Learning How To Meal Prep

If you are blessed with the luxury of having a full kitchen in your dorm, you are now among the collegiate elite. Welcome! --No, but seriously, having a full kitchen readily available to you whether it’s in your actual unit or down the hall can be extremely useful if you are wanting to cut costs of a meal plan. I have just started this new “meal prepping” trend that everyone is ranting and raving about. And surprisingly it is very useful, saves time, and completely economically for college students on a budget.

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First, I would start by asking yourself, is this something that you are willing to commit to. Although this is meant to save time, it also requires some disciple. You must be consistent and be able to plan ahead. Also knowing yourself well enough to say, yes, these are the meals I am going to eat for the next few days and I am definitely going to want and eat these. The point of this is to save you time and money. If you are just going to do it, then eat out at the Chick-fil-A for the rest of your meals, the purpose of this just went down the drain.

Meal Prep For The Week | Mind Over Munch YouTube

Prepping for the Prepping

Before I even thought about starting to meal prep, I had to prep for the prep. YouTube videos and online recipe websites are a useful tool in discovering what meals you would like to make and also what ingredients are the best to purchase that will be universal for multiple meals. Once you have an idea of what you would like to make, start marking up a grocery list of items you will need to start cooking. Also, if you do not already have materials for the prep, make another list of items, such as Tupperware or bento boxes, disposable silverware, etc. that you will need to store your meals.

YouTube is a resourceful tool. Watching some inspirational videos will help spark some ideas for meal prepping experience. Some channels that will be helpful include Mind Over Munch, Tasty, The Domestic Greek, and countless more that cater to all specific needs for those on keto diet, protein-rich, weight-loss, etc.

The last step would be the actual cooking and storing of your food. Make sure that when you are preparing your food that you are maintaining a reasonable amount of food. It is perfectly okay to use previous ingredients that you have already had or to not use everything you bought. Save those items for the next meal prep.