If you are following 28 day weight loss challenge You’ll know how much we believe meal prepping is key to healthy eating and weight loss.
as part of 28 day weight loss challenge We at The Healthy Mummy often talk about meal prep. Recipe Center is full of recipes you can make ahead of time to save time in the kitchen.
But if you’re just starting out, there are some key mistakes you should avoid making if you want a stress-free experience.
1. Not having all the ingredients you need
Once you’ve decided exactly what you’re making, it’s time to create a big old shopping list and get everything in it.
There’s nothing worse than starting your meal prep session only to find that you’re missing one vital ingredient.
Online shopping can really come in handy here as you can check your list on the go.
Here’s how to use the shopping list feature 28 day weight loss challenge program!
2. Making a lot of the same thing
Meal prepping is a great way to prepare so that you can easily resist the urge to order fast food when you’re too tired to cook.
But if you make too many of the good stuff, you may find yourself dreading opening your freezer for the same old meal. You can easily mix things up a bit even while using similar ingredients.
For example, you can freeze some bolognese sauce with pasta and some with brown rice; Or make half of the fries with pork and half with chicken instead of the meat itself.
3. Not buying enough containers
I cannot stress this enough! You will need a lot of containers! The cheap and cheerful take-away style containers are popular with other healthy mummies and are available in most supermarkets.
Freeze the way that works best for you and your family – may each serve you individually; Or you may want to freeze family-sized portions of meals that you know you can just thaw, heat and eat.
You can also freeze snacks – but it’s best to freeze them first by placing items such as bliss balls or slices on a lined cutting board and freezing them individually. Then you can put it all in a ziplock bag and they won’t all clump together.
4. Not enough freezer space
Trying to cram 40 containers into a freezer that only holds 20 is very stressful and can end up in food waste.
Clear out the freezer before you begin, and in the lead-up to your first meal prep session, try using whatever you have in your freezer to make room for your new healthy creations.
Sure, that might mean some mashed-up dinners, but that’s okay!
Don’t forget that you can use your meal prep time to prep your food for the week, which means you can keep it in the fridge. Think yogurt with honey and LSA, chopped fruit, veggie purees and healthy retreat. Anything you can do ahead of time will help you stick to your healthy eating plan.
5. Not devoting a large part of the time to meal preparation
You can’t do a big food cookout in an hour, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time to shop, unpack, chop, cook, refrigerate, container, label, and freeze.
We love to cook on Sunday afternoons, but find a time that works for you. If you can get the kids to mind the afternoon while you cook, even better.
Why not team up with another meal prep mom and then you can take care of her kids when she wants to cook?
6. Forgetting to label the label
You might think you’ll remember what’s in your freezer but to avoid “surprise dinners”, it’s best to label everything.
Use the format “meal name, number of portions, and date cooked” so it looks like “Lamb and cheese balls1 serving, 1/23/18 minutes
If you know other people may be defrosting meals, you can also include more information such as “defrost overnight then reheat on the stove until piping hot”.
You can write on the plastic tubs with a black sharpie, or put masking tape on them to write on. Place labels to the side so you can see at a glance what you have when stacked.
To join the 28 days weight loss challenge click here.
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