Whether on a meal plan or not, meal prep is a good habit to include in your weekly routine. Today I’m sharing four reasons why meal prep can help you reach your health goals.
Better food tracking
When you prepare your meals in advance, you make it easier to manage your food. You can better balance what you eat throughout the day because you already know what will be on your plate at mealtime.
With a meal plan meal planning is also an essential part of your meal prep. When you have specific goals and know “where you’re going” with your diet, you’re well on your way!
Healthier meals
I can’t stress this enough: diet is key to achieving overall health goals. It affects your weight (and overall physique), but it also affects your mental health.
When you take the time to prepare healthy meals at home, you can control the sugar and salt you use. It also allows you to use higher quality ingredients or to more easily customize your dinners to your tastes or dietary needs/restrictions.
Hello, variety!
Some people think of meal prep as putting the same chicken/quinoa/broccoli meal in reusable dishes for every day of the week. This version of meal prep may suit the “food Steve Jobs” of the world, but in reality, meal prep is much more than that!
Yes, you can have a “schedule” to make it easier to find recipes: Monday-veggie, Tuesday-fish, Wednesday-beef, Thursday-egg, etc. But in the end, what advanced meal preparation allows you to do is diversify your diet. For greater flexibility, try food prep, which involves preparing several different foods rather than full meals.
Your wallet thanks you
At the beginning of this article, we mentioned that meal prep could help you reach your health goals. But when you think about it, it can also help you achieve some financial goals. The simple fact of preparing your meals in advance can help you avoid certain “unnecessary” expenses. These include going out to restaurants or making (too) frequent trips to the grocery store to “buy just what you need for dinner.”
Meal prep is a great tool to put these habits aside, as it encourages you to plan and prepare your meals accordingly to your schedule and lifestyle. For example, if you know you’re on the go on Tuesdays, you can plan your lunches and snacks, so you don’t have to stop at the take-out. It’s a good choice for your health and your wallet!