The Easy Life of a Meal Prepper
We live in a busy world, whether we are taking care of our kids, going to work or starting our own businesses. With the never ever commitments of everyday life, it can be a struggle to find time for ourselves. This leads to us wasting money and sacrificing our health, as we live off a fast food diet. Here at Dovy my kitchen, we have discovered the importance of meal prepping and focused on mastering the art. We have learnt many things along the way, which we would love to share with you all. The most important thing meal prepping has done for us, is bring time back into our lives to do more of the things we enjoy most. As we all know, time is one thing that money can’t buy.
Why Meal Prepping?
Whether you study, work or look after your kids, we are all busy. Finding time is a hard thing, but we have made this task easy for you and discovered the key. To illustrate why meal prepping is so important, picture the following scenario:
Imagine the average day of a 9-5pm worker, who is also studying at University. They wake up at 7am, have breakfast and go to work. Because they didn’t cook on the weekend, their lunch time is spent at the McDonalds drive through. When they head home the same thing happens at dinner time, because they need to study and don’t have the time to cook.
Now, if this same person sacrificed a couple of hours on their weekend and used this time to meal prep their food, they wouldn’t be rushed for time or be spending money on terrible fast food.
Meal prepping is all about organisation, routine and time management. However, like most new things in life a little guidance from experts is necessary and helpful. Therefore, if you are excited about learning how to meal prep keep reading.
How to Meal Prep?
A lot of thought needs to go into meal prepping, especially if you are just starting out and don’t have any guidance. You will need to think about what ingredients can be frozen, what recipes can be made with these ingredients and what kitchen utensils and equipment is required to meal prep these recipes.
On our meal prep journey, we have discovered that the easiest way to save time and add variety to your prepped meals, is to ensure your recipes can be prepared with the same base. An easy example of this is making a big bulk batch of home-made tomato sauce and using this as the base for the majority of your prepped meals for the fortnight. Once the fortnight is finished and you have to prep your meals again, you can use an alternative sauce base, to ensure your taste buds don’t get bored. By making bulk batches of sauces, this will save you time throughout your cooking day, as it is easy to combine a variety of quick recipes with sauces as the base.
As mentioned above the key to meal prepping is organisation. Therefore, it is important to follow a Step-by-Step Guide, which will show you in detail how to prepare & freeze your meals in the shortest time possible. If you try to meal prep without a guide, this can lead to stress, inefficiency and frustration in your kitchen. On the other hand, having a ready to go Step-by-Step Meal Prep Guide, will allow for your meal prep process to run quickly & efficiently, with no frustration or stress. Dovy my kitchen offers a variety of illustrative Step-by-Step eBooks, ranging from beginner through to advanced skill levels. Also, if you subscribe to our site on our first page, we will send you a free eBook, to give you a taste of what we have to offer.
Why to Meal Prep with Dovy my kitchen's eBooks?
During our many years of personal experience, we have learnt how to master the art of meal prepping. This has been achieved through our own process of trial and error. We have tested which ingredients freeze the best, last the longest, hold great nutritional value and still taste delicious after being frozen. We have learnt how to organise and simplify our lives through this amazing & fun task called meal prepping. With all of our knowledge, passion and love towards the process, we have created the best and most unique Step-by-Step eBooks on How to Meal Prep. They will show you how to meal prep in the shortest time possible, the exact ingredients you need to buy and guide you from start to finish. Our eBooks aren’t like your traditional Recipe Book, and we ensure you they will make your life 100 times easier.
What to expect to find in Dovy my kitchen eBooks:
· How to meal prep in the shortest time possible;
· Exact measurements of what ingredients are needed;
· Tips, techniques and advice;
· Mathematics illustrating how much meal prepping can save you;
· How to use the eBook;
· User-friendly shopping list;
· Menu with your dishes;
· Illustrative step-by-step photos;
· Easy to follow guide from start to finish;
· Most eBooks have a weekly planner sample and a template, to organise your week better and help you remember to defrost your meals the night before.
What do I Need to Meal Prep?
If you are following our advice, you should have an easy to follow Meal Prep Guide by now. Along with this guide, you will need to have the correct kitchen utensils to ensure your Meal Prep days run quickly & efficiently.
Here is a list of the essential utensils required:
Chopping board – To prepare your ingredients safely, & avoid cross-contamination.
Knife – To cut your ingredients quickly & safely.
Knife sharpener – A sharp knife is safer when cutting, as the knife can easily slice through the ingredients without slipping.
Scales – Using the right quantities is important. Therefore, it is a good idea purchase a set of scales with the correctly fitted bowl, so the ingredients don’t spill out.
Measuring cups – These also help with measuring quantities, especially liquids. The jugs made out of glass are the best as they are multifunctional, used with hot or cold ingredients. Also, glass is easier to clean, as the hot water doesn't destroy the jug and removes fat easily.
Set of Silicone Kitchen Utensils - Silicone is one of the best materials for kitchen utensils, it’s non stick making your cooking life easier and more hygienic. It also doesn’t scratch your pots and bowls or give a metal flavour when cooking.
Pots & pans – It is ideal to have different types and sizes; non-scratch, thick bottom and easy to wash. We highly recommend investing in good pots and pans, as some cheap materials will chip off and go into your food, which can cause severe sickness to you. Also, thin material will burn your food before cooking, which no chef wants to happen.
Stockpot - A tall pot is a must-have if you want to bring good flavour into your food. It is best used for stocks, sauces and soups. A tall pot allows you to cook for a long time without burning your food or making your stove dirty.
Freezing bags – Containers can be expensive, let the air into the food and occupy a lot of space in your freezer. BPA- free plastic freezing bags will be your best friend for storing your meal preps, as you can easily remove all the air from inside and avoid freezer burning your food. They can be shaped to fit into the space that you have any space and stack easily.
Glass container – These are good to use for lunch boxes, as microwaving plastic is dangerous for your health.
Can opener - This is essential for cans that don't have the opener attached to them.
Mixing bowls – These are helpful for mixing ingredients and even cooling food down.
Baking trays/tins – If you are baking or roasting, you will need these. The round ones with the removal bottom are perfect, as they are multifunctional.
Graters – From grating cheese to slicing food, a grater is an essential utensil in any kitchen. There are some graters that now come with a box that attached underneath, so you don’t dirty your work area or waste any ingredients.
Piping bag – This utensil is essential for making great cakes, profiteroles or piping gnocchi. Piping bags comes in handy, when you least expect it.
Stick Blender – Most old appliances, have lots of different attachments for different functions. However, they are bulky and take up too much space in your kitchen. A great compact alternative is a stick blender, which can be helpful in lots of different cooking scenarios. It can be used to whisk a cake or a meringue, or blend a juice or sauce.
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