Meal Prep Basics you need to know when planning your meals

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Meal planning and meal prepping are often referred to as being the same but did you know they are actually two entirely different things?

With meal planning, we are simply deciding what our future meals will be whereas meal prep is when you actually buy the ingredients to make said meals. It’s during meal prep that you start to get certain aspects of the meal prepared, so that very little needs to be done each day when cooking time arrives!

Tips on How To Meal Prep!

Types of Meal Prepping

There are only a couple of basic elements to meal prepping: chopping vegetables and putting ingredients for meals into containers before actually cooking some aspects of the meal and freezing them.

You can do one or both of these options depending on how much time you think you will have. Some people simply do the prep work, such as getting all their veggies chopped up, food measured, and snacks into portion bags to be used during the week. Others actually cook the casseroles and chicken, and then freeze them so that dinner just involves popping them in the oven. I regularly make more of a meal than I need to so I can freeze the extra and have it the following week.

Which Containers to Use for prepping meals?

When you are planning on prepping meals, you need to be really careful with the types of containers you use. These containers are not just storing the ingredients and cooked food items but should be designed to keep them fresh in the refrigerator or freezer for an extended period of time. You need to be really careful of what you choose to store items in and how they are stored. Here are some recommendations for food storage containers:

Choose containers with airtight lids

Make sure that your containers keep the food fresh with airtight lids. If you intend to use Tupperware-type containers, try filling them with water, then turn them upside down and make sure no water leaks out. This is a good way to tell how fresh your food will be in the containers.

Meal prep bags

Although not the most eco friendly option, I use regular freezer bags for most of my meal prep. Food can be flattered and it’s probably one of the best space saver you can use during meal prep.

Try storing items in mason jars

Mason jars are perfect for storing certain items and meals. If you like to take a salad to work for example, try putting each day’s salad in a separate container.

Choose the wide-mouth containers and ensure you add the denser items at the bottom. The greens should always be at the top too so they don’t get wilted or weighed down and don’t forget to keep your salad dressing in a separate container.

Be careful with plastic storage items. 

Plastic, in general, is fine to use, but you should know what type of plastic you are using. Make sure it is refrigerator, freezer, microwave, and dishwasher-safe first of all.

BPA free meal prep containers

You should also check that the plastic containers don’t have any BPA, which can be dangerous when adding or cooking food into these specific containers.

Consider casserole dishes that work for BOTH baking and storage

When you are actually cooking bigger meals ahead of time to just be reheated each evening, or saving any extras as leftovers; you may want to use multi-purpose casserole dishes. Use glass pyrex dishes that you can just store in teh freezer. Just make sure you leave them out in room temperature after cooking to cool down before freezing them, or they might crack.

More Tips For Meal Prepping

Here are a few more simple tips for prepping your meals after you are done with meal planning:

• Cook all your meat at once.
• Label every container so you know when to use it by.
• Note what prepping is being done for leftovers.
• Use ingredients that can be prepped for multiple meals.
• Get freezer bags together with ingredients that will go in the slow cooker.

With these tips and our beginner’s guide to meal planning, you will be soon on your way to both meal planning and prepping. Both are going to save you a lot of time, not to mention help you make healthier meals for your family!!

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If you are looking for other ways to save on your grocery shopping then check out some of my previous posts below:

10 freezable foods to save time and money
How I’m Planning on Saving Money on My Food Shop
Some of my Favourite Supermarket Dupes
Meal Planning For Beginners