Meal Prepping: Eat Healthily, Save Money
At a time when the cost of living is squeezing consumers, saving money and eating nutritious meals has become a challenge for many. This is where meal prepping comes to the rescue! This nifty habit can help you prepare homecooked meals for the week ahead. Plus, it saves money as it means there is a quick and tasty dish waiting for you after a long day at the office, thus eliminating the need to rely on takeout.
So, what is meal prepping? In a nutshell, it means choosing an afternoon a week to pre-prepare meals for the week ahead. Or even for a few months in advance. This may sound quite daunting initially. However, it can be easy to achieve with a little forethought. What's more, it does not need to take hours and hours. It can take as little as two hours each week with some thought and preparation.
Where to begin?
Start small. Instead of meal prepping all the upcoming meals for the week, you could go with just lunches and dinners. Or even just dinners for your first attempt.
Make-ahead meals and batch cooking. This is one of the easiest methods. Simply cook a much larger amount of your favourite meal, such as lasagna with a side of cooked veg, for instance. Dish up the individual portions and either pop them in the fridge or the freezer, to be eaten over the next few days or months, depending on your needs and available time.
Stew with rice and chili con carne are great options for batch cooking. The website Good Food also suggests vegetarian bolognaise, slow-cooked ratatouille and ragu as alternative batch cooking options.
Ready-to-use, cooked ingredients. Many of us tend to eat certain staple ingredients often, such as rice, potatoes or pasta. These can be batch cooked in an afternoon and frozen. Then, during the week when we are pressed for time, they can be popped into the microwave, defrosted and added to a meal cooked that evening. This cuts down on cooking time in the kitchen.
How to choose meals for meal prepping? Healthline suggests first deciding which meal prepping method fits your lifestyle and then start with a small number of recipes that you already know how to cook. In order to make it healthy, the also recommend including a variety of food groups. For instance, protein-rich foods, vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Complex carbs could be brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato or bulgur wheat.
Bulk buying. Buying ingredients in bulk is an additional way to make meal prepping work You will then have enough supplies on hand to batch cook. It can also save you a tidy sum. Non-perishable items such as rice, cereal, pasta and canned goods can be bought in bulk. Many wholesalers and other stores, such as Costco and Walmart, offer bulk buy deals with discounts of 10% and higher for purchasing in bulk.
Good bargains can also be found at local, independent wholesalers in your area.
Save money, improve health!
Ultimately, meal prepping can save money and boost our health. Homecooked meals generally contain much less salt and additives that are commonplace in supermarket ready meals and restaurant takeaways.
Buying ingredients for cooking is also much cheaper than grabbing takeout. In fact, it is 3-5 times cheaper per serving on average for a homecooked dish than a takeaway. Over the long run, that adds up to significant savings if one is in the habit of eating out regularly.
What could that money be used for instead? Saving towards a special item, holiday or saving for a rainy day. We're sure you have many ideas for how to use those precious funds instead!
Discussion
What meals do you think would work well for meal prepping?
How often do you eat out or get takeout?
What is your favourite meal to cook and how is it made?
Do you like cooking and who taught you to?
Should cooking be taught in school?
What do you think are the most important practical skills young people should learn these days?
Comments