What you need to meal prep for work

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Meal prep lunch ideas

When you’re rushing out the door in the morning, it’s hard to find the time to prepare a nutritious lunch. But a balanced, healthy meal is crucial for restoring much-needed work-life balance. If you’re finding you can’t spare the time to put something together each day, meal prep is a great way to ensure you’re hitting all the food groups come lunch hour.

This method has you planning a week ahead, so you’ll need a few items for preparation, storage and transportation.

How to meal prep

What what meal prep is

Meal prep is a method of food preparation where you make multiple days’ worth of food at once. It’s designed to take some of the time burden off of busy people, and it also works great to give you more control over your diet. The primary tool for any meal prepper is the food-storage container, which helps with portioning and portability.

When to meal prep

The most common meal prep method involves cooking large batches of food. Most preppers like to do this on Sundays. After cooking, you dish your meals into storage containers that you then take out of your refrigerator or freezer each day during the week. When and how you meal prep will depend on your dietary restrictions, nutrition goals and schedule, but set aside three to four hours for preparation, cooking and dishing up.

How to meal prep

There are many ways to get organized so lunch time is breezy and never boring.

Batch cooking: The most common form of meal prep, batch cooking involves cooking everything at once and portioning it out. This typically takes a few hours and is best saved for when you can carve out the time. Batch cooking is a good solution to meals that require lengthy cooking times, such as meats, stews, curries and sauces. Rectangular plastic takeout containers are a meal prepper’s best friend when it comes to this method. But you can also use plastic or glass storage containers.
Ingredient prep: For those who work at home or who have adequate kitchen amenities at work, ingredient prep is a great way to ensure fresh ingredients in every meal. This method cuts down on one of the most daunting aspects of making lunch every day by getting all of your fixings in order ahead of schedule. You can then put a sandwich or salad together, heat your meal quickly in the morning, or bring your ingredients to work. In addition to storage containers, condiment containers and plastic, resealable bags are big helpers.

Best products to help you meal prep for work

Best meal prep tools

Instant Pot Duo 7-In-1 Electric Pressure Cooker

The slow cooker is every meal prepper’s secret weapon. The ultimate tool for batch-cooking, it can even cut time from meal prep — just throw everything in and let it stew. And what makes the Instant Pot Duo so up for the task is the sheer number of functions it can perform. From cooking rice to steaming vegetables, you’ll be able to hit all the food groups using one device.