Meal prepping is becoming more popular, and here’s why: it’s efficient, it’s easier to track portion sizes and macros, it saves you time throughout the day, and you can even make your food look aesthetically pleasing if you want! As someone who works out and has to get a certain amount of calories in a day in order to reach my fitness goals, meal prepping has been an absolute lifesaver, and I know a lot of other people feel the same way! I know that meal prepping doesn’t work for everyone, but if you’ve been thinking about it, it doesn’t hurt to try. The one thing I’ve struggled the most with considering meal prepping is my meals getting repetitive or not being able to fulfill certain cravings that I have, which is why I don’t meal prep on the weekends, so I can have a couple of ‘cheat days’ here and there. If you’re not sure about whether meal prepping is right for you, here are some tips that can make you go from hating meal prep to loving it:
1. Find the right containers for YOU
When I first started meal prepping, I hated how I had to split my food up, and it didn’t look appetizing to me at all. But after shopping around, I found cute containers and jars that made me excited to prepare meals.
2. Organize Your Food
This is pretty self-explanatory, but it has to be said. I used to plan my meals according to how other people did, and it made meal prepping and even the process of eating less enjoyable. Once I started categorizing and organizing my food based on how I wanted to eat, I started liking meal prepping more. For example, I like to cut all my fruit and put them in glass jars so they resemble store-bought fruit cups, and I do the same with my vegetables. Separating my fruits and veggies from my main meal allows me to think of them as snacks rather than an entire meal, which helps me finish all of my food.
3. Make Time
Prepping the food is the hard part, even though it can sometimes take only a few minutes a day. I like to prepare my food at night since that’s usually when I get the motivation to do so, but it’s all based on preference and flexibility. When I feel lazy, I like to remember that the hardest part is starting!
4. Don’t Be Boring
Meal prepping can get repetitive and annoying, but not if you switch up your meals. I only prepare meals to eat the same thing two days in a row at the most. That way, I can look forward to eating new things, and it becomes harder to get tired of a meal. Meal prepping doesn’t have to be technical; it’s always fun to get creative!