9 Simple Meal Prep Hacks That Will Save You Lots Of Time

Life as an aspiring or current pro cheerleader can be challenging. Aside from preparing for the auditions or attending squad practices, you also have work, school, business, or motherhood responsibilities.

Sometimes, you forget about paying attention to your diet. Instead, you buy what’s available nearby for your meals. Including a healthy meal prepping to your daily activities makes your day even more hectic and stressful.

But, in this article, that doesn’t have to be the case. The tips you’ll find down will make sure that you’ll be able to plan and make healthy meals throughout the week without worrying about taking too much time.

1. Follow the “2 protein, 4 vegetables, 1 starch” formula

For a week, buy 2 kinds of proteins from the grocery. One can be meat and the other meatless like tofu. If you want, have it both meat or meatless. For the vitamin-rich vegetables, have 4 in the fridge.

Keep your kale, broccoli, asparagus, or carrots in separate containers. And, don’t forget - for your healthy carbs, buy a week’s supply of whole grains and sweet potato as well. This assorted formula is one way to make your meals more diverse as you can experiment on different recipes throughout the week and the next.

2. Use sauces, spices, and marinades

Add more fun to your meals by including flavor. Use sauces or mayo to the veggies that you can eat as raw. For the meat, use marinades especially if you’re cooking using a microwave. And as a bonus, cook your starch with spices like this quinoa recipe.

3. Organize your fridge

You’ll waste a lot of time dissecting your fridge if you mix your veggies, fruits, and spices together. Instead, use a small separate container for everything. One glass storage for the tomatoes, one basket for the cucumber, and so on.

When the time for meal prep comes, you’ll only have to draw out one basket, take what you need, put it back in, and draw out another container to get the next ingredient.

4. Schedule a meal prep day

If you’re an aspiring or current pro cheerleader with a day job and children to look out for, it will be very hard for you to prepare meals with all these responsibilities needing attention.

Set the time to prepare all the meals for the week like the weekends. You can also plan the weekday meals for your partner and kids during these days if you have.

5. Prepare your produce ASAP

By the time you get home from the grocery, waste no time and put all the ingredients you’ve bought in their containers. Wash, chop, and slice the veggies and fruits first so that you’ll no longer do that before cooking.

6. Start small

If you’re a beginner at meal prepping, using multiple recipes can be overwhelming especially if you have to prep a week’s supply in one day. Take it easy and use 2 or 3 recipes first. Once you’re used to prepping more than 3 recipes, add more recipes to the weekly plan.

7. Make your breakfast the night before

After your dinner, prep your breakfast by mixing all the ingredients and flavoring into one container. You’ll save a lot of time as all you need to do the next morning is take out the container from the fridge, pour all the prepped ingredients into the frying pan, and cook.

8. Utilize appliances

Use microwaves to cook your breakfast by putting your prepped food in it while you take a bath and do your skincare routines. Slow-cooking appliances are also useful if you want to arrive at home with a steaming meal ready. If you have a remote-controlled or wifi-connected appliance, control it from squad practice, the office, or gym to cook your prepped dish.

9. Heat up yesterday’s leftovers and top it with egg

Save time and money. Transform yesterday’s leftover into breakfast by heating it in the microwave and topping it with a scrambled egg or sunny side up.

The key to making your meal prep as time-efficient as possible is proper planning. List all the ingredients to buy first and don’t put anything else in the grocery cart. When you get home, wash, chop, and slice everything up. Put every ingredient into separate containers and keep your fridge organized. Prep your meals in glass containers that can be ready for the microwave. Then let your appliances do your cooking as you do your audition prep and other self-care routines.

More diet-related articles for a better PRO CHEER LIFE™ here!

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