We all notice this in our wallet: life is becoming more and more expensive. Houses, gasoline, groceries… there are a few things that haven’t gotten more expensive lately. For this reason, it doesn’t hurt to save a little, for example, on your groceries. subwaySharon explains why meal prep saves time and money.
Want to save on your groceries, but not on your health? We wrote an article about this earlier: This is how you choose cheap and healthy food.
Save money with meal prep
Preparing a meal literally means preparing food. Can you still find the supermarket every day after work to buy that day’s dinner? Then there’s a good chance you’ll spend more money than people who plan their meals a little more. After all, you visit the supermarket often, which means you also buy products that you don’t need very often.
In addition, it is cheaper to prepare meals, because you can buy products in bulk. Let’s take, for example, a serving of chicken fillet: 300 grams of chicken fillet is relatively much more expensive than a kilo of chicken fillet. The same goes for fresh veggies, bags of pasta, rice, dairy products…all of these little bits end up saving more room in your shopping budget.
Dishes suitable for preparing meals
Not all dishes are suitable for meal preparation. For example, (fries) potatoes often become soggy when heated, and you don’t want to leave dishes containing raw fish like pot poke in the fridge for too long. Also sunny side up The egg is not suitable for long storage in the refrigerator. Boiled eggs, provided they are not reheated. It is wise for each product to check if the dish is getting soggy quickly (eg avocado) or browning (eg cut apple). This requires some research at first.
What are the suitable dishes? Think rice, pasta and soup dishes. Are you looking for new dishes? Try searching for “meal prep recipes” or “freeze meals.” The internet is full of meals you can make in bulk.
Dinner, lunch and breakfast
Dinner and lunch are meals that can often be prepared, but did you know that breakfast is also great for meal prepping? For example, make three-day overnight oats and keep them at the ready in the fridge. In the morning, mash a fresh banana through it, and you will have a delicious breakfast. This again saves time.
Breakfast treats such as yogurt (with honey and frozen fruit) and chia pudding are also ideal for keeping in the fridge. Often sweet appetite? Bake these banana bread muffins over the weekend and keep them in the fridge. Take one out of the fridge in the morning and enjoy a delicious cookie in the afternoon.
This is how you heat your meals
The easiest way to reheat your meals is by using the microwave. Often a minute or three is sufficient. Not a fan of the microwave? Then heat your meal in the skillet. Add a little olive oil and fry your meal over medium heat. This works well with casseroles such as pasta and rice dishes.
Some meals are also ideal for heating in the oven, such as a quiche or lasagna. This works best on a lower oven setting, think 150°C. 10 minutes of heating is often enough.
5 meal prep tips for beginners
Do you also want to start preparing meals after reading this article? Then keep the following tips in mind:
- Invest in good containers. This is especially important if you are bringing your lunch to the office. Nobody wants to find spaghetti sauce in their bag after a long train ride or car ride.
- Plan, plan, plan. Are you going to eat out twice this week? Then of course you don’t have to do any shopping on those days. This way you can prevent leftovers at the end of the week, which often expire and thus end up in the trash.
- Start small. You don’t have to be in the kitchen all day Sunday meal prep. Start by preparing a double portion of dinner. This won’t cost you any extra time, but it will save you time. You don’t have to prepare tomorrow’s dinner (or lunch, of course) the next day.
- Allow meals to cool before putting them in the refrigerator. Otherwise, your fridge will require a lot of effort to cool the dish, and it will be a shame on your energy bill.
- Label your mealsEspecially when they get into the fridge. This way you will know exactly what kind of dish it is and when it was prepared.
Want to read more about nutrition and health on Metro? You can find more similar items in our Fitness & Health category.
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