoon to set aside to get yourself cracking with your meal planning. If you’re stuck for inspiration, we’ve got an entire collection of meal-prep recipes that might take your fancy. Some of our favourites include:

• Smoosh recipes such as our Chicken, Basil and Fennel Smoosh and our Chickpea, Tahini and Harissa Smoosh.
• Our batch Chilli Con Carne recipe which can be repurposed into different versions so you're not eating an identical meal all week.
• Our Apple Crumble Overnight Oats recipe if you're wanting to meal-prep your breakfast.
  

Start by creating a meal plan for the week. Consider your dietary preferences, nutritional goals, and the number of meals you'll need each day. Look for recipes that are easy to prepare and can be made in batches. Once you’ve nailed down your favourite weekly meal prep recipes, it’ll become a lot easier to tweak them and experiment with different combinations.

When you've finished planning your meals, make a shopping list. Try organising it by something like food categories (e.g. vegetables, proteins, grains) to help streamline your grocery shopping. Stick to your meal prep shopping list to avoid buying unnecessary items.

Top tip: don't go to the supermarket when you're hungry as you're much more likely to come back with a haul of things you don't need!

Invest in a variety of meal prep containers, including BPA-free plastic, glass, or reusable silicone containers. These will keep your meals fresh and help with portion control. If you do plan on taking your meal prep containers into work, however, make sure that nobody nicks them from the staff fridge. Yes, I’m speaking from personal experience here.

On your designated meal prep day, cook in batches to save time. Prepare large quantities of grains, proteins, and vegetables and whatever else you’re putting into your meals. Portion them out into your containers, making sure to balance your meals with a mix of nutrients.

This might sound overly finicky but label your containers with the date of preparation and the contents. This ensures you can easily identify and use meals before they expire. Want to know how to store prepped meals? Easy. Store your meals in the fridge or freezer, depending on when you plan to eat them.

Top tip: It's easy for containers to get forgotten in the back of the freezer. When putting new containers into your drawers, put the oldest ones at the top so you eat them first.

Ever found yourself with all the right intentions to cook in the morning, but by the time dinner rolls around you're simply too tired and order a takeaway? Or maybe you're spending far more on lunch when you're in the office than you want to admit. Or, like most of us, you're just really, really busy. If you tick any of those boxes, meal-prepping might just be the ticket. And, it's just quite satisfying to know that your fridge or freezer is full of delicious and healthy home-cooked food at all times.

There's no question that some ingredients and recipes work better for meal prep than others. The answer to this question also slightly depends on whether you intend to store your meal prep in the fridge or freezer, and how long for.

As a general rule, if you're storing your meal-prep in the freezer, we suggest just freezing your sauces and cooking your carbs on the day. For example, if you've meal prepped a bolognese, don't cook your spaghetti until you want to eat it and then just defrost your sauce and stir it in. Cooking pasta for 10 minutes is still way more feasible on a cold Tuesday night that reducing a sauce for hours!

For meal-prepping that you want to literally just take out of the fridge and stick a fork in, think cooked grains and pasta, roasted vegetables, crunchy fresh vegetables such as carrots and bell peppers and some cheese such as feta. Salad leaves tend not to work as well as they may go soggy and the same applies to food you want that crispy texture from such as goujons or some forms of potato.

1. Start simple and gradually build your meal prep skills.

2. Experiment with different recipes to keep your meals exciting.

3. Set a dedicated meal prep day each week to stay consistent.

4. Don't forget to include snacks and healthy treats in your meal prep plan.

5. Buy containers. And lots of them.

Weekly meal prep is a game-changer for those looking to save time, eat healthier, and stick to a budget. With a little planning and organisation, you can enjoy delicious, home-cooked meals throughout the week without the stress of daily cooking.

Ready to get started? Plan your first week of meal prep, and you'll be on your way to a more convenient, nutritious, and budget-friendly way of eating. Remember, consistency is key, so make it a habit to meal prep regularly, and you'll soon reap the benefits of this time-saving (and lunch-changing) practice.