You are busy, and the last thing you need is to spend an hour making dinner…. every. single. night. And not to mention breakfast and lunch too!
Those little mouths don’t feed themselves. But they sure can eat! Having healthy pre-prepared foods on hand will save you time and energy. Your kids will love the food and you will love the simplicity it brings!
Discover the ultimate time-saving solution for busy parents! Learn how meal prepping can simplify your life, save money, and ensure your family eats healthy, delicious meals every day. From easy recipes to storage tips, get started with meal prepping and reclaim your free time.
Pinterest
Why Meal Prep?
Meal Prepping Saves Time
24 hours in a day. Spent changing diapers, playing cars, building forts, and putting baby down for naps. You know what you don’t have? Free time. So when you think about freeing up time in your life, meal time is the easiest place to look. Stop giving up sleep and learn to consolidate your meal prepping to one or two days a week.
Cook in bulk. Cook a few things at once. Choose easy recipes. All of these things allow you to start meal prepping and save yourself precious time you could surely use more of!
Meal Prepping Saves Money
Studies have shown that Americans throw away over 100 lbs of rotten food from their refrigerators each year. Depending on where you do your grocery shopping that is thousands of dollars of food! Save your pennies. Prepping meals takes those ingredients and puts them into edible form. No more wasted food. And MORE edible yummy ready-to-eat food for you!
You Eat Healthier!
Prepping your food makes grabbing a healthy snack as easy as grabbing a bag of chips. Only your snacks? So much better for you! Taking the time to have healthy food on hand makes eating well easy. What busy mom doesn’t need that in their life? I do!
How to Get Started Meal Prepping
Easy Meal Prep Recipes
You need this to be easy. Meal prepping is supposed to save you time and energy. So don’t meal prep things that take more time than a regular dinner would! I prefer recipes with just a few ingredients and hardly any hands on prep. One pan meals are great. Crockpot is even better if you ask me. Whatever it is you choose to make. Keep it simple!
Now one thing I struggle with is that a LOT of recipes you find online are complicated. OR they are most certainly not for kids. So I started my own Family Friendly Easy Recipe Book, which you can subscribe to here. Most of these meals are “preppable”.
In face MOST meals that families eat can be frozen or made in bulk to be meal prepped. Think about the things your family loves to eat. Pasta freezes better than you think. Pancakes and eggs keep just fine in the fridge for 5 days. You likely wont need to overhaul your menu in order to simplify your life. You just need to start making MORE at once.
Crockpot Meals
Nothing beats throwing the ingredients for a weeks worth of dinner into one pot and then walking away for 6 hours. Can you get more simple than that?
I LOVE my crockpot. The trick is, quantity. Enjoy that chili tonight… and for 4 other nights to come. Frozen or refrigerated, those leftovers get used. And you still didn’t spend more then 15 minutes tossing everything in.
Want some ideas for crockpot meals you can easily freeze? Subscribe to the Crockpot Meals for Families newsletter.
Storage Containers for Meal Prepping
You can purchase any kind of container (Tupperware) for meal prepped foods. Many people like glass dishes etc…
Personally I use regular old plastic containers like these from Walmart if I am going to store the food in the fridge. If I am freezing food, I actually use quart size freezer bags. Lay those babies flat and a 1-2 serving portion freezes up real nicely. You can fit a bunch of those into a plastic box or even just stacked to keep the freezer organized.
Choose a Time to Meal Prep
Meal prepping still does take time. Just significantly less. Plan into your week when you will take the time to do your cooking. I prefer to do it on Sunday or Monday so that the rest of my week feels easy. I usually do it on Sunday because I enjoy cooking on slower days. As a church goer, I try to fill Sundays with mindful things that bring me closer to God. Cooking (when I dont have a million other things to do) does that for me!
Whenever it is that you meal prep. Make sure it is a time you can finish it. If at all possible make it a time you can enjoy it! After the kids are in bed? With the kids on a slower day? Make it fun so that you can look forward to the process AND the results.
