Ultimate Meal Prep: Essentials for Busy Home Cooks

A diverse group of individuals collaborates at a table, skillfully preparing various dishes together.

Do you have a busy life, but you want to meal prep and create a lifestyle built around healthy food? It may not be easy but it’s more than worth it to eat the kinds of foods that do your body good. From the ingredients to the utensils and appliances you use, there are ways to simplify the process for you as a busy home cook. Take a look: 

Your pots and your pans 

It’s going to be hard to prepare any type of meal but especially meals for your entire week without the proper cookware. You’ll want to make sure that you have everything from pots and pans to baking pans and saucepans. Induction cookware is the way to go if you want to always have what you need when it comes to meal prepping your healthy meals for the week. Plan your meals in advance so you know exactly what you need for successful meals. 

Storage products

Of course, how can you meal prep for a week without the proper storage containers? Take time finding the best options for storing your food, so that you can easily access, carry, and use these containers for your meals. 

Maybe you need to warm up your food while out at the office or you want to separate the ingredients while they’re being refrigerated so that they don’t impact the texture of other ingredients. If there’s anything that is up there on the list of important things for meal prepping, it’s definitely the containers that you use. 

Easy-to-heat ingredients

Another thing to keep in mind when planning your meal prep is that the meals that you’re preparing are still delicious heated up. Think about foods that are cooked and can be kept in the freezer over the next few days. A salad may be in line with a weight loss diet but you’re not exactly going to meal prep salads for the week unless they’re cooked style “salads.” The ingredients of a traditional salad typically go bad over a few days and unfortunately, no one will want to eat a frozen and defrosted salad. 

Helpful appliances 

Something that can make your meal prepping easy is to use appliances that allow you to cook your food quickly and effectively, so you don’t take up your whole Sunday meal prepping for the week. Some people like to use crockpots for making stew and curries while other people like to use air fryers to cook meat quickly. 

Whatever your preference is, know that high-end appliances really can simplify the process of meal prepping, which at the end of the day is something that we all appreciate in our busy lives. You’ll also often find that when you order a crock pot or air fryer, they’ll even come with some great recipes to try, so you might even kill two birds with one stone when shopping around for your kitchen appliances. 

A cookbook

People often think that in order to prepare healthy meals for the week, it means that they won’t be complete recipes. And while you could just boil some chicken and add some potatoes and veggies and call it a day, you could also find healthy recipes in a cookbook that can ensure your meal prepping results in food that you’ll want to eat throughout the week. Whether it’s an online cookbook or you love to use your grandmother’s old cookbook, don’t be afraid to get fancy with your meal prep. 

Free Colorful quinoa salad jar with roasted veggies, ideal for healthy meal prep. Stock Photo

In Conclusion 

If you want to have an easier time eating healthy food, meal prepping is the way to go and with these recipes, you can succeed in creating great meals for your week. Just make sure you have everything you need before you get started and voila, better meals are on their way.

Written by

Kellee Maize Team

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Reviewed by

Kellee Maize

Kellee Maize is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter known for her conscious lyrics and unique blend of hip-hop and electronic music. Her debut album, "Age of Feminine," released in 2007, garnered critical acclaim. Maize is an independent artist who has released multiple albums and singles throughout her career, often exploring themes of social justice, spirituality, business and personal growth.

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