Hot Health Trend: Meal Planning and Prepping

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If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that every Monday, I post my meal plan for the week. Most health nuts swear by meal prepping  as do most organizational freaks. It allows us to attempt to get the right amount of fat, protein, carbs and other macros in each meal and helps us to stick to their health goals and schedules each week. However, you don’t need to be an athlete, super fit gym rat, or organizational geek to take advantage of meal prepping. It’s just as useful to those who aren't health-conscious or have no organizational goals in mind.

Here are four reasons why meal prepping is a trend that you need to get on board with.

1. You Will Eat More Healthily

One of the main benefits of meal prepping is that it allows you to eat more healthily. When food is prepared and ready to go, it means you’re less likely to be tempted by unhealthy and convenient fast food and ordering take out. Meal prep and planning doesn't have to be all carefully weighed portions of meat, grains, and veggies- you can prepare delicious and healthy family meals . Stews made from meat and vegetables, bolognese and chili all work well and are often easily prepared in a slow cooker. You can load them up with vegetables, flavor with tasty herbs and spices and you have healthy home cooked food ready to eat as you need it.

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2. Meal Planning Saves Time

Cooking healthy food from scratch each day takes time. Washing, chopping, roasting, preparing a number of different elements to the dish. It’s all incredibly time consuming. Instead, you can batch cook meals at the weekends and portion them into individual boxes or meal prep bags. Websites like Fitness Must Haves have reviews and more information on these if you’re new to the meal prep game. Instead of constantly cooking from scratch, simply grab one of your pre-prepared meals from the fridge or freezer and heat it up. Easy!

3. Meal Planning Saves Money

How often does fresh food go bad in your refrigerator? If you’re like the majority of households, then your answer will be ‘every single week.’ We all know food waste is bad, it’s awful news for the environment and costs us a small fortune each year too. However, when it comes to fresh produce, it can be a struggle making sure everything is prepared and cooked in time since it doesn’t last long at all. The great thing about meal prepping is you save on waste since everything is being prepared, cooked and stored in one go.

4. Menu Planning Saves Hassle

When you’ve finished work, done the school run and have finally gotten home, the last thing you want to do is slave over a hot stove. It saves you from getting ready to cook a meal and realizing you’re missing one or two key ingredients. It also means you save on mess and washing up too, as you’re only actually cooking for one day a week. When you’re a busy parent with so much to do already, this is no bad thing! You can be safe in the knowledge that you and your family are eating well, but everything is far less stressful for you.

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Do you menu plan each week?