Despite our best intentions, sometimes we just can’t be bothered to cook. When we’ve had a long busy day, we need healthy food and fast. Enter: meal prepping.

Preparing your meals for the week in one go is a great way of helping you reach your weight loss goals. If you’ve got your food ready and waiting for you, it’s much less likely that you’ll opt to eat something unhealthy because you’re too tired or busy to make something. Here are some easy ways to make meal prep work for you.

Pick and choose what to prep

You can prep as many meals and snacks – or as few – as you like.

  • Struggle to get up in the morning? Prep some breakfasts in advance.
  • Meal deals seem appealing on your lunch break? Prep some lunches you can grab on your way out.
  • Got a busy week coming up? Prep breakfast, snacks and dinners to help you get ahead.

It’s all about making your life easier, so you choose what works for you.

Prepare food you’ll actually eat

It’s all well and good making a week’s worth of meals in one go but there’s no point if you don’t want to eat what you’ve made. Meal prep doesn’t have to mean boring food. Want burgers one night? Prepare the patties ahead of time, store them in the fridge and whack them on the grill for a few minutes when you need them.

You don’t have to meal prep everything

If you’re thinking that meal prep means eating cold food straight from plastic tubs, think again!

  • You could chop salad ingredients ready for lunch
  • Grill some chicken breasts to store in the fridge for an easy sandwich filling or to eat with pasta.
  • Whip up a tomato sauce that you can reheat while you’re cooking pasta.

These helpful steps can play a crucial part when you come home from work and are tempted to call up your old friend Papa John.

Prepare to succeed

A little planning before your food shop can make meal prepping easier.

  • Figure out what you’re going to eat during the week.
  • Make an ingredients list.
  • See what ingredients could multitask and change any meals as appropriate, e.g. mince could make Bolognese sauce, chilli and lasagne.

This is the best way of making sure your meal prepping is simple, effective and as easy to do as possible. As our English teacher used to say, fail to prepare and prepare to fail.

How’s your Tupperware?

Getting excited about Tupperware could be a sign of impending middle-age but trust us – making sure you’ve got decent containers is crucial to meal prep success.

Make one day a meal prep day

Meal prepping can seem like a daunting task if you’re trying to do it for the entire week, but it’s not too bad if you get it over and done with in one session. Try it on a Sunday so that you’re ready for the week ahead. Set yourself up in the kitchen with some good music, a fully stocked fridge and your meal plan and get to work. Top tip: wash up as you go along so you’re not left with the daunting clear up at the end.