Leah Itsines shows us how to meal prep and save household waste
- Culture
How to meal prep like Leah Itsines
The 5 things this cook and author does every week
By Leah Itsines
The idea that meal prep will make you more organised is a valid one, however in order to become more organised, one has to be more organised. Am I right? Planning meals and snacks for the week is a great way to save time, money and food waste, and the good news is it doesn’t have to take up your entire Sunday. Here are the five things I do every week to ensure there are meals and snacks on hand and ready to go, and best of all, you don’t have to be amazing in the kitchen to give it a go.
Get organised!
Before you start cooking and even before you go food shopping, you need to get organised. Plan out all your recipes for the week and create your shopping list so you know exactly what you’re making and need to buy. It’ll ensure you’re not overspending or wasting food.
Prepare and marinate your protein
Once you’ve finished food shopping, I like to prepare and marinate my proteins (chicken, tofu or fish) first. The reason for this is while they are marinating (1-2 hours), you can start cooking the rest of your food instead of wasting time at the end.
Take one step at a time
When you’re planning on preparing for a few different different meals it’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed, so my best advice is to focus on one batch at a time. Once you’ve put your proteins aside to marinate, move onto preparing grains, roast a batch of veggies, pre cut some raw veg and then you’ve got a variety of foods to call on to mix and match during the week.
Storage containers in all shapes and sizes
Part of the ease of meal prepping is that food is portioned out into individual servings, but for this you need good containers. There’s nothing worse than running late in the morning and trying to portion out your food in a hurry, so be sure to have plenty of good containers on hand that you can portion your meals into ahead of time.
Don’t be afraid of your freezer
Your freezer is your lifesaver on crazy busy days. Stock it up with your meals so you can easily grab them on the go. Plus, if you’re not planning to eat your food within three days of cooking then it’s important to freeze your food – this saves on waste and potential illness!