Meal prep for when life is busy

Why meal prep?

There are many reasons why meal prepping can be advantageous. The ability to manage portions as you prepare can help you avoid overeating and having meals readily available can combat making poor food choices, not to mention saving money on takeaways when you are just not in the mood to cook.

The reason we love to meal prep

It is always best to prepare for the week ahead by meal prepping. This way no matter if the madness of life gets in the way of your plans your nutrition won’t suffer. Whether you are a busy parent or a professional with a hectic work day, it may leave you feeling exhausted most days which often means you are too tired to cook from scratch when getting home. It’s also extremely important to get the correct nutrients into your body to aid the recovery of muscles in a timely fashion. To make sure you get those nutrients in to replenish your energy stores, bulk cooking meals in time for the next week ahead makes the most sense. This ensures you always get the right foods straight after working or being with your kids without having to start cooking from scratch when you are already tired.

Top Tips for meal prepping

Perhaps the best tip for meal prepping is to keep it simple to start.

You haven’t got to become a Michelin star chef and create fancy recipes. Cooking a lot of food at once can be tricky to start with so stick to simple to prepare meals. Variety is also important as eating the same meal repeatedly can become mundane. If bulk preparing a dish served with rice and vegetables, rotate the protein (e.g. salmon and chicken) so that not every portion is exactly the same.

Pick a set day to prep! 

Whilst meal prepping ultimately saves time in the long run it does require some extra time upfront to cook in larger quantities. Make sure you choose a time to cook where you are least likely to be distracted.

Another top tip is to divide the cooked food out into portions. 

Investing in good containers will help with this point.  Dividing into portions means you won’t find yourself in a position where you have overeaten and will also ensure the food lasts as long as you planned. 

A quick meal idea and the importance of timing

Bulk cook your meat and your vegetables and then pair it with a microwave packet of Tilda rice. The ability to have rice ready for consumption in 2 minutes means the overall time you spend preparing meals has decreased significantly. It is particularly important to consume a carbohydrate within 30 minutes of training to allow the body to efficiently replenish glycogen stores. During this period your biggest recovery gains can be made as your body is screaming out for nutrients and a high carb intake. The ability to quickly prepare Tilda rice and allow your carbohydrate intake to be met cannot be underestimated. For anybody looking to reduce the time spent meal prepping and to make prep easy this is a great go to idea. 

How to store meal prep

After cooking in bulk, break down the storage of your meals to ensure they are as fresh as possible and safe to consume. Meals prepped for the first half of the week are best stored in the fridge and then microwaved as and when you wish to consume. The other half of the prepped meals are frozen on meal prep day so that they can be safely consumed towards the end of the week. Remove frozen meals from the freezer in the morning so they will be defrosting throughout the day so they will be ready to be microwaved and then consumed.