3 top tips to meal prep like a pro
Do you know what’s one of the best ways to ward off the Sunday scaries? By doing a bit of meal prep! Trust us when we say a little planning goes a long way towards entering the week with that ‘you’ve got this’ feeling.
When it comes to meal prepping, there are three areas you should try to cover in order to get your week off to a good start: snacking, big batch cooking, and proteins.
1.
Try to work in at least one big batch recipe that you can stretch out over the week – make a nice big pot of soup, for example, or roast up a whole tray of veggies that you can portion out as needed (see our big batch roasted veg recipe below).
2.
Think ahead in terms of what proteins you might be able to cook on a Sunday that can last you through the week – handy options include homemade fishcakes (like this snoek version) or frikkadels, or a nice batch of (legume-based) vegetarian patties if you’re following a plant-based lifestyle.
3.
Sort out your snacking options in advance – this will prevent you from indulging in unhealthy snack options (like chips or chocolates) when you’re feeling stressed, hungry or pressed for time. The best options for snacking will always be to have fresh, seasonal fruit and raw veggies on hand. In fact, The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations recommends a minimum of 400 g or 5 portions of vegetables and fruit daily for health benefits. It’s also always a good plan to ‘eat the rainbow’ – try to work fruit and veg in a range of colours. In this manner, you could try to eat an orange/yellow vegetable (carrots, pumpkin, butternut) or a dark green vegetable (broccoli, spinach) at least once a day. It would be ideal to try to get at least one serving daily of each of the following: dark green leafy vegetables; yellow or orange fruits and vegetables; red fruits and vegetables; and citrus fruits on most days. Some meal prepping and planning beforehand will go a long way towards ensuring you get the required fruit and veg daily. You could, for instance, prep portions of carrots, baby tomatoes and cucumber fingers to enjoy with hummus as an afternoon snack. Or, you could buy seasonal berries in bulk and divide into suitable portions and containers to have something delicious on hand when that sweet craving hits. Other good snacking options include sliced apple or pear spread with almond or peanut butter, and fresh fruit served with a dollop of low fat plain yoghurt.
Simple roasted veg:
A basic roasted veg recipe like the below version is very handy to pop in the oven on a Sunday afternoon. Use it as a side for whatever protein you’ve got planned or opt for a vegetarian main by serving it with herbed couscous, steamed rice or polenta. You could also transform it into a big pasta sauce by roasting some extra tomatoes and blending those (along with the roasted garlic and ½ cup of veggie stock), to pour over the veggies and the pasta. Dinner, sorted in advance!
Ingredients:
- 500–600 g sweet salad peppers, halved or quartered
- 2 brinjals, cut into chunks (about 350 g)
- 500 g tomatoes, halved horizontally
- 250 g cubed butternut or pumpkin
- 2 red onions, peeled and cut into quarters
- 250 g whole baby marrows, halved horizontally
- 3–4 cloves garlic
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Olive oil, for drizzling
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 230°C.
- Place the vegetables in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Tuck in the garlic then season and moisten slightly with oil. Roast, one shelf above the middle of the oven, for 20 minutes. Check some of the veggies to see if they’re tender (like the baby marrows) and remove from the tray. Continue roasting until the firmer veg like the butternut is also tender, at least another 25 minutes.
- Serves 4 as a main portion and 6–8 as side portions.
Feeling inspired?