8 Must Know Meal Prep Hacks That’ll Save You Precious Time
Meal prepping is super beneficial as it can save you time, money and effort. Saving time, money and energy in the kitchen is always a plus for me. So, if you’d rather spend your time doing the things you enjoy, rather than slaving away in the kitchen, meal prepping is for you! Whether you meal prep religiously, or are just starting out, here are 8 must know meal prep hacks that’ll save you some precious time, money and energy.
1. Quarter those lemons and store!
Be sure to cut your lemons up into quarters. Doing this will ensure you get more juice out of your lemons when you squeeze, as opposed to a halved lemon. Pre-cut your lemons and store them in a jar. This will save you time in the long run, as your lemons will be good to go whenever you need them. For example, if you like to drink lemon water in the morning, you will be glad your lemons are already prepared and you can squeeze one straight into your glass of water. No cutting required.
2. Soak your grains!
Put your grains or steel cut oats into a bowl and cover them with water. Let them soak overnight. This will speed up the cooking process in the morning and it makes the grains or oats easier to digest! For example, if you soak your brown rice in water overnight, this will cut the cooking time in half – going from approximately 40 minutes to 20 minutes. Now you can cook your brown rice for your lunches or dinners in a shorter amount of time, and store your rice in the fridge for your weeks meals. Such a time saver!
3. Smoothie packs!
If you love your smoothies, this meal prep hack is going to be an awesome time saver. Cut up your fruits and vegetable for your smoothies, store them in freezer bags and pop them into the freezer! The next time you want a smoothie, you can simply go to the freezer, grab out your smoothie pack and chuck it into the blender! Super quick and simple!
4. Flavoured ice cubes!
Chop up your fresh herbs, pop them into an ice cube tray, add in some chopped garlic, lemon juice, whatever you want, and then fill them with olive oil. Put your ice cube tray into the freezer to harden. This will not only increase the shelf life of your fresh herbs, but will also make adding flavour to your meals so quick and easy. Place a cube onto your skillet, cook your vegetables or meat in it, and the flavour will be unreal!
5. Freeze your leftover smoothie!
I don’t know about you but whenever I make a smoothie I’m always left with a decent amount of smoothie in the bottom of the blender. However, my glass is full, so what do I do with it? Tip the leftovers out? Nope! I save my money and freeze that leftover smoothie into ice cubes! Now the next time you go to make another smoothie, you’ll have those leftover smoothie ice cubes in the freezer ready to go! Smoothie ingredients can be expensive, especially if you’re buying organic foods, so don’t waste them! This meal prep hack will save you time and money, trust me.
6. Store your bad veggies in water!
You know that moment when your vegetables start to go bad, when they’re looking a little brown, limp and gross? Instead of wasting them, and throwing them out, store them in water! That’s right, chuck them into a container, fill it with water, store them in the fridge for a couple of hours and they will crisp up again and be nice, crunchy and delicious.
7. Sheet pan dinners!
Sheet pan dinners are an awesome meal prep hack for a quick and easy meal. Chuck your meat, vegetables and marinade onto a sheet pan, mix it all around, and pop the pan into the oven to bake. Voila! You’ll have a simple and delicious meal!
8. Double or triple your recipes!
Here’s the last one of our meal prep hacks: doubling or tripling your recipes! It requires less effort than cooking a whole meal again. If you double or triple your recipes, you will have more meals to store in the fridge and heat up for the rest of the week. Hooray to less cooking and cleaning!
