Ladies, have you ever felt overwhelmed or bored with having to spend hours in the kitchen preparing food? If so, maybe you should try meal prep to reduce cooking time. Meal prep or meal preparation is a concept or strategy to prepare food more quickly, by preparing food ingredients to be cooked in a certain period of time simultaneously at the beginning of time.
Nowadays, meal prep is becoming popular because it can save a lot of time, especially among people who don't have much time to cook. Let's take a look at some tips to reduce your cooking time!
- Stick to a Consistent Schedule
You need to have a meal prep schedule or food preparation on a regular schedule. Planning exactly when to go grocery shopping and when to prepare meals can help you establish a good routine. Schedule according to your free time, but try to make it fit into your weekly routine to simplify decision-making.
For example, you can shop for groceries on Sunday mornings and prepare meals on Sunday afternoons, and do that as your weekly routine.
- Choose the Right Recipe Combination
Choosing the right combination of recipes will help you be more effective in the kitchen. To save time, choose recipes that require a different cooking method. Having too many recipes that require the same tools will limit the number of dishes that can be prepared at once. This is especially important if you need to cook a lot.
For example, you can cook one dish in the oven and a maximum of two on the stove, then simply add in foods that don't need to be cooked, such as sandwiches or salads.
- Organize Prep and Cooking Time
A pre-prepared workflow saves a lot of time in the kitchen. The best thing you can do to manage your prep and cooking times starts with the recipe that takes the longest to cook. After the meal is cooked, focus on the rest. Using a rice cooker can also streamline your workflow.
To save even more time, double-check the ingredients for all recipes before starting. This way, if two recipes call for the same ingredients to chop, you can cut the total amount at once.
- Make Shopping List
Grocery shopping can be a huge waste of time. Therefore, make a detailed grocery list and adjust it to the layout of the groceries at the market or supermarket you visit. This will prevent the need to return to previously visited sections and speed up your shopping time.
Limiting grocery shopping to once per week and taking advantage of a grocery delivery service are two additional ways to save shopping time.
How To Do Meal Prep?
Even if you've read the tips above, preparing meals for the week may sound so scary, especially for beginners. But don't worry, there's a simple way to save your meal prep time, Ladies! Here are some ways:
- Choose your meal prep method
There are several methods of meal prep, such as making food ready-to-eat and only needing to be reheated, cooking in batches, preparing food according to individual positions, and preparing ready-to-cook ingredients. Choose the method that best suits your needs and adapts it to your life goals. You can also combine several methods if needed.
- Set your schedule
Choose one day each week to do meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. Make this your routine as we discussed earlier.
- Choose the right amount of food
Decide on the amount of breakfast, lunch, and dinner you'll need for the coming week. Also, take into account when you will eat out to avoid the possibility of leftovers.
- Choose the right recipe
Pay attention to variations and preparation methods. Avoid choosing the same recipe for one week because it will make you feel bored, and the nutrients that enter the body will be incomplete. If you're just starting out, you need to stick to the recipes you've prepared beforehand.
- Reduce shopping time
Create a grocery list that is adjusted to the layout of groceries in a supermarket or market, or you can shop for groceries online as we discussed earlier.
- Reduce time in the kitchen
Set your cooking flow by determining in advance which food will be cooked from start to finish based on the cooking time as we discussed earlier
- Save your foods stock
Use safe refrigeration methods and suitable containers. You can refrigerate food or groceries that you will eat within 3-4 days, then label and freeze the rest.
Meal prep is highly recommended for people who want to spend less time in the kitchen. Depending on your goals, schedule, and food preferences, find a method that works for you and choose one day per week to plan your meals, shop, and cook.
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Source :
Petre, A. (2018). How to Meal Prep — A Beginner’s Guide. Healthline. [online]. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-meal-prep