Discover what they are and the pros and cons of each
Have you ever finished a long day at work, picked up the kids and headed off to a busy night of soccer practice and piano lessons only to remember you forgot to feed everyone?
On days like this you may feel extra stressed because you realize somewhere in there you must feed all these “hangry” humans and it should also be something nutritious and delicious. What in the world do you do?
Anxiety might be creeping up your neck just by reading this… Don’t worry, you are not alone.
Meal prep is
a common source of anxiety and frustration for all of us. How to plan, what to make, how long it will take and then actually preparing a meal can be enough to make you crazy.
It is one of the reasons why fast food drive-thru thrives and convenience packaged food flies off the shelf at the grocery store. We are willing to spend our money for fast and convenient, especially with food.
But unfortunately it is not the best way to fuel our bodies or benefit our health
Fast food in
all its forms from a package, can, freezer or drive-thru usually means there are unexpected ingredients like unhealthy fats, too much sugar, chemical additives, and artificial everything.
These all come with a long list of negative health effects like weight gain, high cholesterol, too much blood sugar, high blood pressure and more.
A little meal planning and preparation ahead of time can help cut back on the path that leads to all these challenges. And it doesn’t have to be hard or take all your time. You can make it work for you.
How about we cut down on that anxiety by helping you discover the 3 most popular meal prep methods? Then we can review some of the pros and cons of them.
Armed with this information, you can feel empowered to try some meal prep today!
The 3 Most Popular Methods are:
- Mass meal prep
- Batch cooking
- Multiple meal prep
Mass meal prep:
In this method, you prepare a meal in mass quantity so you can divide and store it in individual portions to eat later.
Example: Making a stir fry and brown rice, then dishing it up into 12 different portions to enjoy later.
Pros of mass meal prep:
- This is a perfect method for you if you like consistency and want or need to follow a specific daily meal plan
- It creates exact portion control to watch what you eat more easily
- It takes out all the anxiety of what to eat
- It is easy to take on the go
- Great for serving 2 or fewer people
Cons of mass meal prep:
- You may get bored eating the same thing over and over
- It lacks creativity or having fun with food
- May need lots of room to store in the refrigerator or freezer
- Harder to follow when serving more than one person
- You have to be selective about what you make because some foods don’t work well being portioned and stored for longer periods of time
Batch cooking:
With batch cooking, you cook a large amount of one ingredient and divide it up to make several different meals.
Example: Try cooking 2 pounds of ground beef and then dividing it into taco meat, spaghetti sauce, beef & broccoli, and shepherd’s pie.
Pros of batch cooking:
- It takes out the anxiety of figuring out what to eat because you can plan your meals at one time
- You can still be creative and have variety in your meals
- It is quicker than the other meal prep methods
- Cooking a meal later is so much faster using ingredients already prepared ahead of time
- It works great for those who like less structure than traditional meal prep methods
Cons of batch cooking:
- You still have to do some food prep for each meal when you use your ingredients
- You still have to do some planning to use batch cooking smartly
- It can be harder for those who need more structure with meal prep
Multiple meal prep:
Ever wanted to cook all your meals for a month in one day? This is an example of multiple meal cooking. You prepare different meals at the same time to store and use later.
Example: You make pulled pork, barbecue chicken, pot roast and salmon patties all at once, then freeze and use them later.
Pros of multiple meal prep:
- This is the perfect method for you if you are a planner, organizer, and love having everything taken care of ahead of time
- Knock out all your meal prep for an extended period in one session
- Enjoy some variety while maintaining the structure
- Budget and shop specifically because you know exactly what you need to purchase to make all your meals
- Consistently provide homemade meals for a group of people without cooking from scratch each time
Cons of multiple meal prep:
- Most time consuming of all of the methods
- Requires the most planning and structure
- Must have adequate storage space and food safe containers for your meals
- Limited to meals that will store or freeze and then serve well at a later date
- Harder to use if serving 2 or less people
After looking over these 3 methods for meal prep, hopefully, you have some new ideas and might be leaning towards one particular method.
That is great! But don’t worry, in the next blog post, we will talk through what is the best meal prep method for you to try out. But for now…
Question:
Which meal prep method are you most drawn to?
The idea of organization and preparing ahead of time sounds great but in the kitchen, I like to let loose and get creative. That means my favorite method is batch cooking and I use it all the time.
I can’t wait to hear what your preference is. Comment below and let me know!
And check out this post on how to choose the best meal prep method for you.
