10 Part Mini Meal Prepping Course

These meal prepping tips will save you time and money in the kitchen so you can spend more time doing the things you love without having to sacrifice your nutrition.

1. PREPARING WHAT YOU NEED

Professional chefs practice Mise En Place, which is French for “everything in its place." This means prepping your ingredients and tools prior to cooking your meals. This extra step will actually save you time, not to mention stress.Instead of searching for your spoons and measuring your spices while your food is overcooking, be sure to have everything prepped and ready for cooking ahead of time.

2. CLEAN

Before you start cooking, make sure that you have a clean workspace, clean cooking utensils, clean hands, and hair or jewelry secured and away from your food.This will cut down on prep and cooking time while reducing the risk of spreading bacteria.

3. BUY QUALITY

Every meal you make will be made from the ingredients you buy. This might seem obvious but using better ingredients will make better meals. Buy high quality natural or organic produce and meats. Never cook with a wine that you wouldn’t drink, and never cook with an oil unless it tastes good on its own. If it doesn’t taste good on its own, it won’t taste good in your food.

4. WASH YOUR FOOD

Before cooking, make sure that your meats, fruits, vegetables, etc. are all cleaned to prevent the spread of disease and bacteria. Be sure to wash your hands between the handling of different items. ALWAYS wash hands IMMEDIATELY after handling any raw meat products.

5. UTILIZE YOUR TONGS

Use them as an extension of your hands. They can be used to flip your meat, pull a pan out of the oven, and stabilize hot or messy ingredients (steak, chicken, pork, etc.) while you cut them.

6. USE PAPER TOWELS

They aren’t just for cleaning up messes, they’re also for preventing them. Put a wet paper towel under your cutting board before you start chopping away to make sure it stays securely in place during your ingredient prep.

7. KEEP IT CLOSED

Avoid opening the oven door or crockpot lid (or any other pot or pan lid for that matter) while your food is cooking unless it is absolutely necessary. Checking on your food too early will let heat escape and reduce the internal temperature therefore increasing your cooking time.

8. AVOID PAN HANDLES

Keep your panhandles turned toward the stove. If they are hanging over the stove you are more likely to accidentally bump it and cause the pan to fall. This won’t only ruin your meals but you can possibly injure yourself.

9. CLEAN AS YOU GO

Don’t start out with a pristine kitchen and finish with a war zone. Cleaning along the way ensures that you won’t have a disastrous mess to clean up after cooking. This also makes the actual cooking process smoother because items are easier to find and already clean, which is useful if they need to be re-used in measurement, cutting or mixing.

10. ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE

If you treat meal prepping like a chore, it’s going to be a pain. If you treat it like a culinary adventure, it will be an enjoyable and exciting experience that you’ll look forward to each week. Remember, you are doing this to better yourself and learn a new, healthy habit. Keep that in mind when stress creeps in. No one is perfect when prepping, just make small progress each time.