Prep Like a Pro: The Ultimate Guide to Meal Prepping!
To be brutally honest, we used to eat like crap. Breakfast usually consisted of sugary cereal for the kids and coffee for us. Lunch would be mac and cheese or a Hot Pocket. And dinners…they were the worst. Our weeknights were filled with low-quality options like frozen pizza, Hamburger Helper and canned soups. We didn’t quite understand at the time, but we were slowly killing not just ourselves, but our kids too. Talk about a gut punch!
One Sunday morning we looked at each other said, “No more!” And that’s where our meal prep journey started. We poured through pages of Google search results to learn as much as we could about preparing a full week’s worth of delicious, (mostly) healthy meals on the weekend, so we wouldn’t have to stress about them during the week.
And, to our surprise, it actually worked… Our research taught us that the slow cooker could be our secret weapon. Our plan was to prep the meals on Sunday and put them in the freezer. Each weekday morning, before work, we’d defrost a meal and throw it in the slow cooker. To our delight, we would return home to a wonderful smelling home and a freshly cooked, ready-to-eat dinner with ZERO hassle. The rest, as they say, is history. Here we are, nearly 6 years later, and we’re still meal prepping religiously, every Sunday.
So, we decided to put together this guide for people like us. Who are those people?
· People who want to eat healthier
· People who want to lose weight
· People who want to save money
· People who don’t have time to cook every day
· People who want to reduce food waste
Yes, you’re correct if you think that basically covers every adult on the planet. EVERYONE can benefit from meal prepping!
The good, the bad and the ugly of processed foods.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s talk about what we used to eat—processed foods. Some people might be asking, “What’s so bad about frozen pizza or mac and cheese? They’re easy to make and delicious.” The truth is those people aren’t wrong. And that’s because processed foods are scientifically engineered to be as tasty as possible, and as convenient as possible.
That means, the frozen entrée you just ate for dinner was likely designed in a laboratory. And what did that laboratory have in mind? “In the majority of cases, food processing equipment is used to increase the palatability and digestibility of foods as well as extend their shelf life.”[i]
Yes, you read correctly. Processed food equipment is designed to make food taste better (so you’ll buy more), digest faster (so you’ll eat more), and last longer (so the manufacturer can maximize profits.)
Contrary to their packaging, these companies aren’t trying to make food healthier or higher quality. They’re trying to make food that’s cheap, easy to prepare, great tasting and easily digestible. These foods have become so processed in fact, that in recent years, scientists have labeled them “ultra-processed foods.” Today, a whopping 58% of the calories Americans consume are made up of these ultra-processed foods.
*This is a multi-part article and will be updated throughout the next few weeks.
