Keeping up with weekly meal prep can be a bit of a struggle especially if you are super busy with kids at home. Fitting in weekly meal prep can save you not only time, but also money in the long run. Different strategies can be adapted to make it work for your lifestyle, but the most important things are finding a weekly meal prep strategy that work for you and sticking to your plan!
Schedule in Weekly Meal Prep Time
Schedule in your time to meal prep. This is the number one tip I have for anyone wanting to be successful with any lifestyle change habit! Whether it’s adding in exercise or meal prepping, schedule it into your weekly routine! I usually meal prep on the weekend for the whole week! I find this makes the work week less stressful and more productive in the evenings.
Shop Your Fridge and Pantry
When looking at planning your weekly meal prep, shop your pantry first. This is the part that will save you money! Use up that cheese and meat left from taco night last week in Spanish rice this week or use up that shredded chicken in chicken and noodles.
Review Sale Flyers
After determining what you already have at home. Check out your local sale flyers for what you can stock up on for not only this week, but weeks ahead. If your life is anything like mine, occasionally there is a week or two where we don’t make it to the store.
Make A Grocery List
Make a grocery list based on your meal prep plan and stick to it! This one is the hardest for me, I have found that grocery pick up is the best thing that was ever invented, because it makes it super easy for me to stick to my list without any temptation of walking down the isles.
Make Your Weekly Meal Plan
I will admit I plan out my lunches firmly, but my dinners more loosely. Usually I have an idea of what 2-3 dinners that will be made during the week. However, these do not necessarily fall on a particular night. I then pick from the list depending on how much prep time I have when I get home from work. The remaining days we eat left overs or out of the freezer prep meals I have pre-made.
Get Good Reusable Containers
I started out meal prepping with throw away plastic reusable containers that were around 4-6 containers for $3. Now I have good quality glass containers and it makes all the difference in ease of meal prepping and clean up. I also store these containers separate from the rest of my Tupperware. This is the set I started with. This also prevents having to search for a matching set since the cheaper containers often broke and were misplaced.
Having a set plan in place to get your weekly meal prep in order will help you stay on track. Scheduling in time, shopping your own fridge and pantry, reviewing sales flyers and making a grocery list will all help you maintain your weekly meal prep plan and stay on budget.
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