Eating better is probably on the “to do” list of most Americans. Yet the practicality of how to eat better is not always obvious. If you’re hoping to improve your eating in order to embrace healthier practices, one of the best ways to do so is with meal prepping. Meal prepping can feel overwhelming when you live in a luxury apartment or modern home, but you can make it manageable. Here are some tips to help.
Pick a Cooking Day
One of the benefits of meal prepping is the fact that you can spend one or two days a week cooking, instead of cooking every single day. While many people choose to meal prep on Sundays, you will need to choose the day that works best for your schedule. Then, cook just on those select days, cooking extra to fill the non-cooking days.
Make Food that Freezes Well
On cooking day, consider meals you can freeze. This is particularly valuable if you’re just cooking for one or two, because most recipes serve larger groups. Make the meal, enjoy your portion of it, then freeze the rest. This will give you something you can turn to on those days when cooking just isn’t in the schedule. Keep in mind that some foods do not freeze well, so add these to your recipes the night you eat them. Cooked eggs, milk sauces, sour cream, cheese toppings, mayonnaise, and raw salad toppings are all items that will not freeze well.
Cook in Bulk
On your cooking day, consider making more than one meal that uses the same meat, then cook all the meat at once. For example, you can bake 10 chicken breasts, then portion out the meat for all your meals that week. You can do the same with ground beef. You can cook more than one serving of meat at the same time to save quite a bit of your valuable time.
Consider Storage
Once you’ve cooked everything, you’ll need to store it. Choose stackable freezer-safe storage containers or baggies to use to store it items. If you are using baggies, lay them flat instead of on end. This will take up less space and allow you to stack several meals on top of one another.
Make Dishes with Multiple Purposes
Another way to meal prep in an apartment without taking up too much freezer space is to cook meals that have versatile uses. For example, roast beef is great by itself, and then the second day you can use the cooked beef to make roast beef sandwiches or mix it with some Mexican spices to create tasty tacos. The same is true for roast chicken.
Meal prepping helps you to stay healthier, saves money that you normally would spend eating out, and gives you back your evenings. Even in an apartment, you can meal prep and start enjoying these benefits.