7 must know meal prep hacks to help you meal prep like a pro and save time in the kitchen!
I thought I would switch things up a bit today, and share my 7 must-know meal prep hacks! These are things that I do every week, that have really changed the way that I meal prep and cook. They save so much time and just streamline the whole process. So today Β I am sharing all my meal prep hack secrets with you!
I use lemons every day in my lemon water, smoothies, salad dressing and cooking throughout the week. My first meal prep hack is to cut your lemons in quarters, and store them in a large mason jar https://amzn.to/2W7OtkB. When you cut your lemons in quarters, you can actually squeeze more juice out of them either by hand or with a citrus squeezer, and it makes things so much easier. Having pre quartered lemons prepped to go in the fridge make my morning lemon water that much quicker to make.
I like to peel, quarter, and chop my onions (using a food processor is the easiest way to chop them up without tears)! Store the onions in a large glass mason jar, and you have them prepped and ready to go for soups, stir frys, and anything your cooking throughout the week! This makes your dinner meal prep easier and faster. For the garlic, squish each clove with a knife to remove the peel and throw it whole into a small food processor to mince it. Store it in a small mason jar and you have minced garlic on demand. Again, you can use this in soups, salad dressings, or even guacamole!
This is one of my favourite hacks because it speeds up your cooking time, and also makes your grains easier to digest! Pre-soak steel cut oats, and brown rice the night before to cut the cooking time in half. This is especially useful in the morning if you donβt have tons of time to cook your oats, or in the evening when youβre super hungry for dinner and want to make rice quickly!
To help your smoothie making run a little bit more βsmoothlyββ¦ try making smoothie freezer packs! As you guys all know, I love a good green smoothie! You can prep these smoothie freezer packs on a Sunday night for the week. Add in greens, veggies, nuts, seeds, protein powder (check out my Perfect Green Smoothie Recipe and guide here)! I like to store my smoothie packs in these reusable silicone storage bagsΒ because they are plastic free, reusable, and super easy to clean in the dishwasher. Pop your smoothie pack in the freezer, and itβs ready to go the morning! All you have to do is dump it into your blender, add water or nut milk and blend for a creamy and nutritious breakfast. This makes your smoothies SO quick, you have no excuses not to make one in the morning now!
I donβt know about you but when I buy fresh herbs, they donβt last that long and I never know how to use them all up in time. So instead now I love chopping them all up, and adding them into an ice cube tray to make my own DIY infused oil cubes.. You can make different combinations for fish, chicken, veggies, stir frys and more! First, chop up all your fresh herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, cilantro, your choice)! Next add in some freshly chopped garlic, fresh lemon juice, and olive oil to each compartment of your ice cube tray. I like to fill each compartment of the tray about half way, but you can add as much or as little as youβd like. Pop it in the freezer and now you have delicious herb infused oil packs to use in your cooking! Once frozen I will usually pop them out of the ice cube tray and store them in a Stasher bag in the freezer for when I need a pop of flavour to my meal.
Wherever I go snacks must follow because I get hangry, real fast! One of my favourite meal prep hacks is to prep snack packs with your favourite healthy snacks to prevent getting hangry on road trips, grocery shopping trips or on your daily commute to work or school! I like to fill them with different options both sweet and savoury like carrots, almonds, carob covered almonds, roasted chickpeas, and veggie chips! Store them in Stasher bags – they are plastic free, reusable, and super easy to clean!
For the past year I have been doing my grocery shopping online and it saves me so much money and time!! Yes, it actually saves money because Iβm not going to the grocery store hungry. This has really changed my whole shopping experience, and made it so much easier for me to plan out meals for the week!
There you have it, those are my 7 must know meal prep hacks! I hope you love them and please let me know in the comments what your favourite hack was, and if you do any of these things already!
Use the code: MEALPREP in the HealthNut Shop to get 15% off your order until the end of the month! Many of the kitchen tools I used in this video are available in the shop, including the silicone Stasher bags, lemon squeezer, the bento boxes I mentioned, and more! *Offer valid until January 31 11:59 pm EST 2019.
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I love the meal prep tips…it’s something I’m so bad at! I never would have thought about cutting up lemons ahead of time. That makes lemon water more doable during hectic mornings. The salad at the top of the post looks amazing. Thanks!!