Why We Meal Prep

I have written about meal prep a few times, but never really about why we meal prep. This is that post. In short, we meal prep because it fits with our lifestyle and values. For a more thorough explanation, read on.

Lifestyle

We meal prep because it fits with our lifestyle. I like to run, but that requires fuel. Admittedly, I am not the best at choosing good foods to eat post run. Meal prep ensures that I have a breakfast with carbs and protein ready to go, ensuring that I eat, and that I give my body the nutrients it needs to recover.

Currently, I work four, ten hour days which, with commuting, means I am gone eleven or more hours a day. Meal prep ensures that we have food not only during the day, but also when we get home and want to eat dinner. This is especially because one of us (ahem, me), gets hangry!

My husband and I attend small group at church one evening a week. We could grab dinner on the way, but that would make us even later than we already are. It could also get expensive. Enter meal prep! We already have food ready to go!

With work and all of our other activities, weekday time is scarce. Eliminating cooking from the lineup frees up time. With that time, we take care of our priorities, and hopefully have a few minutes to catch up/spend time together/rest. These things are worth more than freshly prepared meals.

Values

We meal prep because it fits our values. We are live on a pretty tight budget so that we can pursue goals that we have as a couple. Meal prep helps us manage our budget in several ways. Meal prep helps us plan ahead for grocery shopping, rather than splurging on what we want when we go to the grocery store hungry in the moment. Meal prep means we have food ready to eat in our house, meaning we can eat out because we want to, not because we are desperate to fill our hungry bellies. Planning to eat out means we can also appropriately budget for it.

Meal prep helps us live a minimalist lifestyle. This probably matters more to me than to my husband. I get overwhelmed easily, and meal prep reduces choices I have to make on a daily basis. Breakfast? Pre-made and in the fridge for work days. Lunch? Already ready to go. Dinner? Plans for that, too! Do we meal prep every day? No, but on work days, it really helps reduce decision fatigue.

Planning and prepping can also reduce food waste. I personally try to prep meals around what we already have in our house, or what I am going to buy for the week ahead. I can then prep all of each ingredient and distribute as needed. I can put half the veggies in one dish, and half in the other. If there are leftovers, I can throw them in a salad. I can take the leftovers from the can of fruit and throw them into my overnight oatmeal for breakfasts. Since I prep on Fridays for the week ahead, I can repurpose cooking remnants into a leftovers lunch or dinner meal over the weekend. And then I can start the week fresh with new meals. Though I value meal prep, I also value variety, which makes me look forward to each new week of meals.

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People meal prep for many reasons. These are ours. If you meal prep, what is your motivation? Please feel free to share in the comments section.