Dietitian's Favorite Meal Prep Tools on Amazon
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With my busy schedule, meal prep is essential to ensure that I have food ready to go on hectic days. In this post, I share some of my favorite tools I found on Amazon to make meal prep even easier and more convenient.
If you’re new here, hello and welcome! My name is Hannah and I am a non-diet dietitian here to help you improve your relationship with your food and finally find food freedom.
Table to contents
What is meal prep?
Meal prep is simply the act of preparing a meal ahead of time. Meal prep looks differently for everyone and may even look differently from week to week.
I always describe meal prep as a spectrum. There are some people on one end of the spectrum who find it helpful to plan out every single meal and prep all of their meal before the week. Others find this method to be very overwhelming and time consuming and their preferred version of meal planning falls elsewhere on the spectrum. And that is okay! Meal planning and prep are meant to alleviate stress, not make your life more stressful.
Ingredient prep
Rather than prepping entire meals to be reheated later, I tend to prefer what is known as “ingredient prep”. Some people also call it “base prep”, meaning that they prepare the “base” for a meal rather than the whole meal.
For me, ingredient prep involves prepping certain ingredients that I can then easily turn into a full meal when I’m ready. This might include cleaning and slicing fruits and vegetables, cooking up a big batch of rice, or maybe putting chicken thighs in a marinade that I can later just throw on the grill.
I prefer ingredient prep because I can mix-and-match the foods that I buy. This is great for an intuitive eating approach because you never know what is going to sound good until the day of. With ingredient prep, I can consider what foods I have on hand along with what my body is craving to make an informed yet flexible decision about what to eat.
Meal planning vs. meal prep
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, meal planning and meal prep are not quite the same thing (although they do work together very well).
Meal planning is simply making a plan of meals and snacks for the week. Meal prepping, on the other hand, is the act of preparing meals, dishes, and/or ingredients ahead of schedule. Meal planning is often the first step of meal prepping as meal planning helps you to decide what exactly you will be prepping.
Related post: Meal Planning as an Intuitive Eater
Benefits of meal prep
When done in a non-diet-y fashion, meal prep can have many benefits!
Helps you to apply gentle nutrition.
Decreases the amount of work to be done during the week.
Save money.
Save time.
Helps you to incorporate more variety - makes food fun!
Puts you in the driver's seat of your food choices.
Decreased food waste.
My favorite meal prep tools
There are a few tools that I swear by to make meal prep more convenient for me.
You can also find these products linked on my Amazon Storefront and LTK.
Meal prep containers
Glass containers are my favorite way to store the ingredients that I prep because they are dishwasher safe and do not soak up any of the smells or flavors of the foods that are added to them. I specifically like this set because it comes with both large and small containers.
More meal prep containers
I also like these Pyrex ones that come in a variety of sizes.
Mason jars
These aren’t just for canning! I use Mason jars for homemade salad dressings, storing produce and herbs, making chia seed pudding and overnight oats, and more.
Mason jar lids
These leak-proof lids are perfect for food storage or taking a Mason jar on the go.
Stasher bags
These silicone storage bags are freezer-safe, dishwasher-safe, and can be used over and over again. I prefer these as an alternative to single-use plastic bags. They are a bit pricey, but you can get so many uses out of them! They also come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes.
Souper Cubes
These silicone freezer trays are oven-safe and dishwasher-safe. I love to use these to freeze extra rice in single portions that I can just microwave later. Souper Cubes are also great to freeze leftover soups and pasta dishes to be reheated for an easy meal later.
I also enjoy the cookie tray to freeze cookie dough and make fresh baked cookies any time a craving strikes.
Vegetable Chopper
If you watch my YouTube videos, you know that I am obsessed with this veggie chopper. It comes with a variety of blades for slicing, grating, and dicing. I use it most for dicing onions in a flash. It is also great for quickly chopping eggs for egg salad.
Find the rest of my meal prep essentials on my Amazon Storefront and LTK.
Bottom line
Meal prep can be a very helpful sidekick on your intuitive eating journey. Prepping some ingredients or meals ahead of time can help to save time and honor your hunger in satisfying ways during the week.
Looking for more non-diet-y meal planning support? We’d love to guide you inside The Nutrition Reboot Membership. I share new recipes inside the membership each week!
Did you find this post helpful? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Watch my meal prep tips in action on YouTube
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Disclaimer: this post is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
