New to meal prepping?
I always recommend starting with ONE or two meals (or even ingredients/dishes) until you feel comfortable with the process!!
Once you’ve planned out your weekly meals, done your grocery shopping, and have all of your tools in place, set aside a chunk of time to devote to food prep.
And while you may not be able to prep EVERYTHING you can get A LOT done in one or two hours.
I’ve listed these in order of what I think will save you THE MOST time by prepping ahead, but of course you need to figure out what works best for YOU!
1. Tackle time-consuming proteins first. Get your meat marinating (or freeze if you won’t be cooking it within a few days) or pop some chicken in the slow cooker/Instant Pot with a little bit of broth for easy shredding/chopping.
My fave prep-ahead proteins: fish, chicken (whole or sections), ground turkey with seasonings, hard-boiled eggs.
I’m still trying to master prepping chicken breasts in the Instant Pot without them being too dry or chewy!! But here is my favorite method for prepping chicken breasts in the crock pot! Don’t forget, you can always use the slow cooker function on your Instant Pot! 🙂
You can save yourself a TON of time by simply prepping all your protein once a week and nothing else!!
Once you have that mastered here’s some other things you can do:
2. Get your grains and beans cooking. Cook up a big batch of brown rice, quinoa or some dried beans to eat or cook with throughout the week. Once your grains and legumes have cooked and cooled, either transfer them to a large container or divide into individual servings topped with your batch-baked veggies and proteins for balanced, on-the-go meals.
3. Wash, peel and chop fresh fruit and veggies. Chop similar ingredients in one fell swoop. For example, if you need 3 diced onions for 2 different recipes, dice them all at once and divide as needed. To save on food storage containers, consolidate chopped produce that can be cooked or eaten together. For salad fixings, put washed greens into an air-tight plastic bag to keep crisp and divide veggie toppings into individual containers for a fast salad assembly later. And of course, frozen veggies are already chopped and ready to go! Ever since I got my Instant Pot I’ve been roasting a lot of my veggies, so I typically pull a couple bags out of the freezer so they can thaw before I put them in the oven.
4. Batch-bake veggies and proteins. Pre-cooked veggies and protein make great brown bag lunches and quick dinners after a long day. Preheat your oven while you prep your meat and veggies. Oven-friendly veggies: potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, winter and summer squash, cauliflower, eggplant, green beans, bell peppers…the list goes on! You can also steam veggies SUPER easy in the Instant Pot! I typically put them in a steamer basket and set timer to 0 on HIGH pressure with a quick release. They will steam to perfection as the Instant Pot comes to pressure!
No time to cook?
5. Pre-measure and group together recipe ingredients. Measure out recipe ingredients ahead of time and consolidate produce that can be cooked or eaten together, such as stir-fry veggies, salad fixings or fresh fruit. Label containers and food storage bags with the recipe name and/or day of the week you’re planning to cook it later.
6. Tackle the little stuff–if time allows. Make homemade marinades and salad dressings for later in the week. Measure out spices, squeeze and zest fresh citrus, chop fresh herbs and garlic in advance.
/// QUESTION OF THE DAY ///
Do you currently have a system in place for planning or prepping your meals for the week? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants? Let us know in the Facebook group by commenting on the daiy post here –> https://www.facebook.com/groups/290505694685477/permalink/475297066206338/