Meal prepping just got easier! Here are 10 simple meal prep hacks to make your life (and dinnertime) easier!
Favorite products for simple meal prep hacks
Here’s a list of products that help out with the meal prep process:
- Best cheese grater ever
- Sheet pan
- Silpat silicone baking sheet
- The best knife ever
- Game-changing cheese grater
- Dutch oven
- Crock-Pot
- Casserole dish with lid
- Kid-friendly knives
1. Know your menu for the week (meal plan)
There’s no escaping this one.
Does it take time each week to sit down and meal plan? Yes. Can it feel like a drag and a chore? Yes.
But does this always set you up for a calmer and healthier week? You betchya!
Besides, “I really regret meal planning” said no one ever.
2. Prep meal components throughout the week
Once you know your menu for the week, you can squeeze in food prep ahead of time. Here are some ways you can do this:
- On top of helping with dinner that night, have your kids cut vegetables, grate cheese, or prep some shredded chicken for another meal while you’re cooking dinner.
- While you’re cooking breakfast or dinner, prep anything you can for future meals.
- For example, we always have tacos on Tuesdays. If we’re having ground beef tacos, I will brown the meat, grate the cheese, or chop veggies Tuesday morning while I’m cooking breakfast so it’s already done for dinner. You’d be amazed at how much easier this makes dinner!
- If you’re making a simple dinner, try to whip out prep of any kind for a meal you’re having later in the week.
- For example, if we’re having pico de gallo on our tacos, I’ll make something simple for dinner on Mondays, that way I can easily do extra meal prep (like making pico de gallo) for future dinners while I’m cooking.
- Or you can always carve out an extra hour or two on Sunday and do all the meal prep for the week!
3. If you’re going to scroll, scroll Pinterest
Pinterest is a goldmine for dinner ideas!
Next time you pull out your phone to scroll, make it a rule that you can’t scroll any other platform but Pinterest until you know your meal menus (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner) for the week.
If you do want to scroll the gram, jump to Teaching From Scratch IG first where I share what I’m cooking each week dinner at @teachingfromscratchblog!
4. Use grocery store pick up or delivery
Everyone’s busy. Most of us can’t have someone prep and cook for us, but we can have someone do the grocery shopping for us.
This saves you 1.5-2 hours a week! Maybe even more if you count last-minute grocery store runs when you forget something.
This is precious time you can be doing so many other things.
And if bringing your kids along to grocery shop so they learn the process is a priority for you as a parent (like me), you can still go. But not every time. Go once a month or in seasons of life when you’re not as busy.
5. Everyone chips in
Since the whole family needs to eat, it only makes sense that the whole family can chip in with getting meals on the table!
These are awesome for littles.
And if you need ideas for how kids of all ages can contribute, sign up below and we’ll send you a list!
6. Don’t shy away from repeats
Of course elaborate meals and new recipes are fun for some but meals can (and should be!) simple and, yes, repeated.
This helps in so many ways…
- You can copy and paste parts of your grocery list
- (Precious!) Mental space is freed up for other things
- When you’ve made a recipe a few times, it gets easier, faster, and usually tastes better
- And you may find these recipes start becoming family traditions!
Here are some meal prep hacks for how you can repeat meals
- Literally do the same weekly food menu two or even three weeks in a row (you’re still eating something different each day or two!)
- If you find a homerun recipe, keep making it!
- Pick a day where you always make the same thing (like tacos on Tuesdays, soup on Wednesdays, or pizza on Fridays)
- Always knowing what’s on the menu for breakfast each day of the week will bring you peace of mind the night before. Sticking to a fixed breakfast schedule is one simple meal prep hack like this one:
- Mondays: Yogurt, fruit, and granola
- Tuesdays: Eggs, toast, bacon or sausage
- Wednesdays: Waffles
- Thursdays: Eggs, toast, bacon or sausage
- Fridays: Pancakes or french toast
- Saturdays: Breakfast sandwiches
- Sundays: Chile relleno
7. Your Crock-Pot is your BFF
Seriously! Not only does your Crock-Pot do pretty much all of the cooking for you, Crock-Pot recipes are usually on the simple side.
And if you use your Crock-Pot to make something like shredded chicken or pulled pork, double the recipe and freeze half for later use!
8. Don’t forget about your sheet pan or casserole dish!
Using your sheet pan or a casserole dish is just about one of the most simple meal prep hacks!
Next time you find yourself reaching for your skillet, ask yourself: can I use a sheet pan or casserole dish instead?
This way, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it situation, leaving you freed up to take care of whatever else your heart desires!
Here are some dinners you can make in a sheet pan or casserole dish:
- Sheet pan tacos (my personal favorite!)
- Southwest Chicken Casserole
- 30-Minute Sheet Pan Chicken Sausage and Veggies
- Healthy-ish sheet pan nachos (add lots of veggies, meat, avocado, sour cream, and cilantro)
- Teriyaki chicken stir fry (veggies in sheet pan and teriyaki check in Crock-Pot
And bonus points if you get your chopping and marinating done the morning or day before so you can throw everything on your sheet pan and let your oven cook dinner for you.
9. Embrace leftovers
Oh, the magic of leftovers!
Opt for dinners that will guarantee leftovers or double up anything your making so you don’t have to cook dinner every night.
10. Sign up for our weekly newsletter and follow our instagram
Let me do the meal planning for you!
Each week, I send out a weekly newsletter that outlines what I plan on making for dinner along with the recipe.
I also post my dinner menu to the Teaching From Scratch instagram, but do not include recipe and cooking details.
Do you have any simple meal prep hacks? What are your pain points when it comes to meal prep?
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