Meal prepping is a great way to eat healthy, save money, and reduce food waste – but let’s be real, eating the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner four days in a row can get pretty boring, even for the best home chefs! Arm yourself with these 4 tips to keeping meal prep fresh and interesting:
1. Spice up your proteins with sauces
Batch cooking proteins like chicken, beef, or even tofu is a great way to cut down on your meal assembly time. Try cooking your proteins seasoned lightly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. This essentially leaves you with a blank canvas that you can dress up with different sauces throughout the week.
2. Bagged salads and snacks are your friends
Bagged salads take the stress out of deciding what type of salad you want, what toppers sound good, as well as what dressing will complement your flavors. They make life so easy! Just remember to add a protein and a carbohydrate to keep you full and satisfied.
3. Capitalize on your mix-ins & condiments
Adding crushed up tortilla chips on top of a taco salad, stirring in sliced olives or sundried tomatoes to a Mediterranean inspired pasta dish, or using a horseradish or Dijon mustard on your sandwich can really take your meals to the next level.
4. Don’t cook your grains in water
Using a liquid other than water to cook your grains adds a significant boost of flavor with minimal effort on your part. Stock, fruit or vegetable juices, and coconut milk are some of the most tried and true methods. Other ideas include (but aren’t limited to) sliced or chopped nuts, dried fruit, cheese, avocado, salsa, honey mustard, pesto, and mayo!