The container has always been an ally for all those who could not afford to pay for a daily menu at work or did not have time to go home to eat. However, Meal Prep with containers has become fashionable in recent months, especially on social networks, where there are already many accounts that profess the philosophy of preparing menus in advance to eat healthy , while at the same time time and money are saved.
There are two variants of Meal Prep, and the simplest is to prepare all the foods that we will need to prepare the meals; That is, wash, cut, peel or season everything that the recipe includes, in addition to using the characteristic containers to store it. But it can also be done in the extended sense, in which in addition to carrying out the previous steps, it is cooked and left prepared so that you only have to heat it when you are going to eat it.
But Meal Prep is not only oriented towards container food at work , but you can also adopt this routine to prepare dishes for the whole family , as it is a good way to control what you eat and follow a diet. healthy, thus avoiding the unforeseen events and rush that almost always result in the consumption of junk food , in addition to saving, since by planning meals you can make a more efficient purchase, and also take advantage of leftovers .
The Meal Prep philosophy is based on meticulous organization of meals, in order to eat healthier, and save time and money.
One of the great attractions of this trend on social networks is the way of placing food in the container, which is usually very meticulous and colorful, as it almost always includes some vegetables. In addition, there are containers with dividers, which save space while making it easier to organize the different dishes on the menu, without mixing the flavors.
4 Steps to put Meal Prep into practice
The first thing you should do if you want to put Meal Prep into practice is acquire several containers ; It is recommended that they be made of glass so that they can be refrigerated, frozen, or heated directly, and that they have different sizes to be able to include mid-morning or afternoon snacks. If plastic or bags are used, make sure they do not contain BPA . It must be taken into account that the aim is also to eat with the eyes , that is, to make the menu appetizing, so the presentation in the container is important. Do you already have the containers? Let’s do it:
- First of all, you have to plan the daily meals for the following days. For this reason, it is recommended to spend a few minutes thinking and writing down the menus for a maximum of five days, because if more time passes the ingredients may lose their properties. To make delicious, but also fun and varied meals, you can get ideas from accounts like @mealprepsociety , @mealprepdaily , or any cookbook.
- When you have all the menus, make a shopping list with all the ingredients you will need. This is a good way to save money, not overbuy and, of course, not throw expired or spoiled food into the trash. You must take into account the menus you have chosen, which foods can be frozen , which ones you should eat fresh, etc.
- Now is the time to start preparing the ingredients . The pieces of meat must be divided into individual portions; This way you can freeze them and take out only the ones you need at any given time. A trick is to place the spices with the meat in the same container to keep everything together, except the salt and pepper, because this way it will take on the flavor.
As for vegetables such as onion , pepper, carrot, and others, they should be saved washed, peeled and cut, ready to put in the pan or oven ; They can also be frozen and will be made in the same way as meat, in portions. Finally, fruits and some vegetables, such as lettuce, cannot be frozen, as they oxidize or burn due to the cold. The best way to preserve them is to refrigerate them in the refrigerator until consumption, although if you plan to drink them in smoothies you can freeze them without problems.
- If you are going to leave the food prepared so you only have to heat it in the microwave, it is time to turn on the stove. You can take advantage of an afternoon to prepare food for several days; This way you will take advantage of the time and heat of the oven. A good way to prepare several foods at the same time is to place aluminum foil on the oven tray and divide the space into as many parts as there are food variants we want to make. The divisions can be made with the same aluminum foil, crumpling it, to prevent the flavors from transferring. Another idea, if you are going to prepare the same type of meat, is to separate the portions with vegetables.
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After these four steps you would have your containers ready. Remember to vary the menus each week so that they do not become boring, and present them in a colorful and well-placed way. A pleasure for all the senses.
