10 Amazing Meal Prep Hacks for a More Successful Week
- Allie
- Aug 17, 2017
- 4 min read
You may have heard this before, or it may be your first time learning that Meal Prep is one of the most important things you can do to set yourself up for success in the week ahead. Having a Meal Plan is a GREAT start! But, if you don't prep ahead of time, your meal plan is only as strong as your willpower... and after a long day of work or kids, or BOTH, my willpower isn't all that strong. My hunger sits on my shoulder like the tiny little "bad conscience" devil saying "Pizza is fast and yummy", and if I haven't prepped ahead of time, it's WAYYY easier to let my hunger win the argument.
So, I've come up with a list of 10 of my favorite Meal Prep Hacks to share with you so that we can all stride ahead by getting off to a productive start.
If you love these ideas, don't forget to grab my FREE DOWNLOAD of 10 More Amazing Meal Prep Hacks, many of which are inspired by restaurant chefs!
1. Give yourself 90 minutes.
Set a timer so that you're motivated to get as much done as possible in that amount of time. Don't feel bad if there are some things left to do when the timer goes off... allow yourself to be finished at that point and feel proud that you dedicated 90 minutes of your precious time to this important task. Side note: 90 minutes is conveniently the length of most Disney movies. If you have kids... just sayin'.
2. Make sure your storage containers are clean before you start.
Here's a bonus tip: I save take-out containers from Chick-fil-A, grocery store bulk aisles and deli counters. I even save zip-top bags if they haven't been used for anything too messy. Just rinse, set out to dry, and you're good to go.
3. Clear your countertops, empty the sink, and get your dishwasher ready for dirty dishes.
Try to at least rinse what you use, as you go. Once you're done and have had a minute to relax, clean-up will be much easier if there aren't piles of dirty dishes everywhere.
4. Pour yourself a glass of wine.
This one is just common sense. Cooking is always more enjoyable with wine.
“I cook with wine. Sometimes, I even add it to the food.”
– W C Fields
5. Get ahead of the heat.
Turn your A/C down a couple of degrees. Crack a window. Turn on your vent hood. Do whatever you need to do to let some of the heat out of your house because when you're running the oven and cooking on the stove, it's gonna get warm. If you can get ahead of it, you'll fight a much smaller battle cooling the house back down when you're done (especially in the summer).
6. Have several dish towels clean, dry and at the ready.
Don't waste a paper towel every time you need to dry your hands or wipe down the countertop. Stick one dish towel in the pocket of your apron for your hands. Drape one over the stove handle for wiping down spills and water splashes, and set another next to the sink for clean dishes to dry on.
7. Start a pot of water to boil for your veggie scraps.
Add the leafy ends and woody bottoms of your celery stalks, carrot tops, onion skins, parsley stems, etc. Season with salt, pepper and herbs. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook 90 minutes to create veggie stock that you can either use during the week or freeze in storage bags for later. You never need to buy veggie or chicken stock if you do this simple step every week. You'll also have the base for a soup on hand during the week, which can become one of the meals in your meal plan!
8. Prevent cross-contamination
Reserve one cutting board for vegetables and one for meat. Wash the meat board whenever you switch from one type of meat to the next.
9. Boil or braise your meat, rather than grilling or baking it.
Tamar Adler explains this perfectly, so I'll allow her to take this one.
“If you boil or braise meat, you end up with broth or with braising liquid –whatever combination of vegetables and wine and water or stock the meat cooked in. That means that you have the meat itself for a meal or several, and then the beginnings of a soup, or several. It doubles the number of meals you get for your money and the time you’ve spent cooking. When you grill something, you have only the meat itself.” – Tamar Adler
10. Start right when you get home from the store
If you're able to plan for your meal prep time to immediately follow coming home from the grocery store, you'll have such a great head start. I've found that if I start cooking before I even start putting food in the refrigerator, I have less of a chance of skipping meal prep altogether.
Here's what Chef Josh Lewin has to say on the matter:
“Start something cooking as soon as you get in the door, before it’s all even been put away, at least wash the greens and roots so they are ready to be used. Having your ingredients ready and waiting, in a state that can actually be used, will make a big difference [in reducing food waste]. Don’t let them sit in some intimidating pile.” – Josh Lewin
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