Tips to Make Meal Prep a Breeze
implify Your Life With Meal Prep
Meal prepping has become a popular trend in recent years, and for good reason. It can save you time, money, and ensure that you’re eating nutritious meals throughout the week. There are so many benefits from meal prep from saving time and money to ensuring you and your family are eating more nutritious, well-balanced meals. And while it may seem overwhelming to get started we will provide you with our best tips, meal prep essential foods and much more.
Save Time
One of the biggest benefits of meal prepping is that it can save you time. Instead of having to cook every day, you can spend a few hours on the weekend prepping your meals for the week. This means you’ll have more time during the week to focus on other things, like work, family, or hobbies.
Save Money
Another benefit of meal prepping is that it can save you money. When you cook in bulk, you can take advantage of sales and buy ingredients in larger quantities. This means you’ll be able to stretch your budget further and avoid the temptation to eat out or order takeout, which can be expensive.
Ensure You’re Eating Nutritious Meals
Meal prepping can also help ensure that you’re eating nutritious meals. When you plan your meals in advance, you can make sure that they’re well-balanced and include plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. This can help you maintain a healthy weight, improve your energy levels, and reduce your risk of chronic diseases.
Individual Portions
Individually portioned meals are great for lunches or if you have people in your household who don’t like all of the same foods. In this case, you can prepare an entire meal, then divide it up evenly among however many containers you’re using. This is one of the most helpful methods when you want to meal prep for a series of days or an entire week.
implify Your Life With Meal Prep
Meal prepping has become a popular trend in recent years, and for good reason. It can save you time, money, and ensure that you’re eating nutritious meals throughout the week. There are so many benefits from meal prep from saving time and money to ensuring you and your family are eating more nutritious, well-balanced meals. And while it may seem overwhelming to get started we will provide you with our best tips, meal prep essential foods and much more.
Save Time
One of the biggest benefits of meal prepping is that it can save you time. Instead of having to cook every day, you can spend a few hours on the weekend prepping your meals for the week. This means you’ll have more time during the week to focus on other things, like work, family, or hobbies.
Save Money
Another benefit of meal prepping is that it can save you money. When you cook in bulk, you can take advantage of sales and buy ingredients in larger quantities. This means you’ll be able to stretch your budget further and avoid the temptation to eat out or order takeout, which can be expensive.
Ensure You’re Eating Nutritious Meals
Meal prepping can also help ensure that you’re eating nutritious meals. When you plan your meals in advance, you can make sure that they’re well-balanced and include plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. This can help you maintain a healthy weight, improve your energy levels, and reduce your risk of chronic diseases.
Individual Portions
Individually portioned meals are great for lunches or if you have people in your household who don’t like all of the same foods. In this case, you can prepare an entire meal, then divide it up evenly among however many containers you’re using. This is one of the most helpful methods when you want to meal prep for a series of days or an entire week.
Stress Relief
No longer fear that seemingly innocuous question “What’s for Dinner?” At the end of a long day, coming up with a dinner plan, cooking and cleaning up dirty dishes are the last thing you want to be dealing with. With meal prepping you will have eliminated that stress from your life.
Meal prep like a pro: tips and tricks to make it easy!
If you’re new to meal prepping, it can be overwhelming at first. Here are some tips to help you get started:
- Choose a day to meal prep. Many people prefer to do it on the weekend, but choose a day that works best for you.
- Make a meal plan. Decide what meals you want to prep for the week and make a grocery list accordingly.
- Prep in batches. Cook your proteins and vegetables in large batches and portion them out for the week.
- Don’t forget about snacks. Prepping healthy snacks, like fruit, vegetables, and nuts, can help you avoid unhealthy snacks during the day.
Meal prepping can be a great way to save time, money, and ensure that you’re eating nutritious meals throughout the week. By following these tips, you can get started with meal prepping and enjoy the many benefits it has to offer.
Below we have included our 6 best tips, Heartland Foods essentials, a meal prep calendar AND one of our favorite meal prep and dinner recipes to get you started!
Seasoned Pork~
Our Seasoned Pork recipe is great as part of our Sweet and Sour Pork Stir-Fry recipe or as the main protein in your other favorite pork-based recipes. Go ahead and give it a try!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 white pepper
- 2 pounds Cheshire Farms Boneless Pork Chops
- 2 tablespoons Avocado oil, divided
Directions
- Whisk together soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, sesame oil, salt, and white pepper in a large bowl. Cut pork chops across the grain into bite-size pieces; pat dry with paper towels.
- Add pork to soy sauce mixture; toss until coated. Marinate at room temperature 15 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
- Drain pork; add half the pork to skillet.
- Stir-fry 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through (145 degrees).
- Transfer to a large clean bowl. Repeat 2 more times with remaining avocado oil and pork.
- Scrape brown bits from bottom of skillet and wipe skillet clean.
- Serve as desired or use as the base for our Sweet and Sour Pork (recipe below.)
Sweet & Sour Pork Stir-Fry ~
Start with our basic recipe for Seasoned Pork. The best part is? You can easily double this recipe, store in the fridge, or even freeze it for a quick weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 cup frozen Heartland Foods organic broccoli florets
- ½ c. carrots, thinly bias-sliced
- ½ medium red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ small red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ recipe Seasoned Pork, (4 servings)
- 12 ounces bottle sweet and sour sauce
- ½ c. water
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- Hot cooked rice, for serving
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
Directions
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add broccoli and carrots; stir-fry 1 minute.
- Add yellow and red bell peppers and onion; stir-fry 2 to 4 minutes or more or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
- Add cooked Seasoned Pork to the vegetables in skillet.
- Stir in sweet and sour sauce, water, and ginger.
- Cook over medium heat until heated through (165 degrees).
- Serve with hot rice.
- Garnish with sesame seeds, if desired.
