Nine meal prep mistakes beginners make
Most first attempts fail from doing too much, not too little. Nine common mistakes and the simple fix for each one.
Photo by Chip Vincent on Unsplash
If your first week of meal prep went badly, it was probably one of these. Each has a simple fix.
1. Cooking too many recipes
Five different dinners is a full day of cooking. Two or three recipes is enough: one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner.
2. Prepping for seven days
Cooked food keeps three to four days in the fridge. Plan Monday to Thursday, and freeze a portion if you want Friday covered. See how long meal prep lasts.
3. Sealing food while it is hot
Trapped steam turns to water and makes everything soggy. Leave lids off until the food stops steaming, then seal and refrigerate within two hours.
4. Choosing food that does not reheat well
Fried food, delicate fish and anything crisp are disappointing on day three. Choose saucy dishes, bowls and soups. How to reheat meal prep covers the rest.
5. Leaving out sauce
Plain chicken and rice feels like a chore by Wednesday. A sauce or dressing is what makes repeated meals enjoyable. Pack it separately if it is wet.
6. Mixing wet and crisp in one container
Salsa on rice, dressing on leaves and hummus next to pita all end badly. Use divided containers or small pots.
7. Skipping labels
Especially in the freezer, where everything looks the same. See how to label meal prep.
8. Buying a large set of containers first
You do not know yet what you will cook. Start with five of one size. See what size containers you need.
9. Cooking food you do not like
Food that seems healthy but that you do not enjoy will sit in the fridge. Start with recipes you already like eating.
What should a first week look like?
One breakfast, one lunch and one dinner for four days. A good set is high-protein overnight oats, black bean soup and garlic chicken and rice bowls. The cooking order is in how to meal prep a week in one afternoon.
How do you know how much to cook?
Count the meals you will actually eat at home or at work. Do not prep for a night you already know you are eating out. Recipes here show their servings, and each has a control to scale the ingredients up or down.
What if you get bored?
That is the most common reason people stop. Change the sauce, the format or the protein, not the whole system. See ideas for when you are bored.
Will the second week be better?
Yes. You will know how much you eat, which containers you reach for and what you got tired of. Change one thing each week, not everything.
Where to go next
The week planner flags meals scheduled past their fridge life, which catches mistake number two before it happens.
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