Types of Meal Prep

Hi Everyone, this week's episode on the podcast is all about the different types of meal prep, and how you can use them to strategize your meal plan saving you the most amount of time possible in the kitchen (can I get a woot-woot!)I spent the first two episodes trying to get you jazzed about trying this, and helping you to convince yourself that homemade meals are something you are absolutely capable of...in fact, with a little time you might even find cooking fun!Let's jump right into the types of meal prep (in order of types I use least to types I use most and why!)As always, please listen to the podcast to get the most out of your time as I go into much more detail there!Types of Meal PrepThe Dump Recipe MethodThe dump recipe method involves putting all of the raw ingredients for a recipe into a gallon ziploc bag and freezing it.  When it's time to cook, you dump the whole bag into a slow cooker for dinner.  This method is one of the easiest methods, but it's not my very favorite because I prefer traditional cooking methods and I feel like veggies tend to get mushy when cooked for the same amount of time as meat.The Cook Now, Eat Later MethodThis method is essentially glorified leftovers.  You make a meal start to finish it and portion it out to eat throughout the week.  I like this method a little better than the dump recipe method, but I get bored eating the same thing every day and I feel like the quality of the meals starts to diminish throughout the week. The Box Meal MethodThis method uses the same technique as the meal prep box companies that have become so successful in recent meals.  To make cooking go super quick, you gather your ingredients in advance and even do your chopping so that on the night you want to cook all of the prep is done and it goes super fast! I love this method for meal prep and use it most often in combination with my other favorite method (below!)The Create your own convenience food methodThis method involves making your own version of all of those things at the grocery store designed to save you time.  Think frozen meatballs, rotisserie chicken, frozen fried rice, etc...This is a great way to have fast and easy meals with wholesome ingredients that you get to control.  When you combine this method with the box meal method you can have truly delicious meals made entirely from scratch in 15-20  minutes every time!Helpful links about the types of meal prepEasiest-Ever Dump DinnersTop 20 Freezable RecipesUse Mis En Place to Make Meal Prep EasierNext week we're going over a very specific problem that I have run into while cooking more times than I can count, tune in to see if you've had the same problem and see my strategies for overcoming it.  Can't wait to talk next week!Happy cooking!