Mastering meal prep
A Busy Mom's Guide to Getting Started
why should i meal prep?
Studies have consistently shown that women tend to spend more time on household tasks, including meal preparation and cooking, compared to men. This is often referred to as the "second shift," where women come home from work only to start their responsibilities at home. the challenges busy moms face when it comes to cooking nutritious meals. Some days when that second shift starts, I feel like I have moths circling my brain. My head is still spinning from work and now I get to decide what everyone will eat for dinner.
Meal prep sessions have been a game changer for this reason. I make these decisions at the beginning of the week, front-loading that time and decision commitment to reduce decision fatigue on a daily basis. This saves me time and stress when I need peace the most and helps our family eat healthy, since quick options are usually the most processed ones. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not above a drive-thru but I want to balance our meals so those moments of desperation don’t turn into a week of unhealthy eating side-effects.
Let’s talk about goals!
MY MEAL PREP GOALS
As of now, I do a bi-weekly meal prep session. This is because they tend to take a chunk of time (worth-it!), but its not quite manageable to do this on a weekly basis. I’d much rather continue to plan better and innovate (double batches, freeze things, etc) and do these bi-weekly basis.
Here are my reasons that motivate my meal prep sessions:
Less cooking and dishes during the week: My time is so limited with the kids in the evening, I don’t want to spend it all in the kitchen. When I reheat something or have minimal prep to get food on the table, I can give the kids more of my undivided attention in the evenings.
Fast Food! Food ready to grab for breakfast, lunch and snacks during the workday. This saves me from so many hangry moments.
Low to no ingredient waste: because meals are ready to grab and I am able to strategically use up up all older perishables.
CREATE A MEAL SCHEDULE
Let’s fight decision fatigue even further with a weekly template based on your family’s preferences and activities. Use the workbook you downloaded above to plan out themes like Pizza night, pancake breakfasts or brunch out on Sundays.
Definitely plan your easiest meal or a takeout option on grocery shop day because the ordering, putting it all away then cooking can be a marathon!
MY METHOD
As you’re putting actual meals onto the daily template, here is a bit of context on how I laid out the template.
For a while, I have been using the same meal rotation, which means I don’t measure and I have been able to optimize these recipes to use the same ingredient across different recipes. I am flexible to ensure I use up items that we’ve had for a bit, even when they aren’t my usual recipes.
Examples of this: “Oh I need to use that Kimchi. I like ham in Kimchi fried rice, I could get a ham, also put that in lentil soup and Cut ham squares for some DIY lunchables.”
For this reason, I have a “to use” column which you could use to audit what you have, in order to ensure you meet goals like “less food waste”.
SELECTING RECIPES
Resources I use for recipe selection:
Pinterest (align your boards with your daily themes to make this even easier)
Instagram: I bookmark posts in a “Food Collection” then audit this regularly.
Google searches: Be sure to pin these when you find good ones!
IN CONCLUSION
Meal prep is such a great way to organize your household through planned recipes and reduce your decision fatigue by batching those decisions and systemizing the work involved.
Let me know your thoughts below on this freebie and what you’d meal prep content you’d like to see next!
NOW IT IS YOUR TURN
Let’s set your meal prep goals! Setting your meal prep goals will drive your motivation to complete this task because… it is a process.
Download my FREE meal prep workbook to establish your goals, set realistic expectations, start planning your weekly meal themes and plan your first meal prep!