Meal prep has becoming increasingly popular, especially for busy families who don’t have the time to prepare and cook dinner every night. Not only does it save time, but meal prepping is convenient and simple, so even the busiest moms can have dinner made for their family. Here are the best 5 meal prep tips for apartment dwelling moms.
Choose What to Prep
Are you only interested in prepping dinner? You can prepare meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most moms with school aged children who pack a lunch swear by prepping lunch, especially if they have multiple children to feed. This can save time in the morning so your kids can just grab their lunch box and go, and you won’t be rushed, tossing food into bags before they’re late. Meal prepping dinner saves time in the evening when everybody is winding down, so you can spend more time together as a family instead of cooking all evening after a long day.
Prep Day
Decide what day you’ll be prepping on. This may be on the weekend when you have off or a weekday when you work a short day. If you have little ones running around, it may be easier to prep when they are at school, but Sunday is the most common prep day since a lot of people have off that day and it’s a day to just relax with the family.
Make a Menu
Now comes the fun part! To keep from getting overwhelmed by meal prepping, only plan a week at a time. Sit down and create a menu for the week and figure out which parts of the meals can be prepped and which you’ll have to freshly prepare. There are tons of recipes available online so you can plan out meals that are not only nutritious, but delicious.
Proper Prepping
Different foods have different methods of prepping to ensure they maintain freshness until they’re used. Wash and chop fruits and veggies ahead of time. You can also prep pasta and grains. Cooking and prepping your meats will save a ton of time. Cook up some hamburger for taco salad or cook and shred chicken breast for quesadillas later in the week.
Storage
Proper storage can make all the difference when you meal prep. You want reusable containers that withstand the constant freezing well so you can ensure the foods you prep remain fresh and tasty until it’s time for them to be cooked.
There you have the best 5 meal prep tips for moms living in downtown Raleigh apartments. Decide what meals you’ll be prepping then plan your menu for the week. Make sure to get good storage containers to retain freshness and prep each food properly. Enjoy the simplicity and convenience of meal prep!