We live in a world where everything prefers to be done as efficiently as possible. This is one of the reasons meal prepping has become so popular. And this is not without reason! Meal prep is a way to save a lot of time if you do it right.
In essence, meal prepping is preparing meals for another time. By preparing a larger amount in one go, for example, you can immediately prepare your meals for the whole week.
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Meal prepping tips
Before you start prepping the meals, it is useful to know a few things in advance. This will prevent you from getting into trouble while you’re at it. Good preparation is very important!
- Allow cooked food to cool before putting it in the fridge or freezer. This ensures a better taste and also gives bacteria less chance to spread. Keep a time of about 30 minutes.
- If you use the fridge to store your meals, don’t leave it in there for more than 2 days. Do you want to work ahead for more than 2 days? Then store the meals in the freezer and put them in the fridge the day before.
- Use containers that can be closed properly and that can withstand the microwave and freezer. In addition, it is useful to label the containers with at least the date of preparation if you often prep meals.
- Prepare different meals. Variation in your meals will make it much tastier for you.
- Schedule a fixed time to prepare the meals. For example, if you are preparing meals for a whole week, it works best to have a fixed time on monday when you are going to do this.
Meal prep recipes (with preparation time and costs)
Now we share some recipes for prepping your meals. Know that you can always change some ingredients yourself if you like it better that way!
1. Meal prep with steak
Ingredients (for 1 portion):
- 150 grams steak
- 100 grams of boiled rice noodles
- Handful of lamb’s lettuce
- 15 grams cashew nuts
- 50 grams bean sprouts
- 100 grams grean beens
- Marinade of your choice (for the steak)
- 50 grams of corn
- Fresh coriander (quantity of your choice)
- Optional: red pepper
Preparation:
- Marinate the steak
- Prepare the rice noodles and green beans
- Cook the steak
- Mix all ingredients
Other information:
- Preparation time: About 15 minutes
- Costs: About 5.45 euros (6.20 dollars) per serving
- Calories: About 620 kcal
Personal opinion:
I really liked this meal. I like steak very much, but that is of course very personal. The preparation was very easy, even though I am quite clumsy in the kitchen myself. Highly recommended if you like steak! The coriander adds a lot of flavor, so don’t forget to add it.
2. Meal prep with smoked chicken and egg
Ingredients (for 1 portion):
- 100 grams of smoked chicken breast
- Handful of iceberg lettuce
- 100 grams of cucumber
- 50 grams of cherry tomatoes
- 50 grams of croutons
- 1 boiled egg
- Fresh parsley (quantity of your choice)
- Optional: Parmesan cheese
Preparation:
- Boil the egg (8-10 minutes for a hard-boiled egg)
- While the egg is boiling, cut the smoked chicken breast and cucumber into pieces
- Mix all ingredients
Other information:
- Preparation time: About 12 minutes
- Costs: About 3,50 euros (3,98 dollars) per serving
- Calories: About 300 kcal
Personal opinion:
This is, of course, a meal that is very easy to prepare, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing and in my opinion, it isn’t in this case. It is a meal that contains few calories and is therefore very suitable for lunch, for example. For dinner I would not recommend it, I tested it myself, but for this, it is really too light a meal. In addition, you can easily make the meal vegetarian by omitting the chicken breast, I would add a little more egg if you decide to do this.
3. Meal prep with pasta and salmon
Ingredients (for 1 portion):
- 75 grams of whole wheat pasta
- 1,5 tablespoons pesto
- 200 grams cherry tomatoes
- 120 grams of salmon fillet
- 125 grams of asparagus tips
Preparation:
- Cook the pasta (as long as indicated on the package)
- Meanwhile, fry the salmon as well, first fry it briefly on a high heat and then fry successively on both sides for about 3 minutes at a lower temperature
- Then cut the cherry tomatoes and asparagus tips into pieces, and after that you bake the asparagus tips for about 3 minutes.
- Now you add everything together and end with adding the 1,5 tablespoons of pesto
Other information:
- Preparation time: About 20 minutes
- Costs: About 7,30 euros (8,42 dollars) per serving
- Calories: About 520 calories
Personal opinion:
The first thing I noticed about this meal is that it is very filling, which is probably mainly because salmon is a fatty fish. The meal is a bit harder to make than the other 2, but in my opinion, this is worth it! The pesto as an addition makes it a very tasty meal in my opinion. It wouldn’t be a meal that I would eat for days in a row, this is a meal that I would alternate with other meals.
Why is meal prepping useful?
Meal prepping is very useful when you are short on time. For example, if you come home after work and then have to move on to something else, it’s very easy that you can take a container from the fridge, warm it up, and you’re done! You can schedule the meal prepping yourself on a day when you have a lot of time, so you basically just work ahead.
In addition, you will also spend less time in total, because it is more efficient to make everything in 1 go. You will also, and this is very important, eat healthier by prepping your meals. There is a good chance that you make conscious choices during the preparation and think carefully about healthy meals. This is a big plus.
Finally, you also save a lot of money. If you have little time to cook, you will often choose to buy something ready-made or have something delivered. This will generally be much more expensive compared to preparing your food yourself.
Lifestyle coach [5+ years of fitness experience]