It’s that time of year again, 2024 New Year Meal Prep. Time to reset and realign your meal prep for nutrition and good habits. Whether you are a seasoned meal prep pro or new to meal prep, post holidays are a great time to update your habits.
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Good new year meal prep habits for everyone.
- Keep it simple: Over complicating your routine is a quick way to derail your new routine. It doesn’t have to check every box, progress not perfection. Focus on what works or what is the most important right now. The rest you can work on later.
- Focus on what you like: Trying to meal prep with foods you don’t like already is a great way to grow your tastes but it can also lead to a loss of interest in the food you cook.
- Plan ahead: Planning is the most important part of meal prepping. A good meal plan is based on recipe choice, grocery shopping, cooking schedule, and so much more. Start with a plan and the rest will fall into place.
- Replace/invest/upgrade containers: It’s a new year. It’s time to consider your meal container situation and whether you need to replace or upgrade your containers.
- Diversify your routine: 2024 new year meal prep is a perfect time to mix up your routine. Variety is the spice of life and meal routine.
- Listen to your body: As with anything, listen to your body and adjust your meal prep for what makes you feel best. Don’t force a lifestyle change. Work on your nutrition and your habits that are right for you.
New year, new you, new meal prep routine. Meal prepping at all is a great step in the right direction of avoiding processed fast foods. Make your 2024 new year meal prep nutritious with these tips.
- Stay organized: Keep things clean and the process clear in your head and you’ll find that you enjoy the meal prep experience more and stick with it longer.
- Experiment with seasonings: spicing up recipes is a good way to enjoy new tastes and mix up your routine without having to do entirely new recipes.
- Focus on nutritional protein: If you’re having trouble adjusting your meal prep to be more nutritious than focus on core components of each meal and start there. Use lean meat like chicken or fish. Then work on your sides.
- Make your own sauces: Sauces can make and break the nutritional value of a meal. Overly salty or sweet sauces are good to avoid. Homemade sauces or light dressings are great alternatives.
- Portion control: Most meals can be made significantly more healthy simply with portion control. Lean more towards veggies and lean meat and away from fried foods and sugars.
- Find fruits and veggies you like: A good tip for meal prepping nutritionally is to find one or two veggies and fruits that you like and stick with those as your sides and work the recipes around them.
First time meal prepping can be daunting to get into but with the right approach it’s accessible and life changing.
- Meal prep for only specific days: Focus on the days that you need meal prep the most. This is a great way to start meal prepping that is more accessible for first timers especially if you don’t cook often to begin with.
- Minimize waste: Under cook rather than over cook. Nothing is more of a let down in meal prep than throwing out food that you cooked. It wastes money and time. It’s always better to want more than to have too much. It’ll keep you interested in meal prepping for longer.
- Stay flexible: Cooking with the same recipes, ingredients, and flavors is a quick way to burn out on meal prep. Stay flexible and you’ll find it easier to mix up a meal routine in planning or even on the fly.
- Freezer friendly meals: Batch cooking is great for efficiency and money saving but it also makes a lot of food. Freezer friendly meals are easier to stretch out. This is great if you can’t eat it fast enough before it goes bad or if you want to do different meals in between so it’s not the same thing day after day.
Happy 2024 new year meal prepping! Good luck on your new routines and check back for weekly meal plans, new recipes, new tips and tricks, and nutritional insights.
