The Benefits of Healthy, Easy, Quick Meal Prep

More people are becoming well acquainted with the healthy habits of meal prepping. After all, there are tons of benefits to prepping your favorite dish in advance.

• It encourages healthy eating
• Minimizes your consumption of junk food
• Saves money
• and more.

As a result, a lot of people have integrated meal prepping as part of their weekly schedule and “to do” lists.

Fortunately, organizing meals in advance isn’t as complicated as it may seem. With dozens of great recipes on sites such as Pinterest, Livestrong, and Ambitious Kitchen, there are so many selections to choose from. Simply search blogs, social media, or other areas of the internet… even a Google search. When you can emotionally stay connected to healthy options, sticking to meal prep is easy. And if you need a few more incentives, take a look at these:

Meal Prepping Saves Time

One of the biggest benefits of meal prep is that it saves time. We don’t really think about it but when we don’t have a specific plan for breakfast, lunch or dinner, we get hung up on what or where to eat. And with limited time available before, during or after work, the quickest thing to grab is a pizza slice, a bag of chips, and other unhealthy nibbles.

But when you can prep in advance, you’ll have more time to focus on other things in your life. Less time is spent cooking or deciding what to eat, means you can go for more walks, hang out with friends or family, or relax on the sofa. Interestingly, making time for meal prep actually clears up more time in your schedule. 

Meal Prepping Eliminates Stress

The hassle of finding last-minute meals or snacks can be overwhelming. Let’s face it, when your stomach starts to growl and hunger sets in, your body goes into stress mode. Any food within reach may be between your teeth in seconds. And sure, it’s easy to placate painful hunger pains with a quick fix, but more than likely, you’ll regret the high octane grease, sugar, and salt you just ate. Meal prepping means less stress because you’ll have the right foods readily accessible.

Meal Prepping Increases Savings

Busy schedules, long commutes, and hectic lifestyles make it almost impossible to cook from scratch each day. And when there’s nothing ready to eat in the pantry or fridge, people feel compelled to order takeout. It’s no secret that eating out adds up to a big food bill each month. 

Prepping foods at home for the week encourages people to head to the grocery and make better food choices. You can pay attention to costs, budget for the week, and look for your favorite foods vs. just “anything to eat.”

Meal Prepping Encourages Better Eating Habits

Wouldn’t we all like to cut down on our intake of processed foods? If you’re really focused, you could eliminate refined sugars, highly preserved, zero nutritional value foods overall.

Clean eating goes hand-in-hand with meal prepping because you’re in complete control of your ingredients. When we pay attention, we eat more vegetables, pay attention to labels, and we’re in better control of the quality of foods that we put into our bodies.

Meal Prepping Can Help You Manage A Healthy Weight

Most health professionals will tell you that meal prepping is a great way to manage your weight. Cooking foods in advance supports portion control and ingredient selection. Instead of counting calories when you’re looking at a restaurant menu, you can regulate how much food you consume per meal and per day, leaving you less likely to eat more than you should.

Take Advantage of Meal Prepping by Storing Foods Correctly 

In general, preparing and storing food for the week is very helpful. But it’s really important to items correctly, and to consume them within their shelf life. No one wants food poisoning. If you’re meal prepping, be sure to label your foods with dates. For more information on storing foods correctly, consider this article posted by Harvard’s public health news. 

Redwood Living strongly believes in the advantages of practicing healthy daily habits and living your best life. Learn more about Redwood’s healthy living resources.