Here are some tried and true tips if you’re also a beginner adult like me. I had to get good at meal-prepping in London out of necessity, partly for savings, partly for health, and partly because I can’t stand the 10min it takes to buy lunch from the school canteen. I only had an hour for lunch, so 10min reduces my break by 17%, not including the time I use to eat*. During school hours I want to pack in as much work as I can to free up my evenings, so spare time at lunch is used to prep for the next day’s lessons.
My priorities are not nice blog photos and I don’t care to make my cooking life seem better than yours so these photos are the real deal. This is how to meal prep if you’re interested in literally anything else other than cooking.
When do I meal prep?
I suggest Sunday dinner time because:
- The food will sit in your fridge for the shortest amount of time before being eaten.
- You can cook dinner while you’re at it.
- You can build grocery shopping into your other Sunday activities, e.g. between errands or as part of your Sunday stroll.
- Less rush on Sundays so you can try out new recipes.
Every Sunday morning I would take 2 hours to have a nice walk to the grocery store and be back before 12, put things away, have lunch and spend a few hours getting lesson plans ready. I meal prep just in time for dinner and make enough for 5 lunches + dinner.
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| This was part of my weekly walk. |
What do I cook?
I legitimately keep a list on my phone of the meals I can cook and pick one or two every week to make. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like. The crossed-out list was from before I became more serious about vegetarianism. You can think of all the meals you can cook right now and brainstorm a list + the ingredients you need for each dish.
It’s really hard to mess up stirfry or pasta. Youtube how to avoid mushy pasta or overcooked veggies.
My process
It is honestly the most unglamorous thing ever to meal prep.
My formula is 1/2 rice + 1/2 vegetable stew/curry/stirfry with whichever sauce I felt like that week.
- Start rice cooker, it will automatically shut off so I don’t need to keep an eye on it.
- Cook the side dish while the rice is cooking
- When the food is done, I’ll wash dishes while it cools down a bit and lay out 5 containers
- Portion the rice and side into each container and you’re done!
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| Look at these amazingly staged photos. |
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| Default #1: pasta + pesto + whatever vegetables I feel like |
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| Default #2: rice + pre-made sauce + whatever vegetables I feel like |
Miscellaneous tips
- Eat something before you shop! I overbuy when I’m hungry shop and have had to throw out vegetables I couldn’t finish in time. Bad and sad 🙁
- SHOP WITH A LIST to avoid impulse buys. I bought turnips once because they were on sale. I don’t eat turnips.
- If you have a food vice you can’t give up, like rice for me, you can definitely find a healthier alternative. I switched to brown rice every once in a while.
- You can make 2 different meals and alternate.
- In university one of my housemates and I would try one new recipe a week, so I slowly built up my cooking skills. I also like to watch cooking videos while I work out to remind me of the real reason I’m exercising 🙂
- Slow-cookers are amazing and make a huge batch with very little effort.
- Put the lid on top but don’t close it until the food cools to room temp. This is to avoid the cooling air in your container from vacuum sealing the container shut.
*And pee. Any teacher will tell you we have bladders of iron and it’s a balance between going to the toilet vs. have more time to prep for the next lesson.