Meal Prep 101 — Marvelously Maria

You don’t have to be a chef or highly skilled in the kitchen to meal prep. Let’s just get that out of the way right now... It may seem intimidating but really it’s not. It’s something that many of us do to save time, to save money, and to maintain health goals.

Why did I start meal prepping?

My journey started after giving birth to my second kid. I was returning to work from my maternity leave and wanted to save myself some time in the mornings. I had already lost most of my pregnancy weight, but I wanted to make sure I maintained that loss. Meal prepping helped me with all of this.

Here I was with this new bill.. oops I mean new baby, I had to be real cognizant of how I spent the little coins I had. I said all of that to say you have to be real clear on why you want to meal prep. Are you looking to save money? Lose weight? Save Time? Figure this out first.

Meal prepping is a real commitment. It takes thinking and planning to be successful. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll see how it saves you so much time, especially in the evenings. This was a huge plus for me as it was one less thing I had to do when I got home. I now spend my evenings catching up with my kids, doing homework, cleaning, or working out— all thanks to me spending a couple hours on Sunday’s prepping our food.

Here are a few tips to help get you started:

Buy meal prep containers and/or mason jars
Pick one day a week to meal prep
Plan out your meals
Don’t overthink the process (start with one meal)
Make a grocery list and stick to it
Consider prepping your snacks
Use Pinterest for inspiration
Use in season fruit and vegetables
If you’re trying to lose weight, cook a protein and veggie only or add a complex carb

When I started meal prepping for myself, it was nothing fancy. Please don’t get caught up in that. Here are some images of my very first meal preps... don’t judge me!!