Meal prepping became easier when I started batch cooking my way.
If meal prepping seems daunting to you because you don’t want to make a million meals at the same time, it seems too time-consuming to do that, or you feel like you will end up eating the same thing for the rest of your life so you just don’t do it, you aren’t alone!
Batching cooking is a great way to meal prep, but it can leave people feeling like I mentioned above. This isn’t a good thing to feel this way, and may be preventing you from saving money and time around the meals you eat.
First, let’s discuss traditional batch meal prep.
This method is when you spend a lot of time prepping all the proteins, chopping all the veggies, and making all the recipes then storing them in freezer-safe containers and putting them in the freezer until you need them later.
This is a great method if you: have time to do this, usually by picking a day a month, you have a large amount of money to buy groceries all at once, and you have freezer space. This method works for many people and is a great way to be prepared.
I love this method and have used it before. I always had food ready when I didn’t want to cook, I could just pop things in the crock pot or oven, and it hardly took time during the week. It was great before I had the kiddos!
However, I changed my meal prep method because my life has changed. I don’t have a day a month I can dedicate to this type of meal prep. My kids get tired of crock pot meals quickly, and the cost of groceries these days makes it feel weird to spend that much money on food all at once.
So my new method of batch cooking is to only make a double batch of what I am making for my current meal for the day or make a few extra of an item like breakfast sandwiches.
I changed to this style because it saves me time later, I don’t have to do a lot of work on one specific day of the month, which is daunting (like what if I’m not in the mood to cook that much on the only day I have?!), and my grocery bill doesn’t fluctuate extremely due to needing a large amount of food all at once.
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If you want to try this method. You do not need as much space, fewer freezer-safe containers, and less time (well maybe not less time, but at the same time it is less time because it isn’t a whole day of cooking). So how do you do this new method of mine?
When you are making breakfast burritos, make 3-4 more, this isn’t too many at once, but it will save you time when needing breakfast later this week. Wrap them in tin foil and stash in the freezer, microwave as needed.
When you are making soup, just double the batch and then use the SouperCubes to freeze it into smaller portion sizes (lunch or family meal sizes).
Add a few extra chicken breasts to the crock pot, shred it, and then store it in freezer-safe containers. Use this chicken for quick burritos, BBQ chicken sandwiches, or any other chicken dishes you want to make! When doing this use neutral seasonings like garlic, salt, and pepper to make sure you can meal prep any way you want later.
I hope this method of batch cooking helps you in the future! I know that it changed my frame of mind to meal prep and it has made making food on busy nights so much easier, without making it feel too stressful.
Breaking big tasks into smaller chunks makes it much easier to accomplish. Then you may decide you like having the freezer food and want to increase your quantities, moving yourself into a more traditional batch cooking method. Do what works for you!