Good Lifestyle

Whether you live to eat or eat to live, you probably spend a lot of time in your kitchen preparing your meals. You Also Spend more time than you make decisions surrounding these meals: what to eat, how much to spend for the ingredients, which portions sizes Serve, and so on. These conscious or unconscious decisions - and the fatigue you can feel by doing them - can have a major impact on your health, your finances, etc. This is why learning meal preparation has become an increasingly popular practice.

In particular, experts say that giving some reflection on planning and preparation of meals can help you improve your nutrition, lose weight, save money, eliminate excess food waste, reduce your time spent cooking and cleaning, etc. Even if you don't make a regular part of your routine, keeping it in your back pocket for busy weeks can always be useful, he advises.

Ready to learn to prepare meals for the week? These are the 10 best tips and tricks that dietitists and nutritionists share with their customers.

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There are many reasons why you could decide to start preparing meals - and your specific motivations can greatly influence the way you take care of it. Avery Zenker , RD, a registered dietitian working with Fitness Everflex , recommends taking a moment to think about your "why" and set goals before starting.

"What do you hope to get out of the meal preparation? What do you want to assure you that your meals include? This will help you choose your ingredients and decide which meals," she said Better life.

Some people like to prepare a full week of meals at a time, but it's not the only way to do it. Rather than spending a full day shopping, preparation, cooking and portion, Emily Van Eck , MS, RD, a dietitian recorded at Emily Van Eck Nutrition & Wellness , suggests planning at least two days of cooking and working around the natural flow of your schedule.

"I found that traditional" planning of meals "does not often work. It becomes boring, requires a lot of work in advance and leaves us very questionable food by the end of the week," explains the dietitian .

"I like to ask my customers what two days during the week generally work best for the kitchen. Sunday and Wednesday? Monday and Thursday? Build your plan around your schedule, your energy and the time you have" she suggests.

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The preparation of meals can help you save time, money and energy, and experts say you don't necessarily need to prepare fully assembled meals to take advantage of it. Sarah A.O. Isenberg , a certified health and well-being coach at the national level and founder of Health coaching Guide Guide , recommends preparing your fruits and vegetables.

"Wash, cut and distribute fresh products can be a tedious task, but do it in advance can make nibbles and healthy meals and meals. Readable bags for easy access throughout the week," suggests Isenberg .

It also approves a lot cooking your proteins and cereals in advance, so that your only task comes to meal time is assembly.

"The cooking of larger portions in advance means that you will have a supply of these ingredients rich in nutrients ready to mix and match throughout the week.

Many people prefer to prepare meals for several days or even a week at a time. Zenker says that a way of preventing boredom is to improve your meals with a variety of condiments and spices.

"For example, you could make roasted potatoes with a few different seasoning mixes. Use different sauces, dips, spices and herbs to increase the variety of your meals," suggests Zenker.

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Meal preparation is a great way to align your intentions and nutrition actions. By setting macronutrient objectives and preparing your meals in advance, you are much less likely to make unhealthy or impulsive food decisions later. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"If you make a meal plan, you can make sure you get a variety of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, lean protein sources and healthy fats", note Shelley Balls , MDA, RDN, LDN, A Dietitian and nutritionist recorded for consumer health.

Try to proactively search for recipes that help you reach your nutritional quotas. Purchases strategically will also help make sure that you achieve your macronutrient goals.

"If you are targeting a certain amount of protein per day, make sure you have at least this quantity multiplied by seven for the week," said Zenker. "" If you want five portions of vegetables a day, try to buy seven portions of five different types of vegetables (for a total of 35 portions for the week). ""

Before putting your leftovers in the refrigerator, think about how you could use them in the coming days. Then take a moment to prepare and repair them in order to enjoy new exciting meals throughout the week with less work.

"For example, if you cooked a pork shoulder on Sunday, you might have the first meal with a few sides," said Balls. "Then, on Monday, you could make sandwiches with effiloche pork, pork tacos drawn Tuesday, Wednesday potato charged with pork, and so on."

"The leftovers are also an excellent thing to bring with you to work the next day to save time and money and stimulate the nutritional contribution to eat at the restaurant," she adds.

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Preparation of meals can easily reduce your time spent cooking. Combine the preparation method with recipes with a pot and you will save even more time by reducing your cleaning time, advises the balls.

"There is a ton of meals to a sign, including plates meals, grilled meals, and even more," says the dietitian Better life. "Meals to a panel can also be very versatile. Do not be afraid to add chopped spinach to stimulate nutrient intake when preparing meals. Cleaning, so if you can facilitate cleaning, it is a victory! "

Then the balls suggest choosing a star ingredient for the week and building your meals around. This should ideally be a product element in season, which, according to her, can save you money and increase the variety of your diet.

"Sometimes we are stuck to eat the same vegetables and fruits every week, but to eat with the seasons can provide a variety and help stimulate your nutrient intake. [It] helps you include a variety of products of products, which have Everyone has their own unique nutritional advantage, "she says.

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In the long term, meal preparation will help you save time in your schedule, but you will have to budget time for this to work. Zenker recommends blocking time in your schedule to shop and meals rather than trying to press it in your already busy day without a plan.

"It will help make it more likely that it will happen to you," she said Better life.

The preparation of meals should not necessarily mean distributing seven of the same meals for the week. One of the easiest ways to prepare meals in advance is to freeze full meals which can then be heated in the oven and served to the whole family.

"Nothing compared to know that you have a meal or two in the freezer while waiting to be served," said Mélanie Marcus , Ma, RD, a recorded dietitian and the director of nutrition and health communications for Dole Food Company , one of the largest suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables in the world. "Not only does it remove the pressure of the evening routine to have to decide a meal, shopping, cooking and having children feeded and swimming in a decent hour, but it makes the family meal funny . "