When you think about meal planning you may get visions of tedious tasks such as writing out menus, cooking multiple meals for the week, and storing them in all sorts of colorful containers for freezing.
It is enough to make some people shudder. Although it may sound tedious and the last thing you want to do on the weekends, meal planning can have multiple benefits.
Meal planning as the name suggests is planning out your meals for the week or month ahead. It involves planning your meals with regards to food type taking into account personal preference, seasonal produce and sale items, cooking method, writing out a specific grocery list, and then consists of cooking the meals and storing them in the freezer or fridge for later use.
Deciding what to eat can be another stressor on top of our busy and stressful lives, meal planning removes this stress and can have many benefits.
Life can get busy, and sometimes deciding what to cook and then actually cooking is the last thing you want to do.
Meal planning removes this obstacle, it gives you time to relax and spend time with loved ones instead of worrying about what to eat and cooking it.
Having your meals prepared for the week also limits the chance of you ordering fast food so win-win.
Meal planning can either involve cooking a large meal and freezing it, cooking a meal, portioning it out then freezing or it could just include writing a menu.
In the case of portioning out small individual meals, it can help to control your portion sizes. It prevents overeating and if you are trying to control your weight it will help you in this goal.
When you plan and prepare your meals it helps to do so when you have time such as on the weekend and when you are full such as after a meal. This helps prevent your hunger from influencing your portion size. When you are full, you will be able to think clearly and decide on a portion size that will nourish you as well as help you on your wellness journey.
I think we can all agree that cooking after a long day's work can be incredibly stressful, for some of us it's the last thing we would like to do.
Meal prep can help reduce this stress and help relax more during the day. Stress levels have been associated with weight gain as well as chronic illness so in meal prep we’re not only reducing our stress levels but we are also reducing our risk for chronic illness (1).
Meal planning and prepping can help us to save cash in the long run so more money for that holiday you’ve been planning.
Meal planning and prepping can help us save money as we control our portion sizes but it can also help us avoid the temptations of fast food.
When we meal prep, we have our meals, there is no opportunity for us to be without lunch or dinner so there’s no need to get takeout. Not only does this improve our health but it also saves the money we could have been using on takeout.
There are multiple ways in which meal prepping can improve our relationship with food. When we meal prep, there is no opportunity for us to miss meals and be without food, starving. This reduces our chance of overeating and reduces any cravings we may develop.
By having meals already planned, we don’t resent eating or cooking for using up our free time. Also by spending a minimal amount of time on cooking we can truly be present when we are eating and be more mindful.
This will help us to distinguish when our bodies are full and when we are still hungry. In the long, this will improve our relationship with food as well as reduce the risk of developing chronic illness.
To help fuel our bodies, our meals should contain adequate amounts of macro and micronutrients. After a long day's work, it may be tough to prepare a nutritious meal and may be easier to prepare something high in fats and refined carbohydrates.
Meal planning and prepping can help change this. When you meal plan and prep, you normally have more time on your hands. This allows you to think carefully about the types of foods you would like to prepare and to select nutritious foods.
Not only can it improve the nutrition quality of our meals but it can also improve the overall quality of our meals as we have more time to cook (2).
This will result in our meals becoming tastier, enjoying the meal more, and allowing our bodies to be nourished.
If you are concerned about sustainable living this could be the most important benefit for you. Meal prepping specific portion sizes enables us to reduce the amount of waste we produce.
Preparing meals according to a menu and specific portion sizes prevents you from buying unnecessary food ingredients that may have not been used. Another bonus of meal prepping is that if you freeze your meals and you don't get around to using the meal, it stays frozen and can be kept for another day instead of being thrown away.
From a glance, meal planning and prepping may seem like a completely tedious task however with all the benefits it comes with, it may be worth giving it a try especially if you are looking to improve your health and weight.
Diet Your Way provides meal preps that are carefully measured to make it calorie-specific. We have 1000 kcal per day, 1200 kcal per day, 1500 kcal per day and 1800 kcal per day. If there is a week that you can too busy to prep your meals, you can still order it from us, relax and maintain your healthy lifestyle.
