By preparing your meals in advance, you won’t need to worry about cooking every day, but you’ll still ensure you eat a balanced diet. Plus, you’ll end up spending less on food because you’ll be able to buy ingredients in bulk, avoid food waste, and limit how often you eat out. To find success in meal prepping, here are a few things you can do.
- Keep Your Kitchen Stocked with the Staples
Make sure you always have the ingredients you need for various meals and snacks. As soon as you run out of something, add it to your grocery list. What falls into this category will depend on the kind of dishes you like to cook but will likely include bread, rice, peanut butter, fruit, vegetables, eggs, and basic spices. - Store Food Appropriately
Meal prepping often means purchasing a large amount of groceries in one go. To ensure everything will last, it’s important to store items in the right places. Do this as soon as you arrive home, especially when you have perishables that need to go in the refrigerator. - Prepare Individual Food Items
After a visit to the grocery store, immediately prepare some of your food items to make them ready for use. This doesn’t necessarily mean cooking everything into meals — washing, peeling, and chopping vegetables or dividing large bags into snack-size portions will save you time later. - Use the Same Protein for a Variety of Dishes
Preparing a huge amount of the same meal is boring for your tastebuds. A better option is to use the same ingredients in different recipes. For instance, you may like to use a single protein (such as a particular meat, fish, or legume) all week to cut costs. Put it into different dishes, such as pasta, soup, stir fry, or fajitas. - Freeze Leftovers
A challenge of meal prepping is knowing how much to make. Ensuring you have enough may lead you to make a little too much. Prevent food from spoiling by freezing any leftovers. You should also freeze meals if you don’t end up finishing everything in time, such as if your friends ask you to eat out with them some evenings. Freezing is always a better solution than throwing out food or allowing your meal prep to dictate your life. - Take Things Slowly
Have reasonable expectations for meal prepping. Start slowly and build up as you learn more about your preferences, capabilities, and desire to eat home-cooked meals. Besides, you may not have enough space to go overboard with meal prepping. If you’re sharing with roommates, it’s likely you have just a section of the refrigerator and a couple shelves of cupboard space. If you want to free up more space, it may be worth coordinating with your roommates to share some staples.
Of course, it’s only possible to meal prep if you have an apartment with a proper kitchen. This means moving off campus and into rooms for rent. Peterborough students can find a new home at Severn Court. You’ll be living directly across from campus in a fully-furnished apartment with a dinette table and chairs, all the major appliances, and a complete living room furniture set. Contact us now for an eight- or 12-month lease.
