Ever-changing schedules and routines, constant temptations, and the desire to feel healthier. These were 3 of the main reasons why I decided to start doing meal prep as my nutritional lifestyle once I started my collegiate career. It was an adjustment at first, as most changes tend to be, but I knew the benefits and that I wanted to commit to it until it became a habit.
I see three significant benefits that meal prepping brings simply from my experience. The first would be how much it helps me manage my time and optimize it during the week. Instead of spending 40 minutes to an hour cooking lunch every day, I dedicate 2 to 3 hours during the weekend preparing food for the entire week. It cuts down cleaning time and I never have to worry if I took my food out of the freezer that morning for it to thaw. Plus, I know that I get to eat a healthy and delicious meal every day. Meal prepping also helps me save a lot of money. Grocery shopping is easier and more “to the point”, driving me away from the inevitable cravings I get when walking down those aisles. Knowing that I have food ready at home (emphasis on ready) helps me make the conscious decision not to eat out as much. Don’t get me wrong, I still go out to eat with friends and try new places every once in a while, but not in my day-to-day life. Finally, I am eating a lot healthier since I started meal prepping. I look at my plate in a more holistic way, more attentive to nutrients and having balanced meals during the day. I get to have more fun with the ingredients I use since whenever I’m cooking, there’s no time crunch or tiredness factor involved. I started being a lot more mindful about what I was eating and I feel a lot better since.
So, after highlighting the benefits of this practice, I think it’s necessary to talk about how I started, some things I do that may or may not work for others, and kind of what a week of meals looks like for me. There are many ways to go about meal prepping, but for me, eating the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner during a week does wonders. I do eat something different during the day, but it’s one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner for a week. I see it more like cooking in bulk rather than conventional meal prepping. I store my prepped food in glass containers and keep it in the fridge. I usually cook on Friday or Sunday afternoons, depending on my agenda for the week. And as with any routine, I made sure not to start all at once, but taper into my new habits with cooking more basic meals at first and not too many options at once.
Some of my favorites so far have been overnight oats in all of its variations, banana bread muffins, spinach egg muffins, and from my country, arepas. For lunch, I like making fried rice or “arroz con pollo”, ground beef with lentils on the side, quinoa bowls with ground turkey and black beans, pasta and any sauce, big salad bowls with chicken, or really anything I find on TikTok from the week before. My dinners usually consist of salad with some sort of protein (tuna, beans or chickpeas, shredded chicken) or any small snacks I find in my pantry.
Now, as I mentioned, having this habit in my life does not mean I restrict myself to only eat whatever I prepped for the week. It does help give me more structure, but it also allows me to play with my time and make conscious decisions about what I want to invest it in, knowing that my nutrition is not something I need to worry about as long as I’m prepared from the week before.