Every weekend, I cook up a storm of food for the following week. It makes life 10x easier and plus you save money. Who doesn’t want to save money amiright? These meal prep tips will help you to find your own meal prep
I started meal prepping when I lived on campus for a semester. I would make tuna sandwiches to bring to class with me. Classes around lunch time are the worst! Anyways, flash forward to now and you’ll find me in the kitchen roasting everything…Some great hacks if you already meal prep can be found here if you want more tips!
I know a lot of people don’t want to meal prep thinking it’ll be time-consuming. I am here to tell you that is WRONG! You can do a couple different things I’ll discuss later that’ll save you time. Honestly, I am with you I don’t want to be in the kitchen all day either.
These are four ways that I use to reduce my meal prepping time and you don’t have to use all of them (or any of them)!
Tip 1: Split up your Meal Prepping Time!
What I’ll do is on Saturday, I will roast all of my vegetables and on Sunday that’s when I will cook up my meats. This cuts down time in the kitchen, but splitting up the tasks. I also found this reduces any chances of cross contamination of the raw meat (I am just paranoid). Also, it reduces the number of dishes too as that is the worst part.
Tip 2: Roast all Vegetables at the Same Temp!
This was a game changer for me! Before I would roast all of my vegetable separately…Don’t be like old Sara. By roasting all your vegetables at the same temperature means you can load up your oven! I am able to fit into 4 baking sheets which usually has 3-4 different vegetables. Everything cooks in about 30-40-minutes and boom all the veggies are done. All ovens are different, but I use the normal bake (not convection) and preheat to 425 degrees! Some great recipes to try are the Purple Sweet Potato Fries, Black Pepper Carrot and Parsnips, and my all-time favorite Japanese Yams!
Tip 3: Cook your Proteins Two Different Ways!
This is great to reduce time as one is cooking you can work on the other! I usually always have something in the oven and either uses the stove top or crockpot. With the crockpot, it technically goes over the 4 hours, but you can just throw it in and do something else will it cooks. Some great choices are they delicious af chicken thighs or thyme beef meatballs!
Tip 4: Have Patience and Find What Works for You!
It took me a couple months to figure out the best way to meal prep. It is a bit of journey as you figure what you last the longest, you may burn some vegetables, and may be over it after the first try. That is okay and honestly meal prepping isn’t forever. This is just works for me!
I hope this helps you to create delicious meals for the week and be sure to tag me on Instagram with your meal preps!
Your Friend,
Sara B