3 Awesome Reasons To Have A Meal Prep Routine (+ How To Get Started!)

Having a meal prep routine in your life is beyond rewarding. Your future self will thank you for it!

You’ve probably heard all about meal prepping and wonder if you should get into a meal prep routine yourself. The answer is yes! Anything that helps you on your journey to achieving your goals is worth doing. I personally am a huge believer in meal prepping and have my very own routine that I follow every weekend. The result? I have so much extra time to do whatever I want during the week with delicious meals waiting for me in my fridge!

In this post, we’ll go over…

• • The benefits of meal prepping/ why you should meal prep
  • All the ways to set yourself up for success
  • The best meal prep tools
  • Some of the best meal prep recipes out there

This blog post is all about how to create the best meal prep routine for yourself.

The Benefits of a Meal Prep Routine

So, what are the benefits of having a meal prep routine? Here are three of the best reasons:

1. It helps you achieve your goals. If you have the goal to lose weight, to gain muscle or even just to eat three square meals a day, having a meal prep routine in your life is crucial. When you already have food prepared, you are more likely to eat it and stay on track with your goals. While it isn’t always perfect, it will nine times out of ten eliminate any excuse to resort to ordering takeout since you have already taken the time to make the food that aligns with your vision of success.
2. It is a huge time saver. Meal prepping is a weekly task. Spending a few hours on the weekend meal prepping will save you SO much more time during the week. If you have an hour lunch break, the most you will have to do is reheat your meal-prepped food, not waste twenty precious minutes making a sandwich or throwing a salad together. If you’re a parent, you could pack multiple lunches for your kids or even make a few freezer meals so all you have to do on a busy weeknight is pop one in the oven for a quick and easy dinner. With meal prepping, you gain all that time back that you would have spent cooking during the week and get to use it how you choose.
3. It is a form of self-care. Meal prepping is an act of service for future you. While you may feel annoyed to be in the kitchen for a few hours on your meal prep day, you will feel so grateful later in the week when you have a delicious meal already waiting for you when things are busy and hectic. You don’t have to waste any of your precious energy worrying about what you are going to eat.

The Best Steps and Tips

Meal prepping can be an easy and even enjoyable task, but it’s important that you get a few things in order before you get started. Here are the best steps to take, along with some helpful tips I’ve learned along the way.

• Designate your meal prep day. First, think about how your weeks play out. Most of us work Monday-Friday, so meal prepping on a Sunday usually makes the most sense. If you’re a shift worker or otherwise have a more unpredictable schedule, this is something you may have to revisit on a weekly basis.
• Decide on the meals you want to make ahead of time. This goes beyond just choosing the recipes you want to make. Are you going to meal prep breakfasts only? Or lunches? Or both? If you are just beginning a meal prep routine, I highly recommend starting out with making one meal only. You’ll be burnt out if you try to make ALL your meals for the week, which will make you never want to meal prep again. To choose which meal(s) to make, think about the part of your day that is the most hectic or when you are the most unmotivated to cook. Meal prepping for those times will serve you the most!
• Make your meal plan and go grocery shopping the day BEFORE you plan to meal prep. You need to know what meals you want to make and the ingredients you need before you can start prepping. Personally, I think it makes the most sense to meal plan the day before my designated meal prep day because the act of grocery shopping itself exhausts me — there’s no way I’d be able to cook for hours after that! In fact, my routine takes it a step even further. I make my meal plan and grocery shopping list on Fridays, go grocery shopping with my mom on Saturdays and do all my meal prep on Sundays.
• Reward yourself on your meal prep day. Picture this: You’ve finished making all your meals and they’re sitting in your fridge, all nice and organized. You’ve also just tackled all the dishes in your sink and you’ve started up the dishwasher. But then you notice your stomach rumbling and realize your current self still needs to eat! 😂 Another way to make your meal prep routine enjoyable is by ordering yourself takeout as a reward for all the hard work you’ve done. Chances are you won’t want to cook another thing and don’t want to dirty another kitchen utensil, so take this time to treat yourself. (If you’re trying to avoid ordering takeout altogether, consider making a dump-and-go slow cooker meal first thing on your meal prep day so you’ll have a delicious dinner at the end of the day.)
• Keep it simple. Meal prepping is not a time to try out advanced recipes that require random ingredients and multiple hours of your time. Stick to the basics you know how to make and love to eat, and you’ll be a happy camper.

The Essentials — Meal Prep Containers

Once you’ve prepped your meals, you’re going to need some place to store them. These Pyrex containers are my favorite. Since they’re made of glass, they’re super easy to pop in the microwave to reheat (just be sure to remove the plastic lid first!). I also really like that this set has different shapes and sizes because not every meal stores the same. I’ve found that some meal-prepped food goes better all in one container versus being portioned out in multiple.

My Favorite Meal Prep Ideas

Now that you’re all ready to dive into your meal prep routine, here’s some food inspiration! These are the best recipes that I personally follow for my meal prep routine.

• Breakfast: These double chocolate overnight oats by Budget Bytes are one of my favorite breakfasts of all time. I mix all the ingredients in one big Pyrex bowl (like this one) and call it a day. Each morning, I scoop a portion out into a bowl (this is my dinnerware set) and reheat in the microwave. It’s easier this way, especially when I already have a ton of containers taking up room in my fridge. I like to top my oats with natural peanut butter for extra protein! If you’re looking for something more savory, these egg muffins by Eating Bird Food are also a great meal prep option.
• Lunch: This sheet pan chicken fajitas recipe by Damn Delicious is literally the BEST sheet pan meal to ever exist. My husband and I pretty much make this on a weekly basis for our lunches. We get eight lunch-sized portions out of it, so that means we are both fed Monday-Thursday! (We opt for takeout or takeout leftovers from Thursday night for our Friday lunch.) Just warm it in the microwave, top with Tajín, shredded cheese and avocado, and you’ll be good to go.
• Dinner: This chicken enchilada soup recipe by House of Yumm is the meal that is by far made the most in my household — it is SO hearty and delicious. While it usually only lasts two days for me and my husband, it is a great make-ahead soup because it reheats so nicely. My tip is to add the cheese to each bowl individually for the best reheating results!

This post was all about why and how to have a meal prep routine in your life.