Do you dread making meals? Does it stress you out just thinking of what to make for dinner? I used to feel this way. What to have for dinner was a big source of stress for me and my partner. We ordered in too often, or we ate pre-prepared meals filled with additives and chemicals.
We knew there was a better way. We began meal planning, and added one hour of meal prep per week – yes, just one hour! – and made cooking fun again. It saved us time, money, and most importantly, it got us eating clean.
These are my top four simple tips for adding ease to your meals.
Create a Weekly Meal Plan
Create a weekly Meal plan and place it for all to see, like on the fridge or a whiteboard.
While planning, review of things you already have in your pantry and want or need to use up. Make sure you have everyone's calendar open so you can plan around all your activities.
This is the first step to saving time, money, and wasting less in the kitchen! I have a free meal planning template, which is what I used when I got started.
Schedule Time to Prep
Put an hour into your schedule once a week to prepare all the raw ingredients you will need for your meals for the week.
Wash, cut up, and portion out your veggies, fruit, and protein. Portion out your raw ingredients into individual meals in bags or containers, so you don't have to worry about how many to thaw or having too much.
Store your portions in the fridge and/or freezer, so when you’re ready to make your meal, there’s no thinking involved!
Cook Once, Eat Twice!
While you are cutting up veggies and protein, make a few extra portions and freeze them. That way, you have a meal ready to go, you just have to thaw it out. You can make curries, fish cakes, and chicken pot pies ready to eat with little additional effort.
This is great for single people or small families, but also for those who like variety. Make big batches and portion them out, so you don't have to eat the same thing two days in a row if you don't want too!
Don’t Forget Breakfast
Breakfasts are good to prep ahead for the whole week! You can make a week's worth of protein waffles or pancakes and freeze them. Make overnight oatmeal and portion out into individual containers. Portion out your smoothie ingredients and then just toss in the blender in the morning. This way breakfast is grab-and-go, so you have no excuses.
Kandice-Lee Doucette is our Etobicoke Branch Director and an Independent Epicure Consultant.
Her vision is helping people discover that eating clean and healthy can be truly easy and tasty with an array of delicious whole foods without fillers, artificial flavours, MSG while saving you money, time and producing less waste!