Top 3 Food Prep Tips

Without a doubt prepping your meals in advance is one of, if not the, easiest ways to maintain a healthy diet throughout the week.

Here are my top three food prep tips that get my tupperware in a tizz each week....

Time

There's nothing worse than trying to squeeze something else into your already crammed regime, so finding the time for food prep can be hard, but it's so worth the commitment.

If you can, try and dedicate half an afternoon, a morning, an hour- whatever you can, to preparing your food for the week or next few days ahead.

I'll always try and dedicate a couple of hours on a Sunday to making the majority of my food for the week ahead. Usually, I'll make a huge mixed vegetable quinoa risotto (or some carb-based affair that I can have with either fish, meat (occasionally), or feta for lunch). I'll also cook things like salmon fillets in bulk and store them in the fridge for the week ahead, or a veggie chilli that I can then freeze and take out as and when I need it.

I'll also make breakfast granola, raw energy balls, oat tray bakes and hummus etc. These are well easy to make as you just literally chuck everything in an oven or food processor and get on with something else for 10 - 20 minutes.

If I don't have the time on a Sunday, I'll prep for the next day as I cook my dinner. So, I'll cook double the salmon and keep half for lunch, and team it with leftover brown rice, avocado and spinach. Or, just juggle two pans and make something different - as long as it takes a similar time to cook as my tea, I'm happy.

Bulk-Cook

It's often cheaper to buy things like a whole chicken, a huge salmon fillet (which you can then slice into lunch-time fillets) etc to cook for the week ahead rather than buying one or two fillets. To team with these, like I said above I'll make a huge concoction of quinoa and veg, brown rice and veg, buckwheat pasta, a bulgur wheat or pearl barley risotto and split it up into portions for the next few days.

Don't scrimp 

I used to hurriedly throw my lunch together the night before, hastily chucking in a handful of salad leaves, a few cherry tomatoes, a tin of dry tuna and some avocado (if I was lucky), and smugly congratulate myself on making such a healthy lunch.. even though I knew full well at the time it wouldn't satisfy me! It meant that nine times out of ten I'd nip out to the shops to buy something (usually unhealthy) to help fill me up. Nicht good.

Always prepare your food with time and thought - it will make it so much nicer for future you the next day! Spice things up with home-made dressings, spices, herbs and most importantly, don't scrimp on portion sizes! Be realistic about how hungry you're going to be come 1pm, and remember to take plenty of nuts / fruit / homemade snacks to keep you going through the day.

• Make time
• Bulk cook
• Don't scrimp on taste, portion size or quality

I hope you've found these tips useful, let me know if you've got a food prep essential you swear by!

Image credits:
http://www.capriciousreader.com/?p=11877
https://bellaforzafitness.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/tips-on-how-to-meal-prep/