People’s professions can often keep them very busy. Due to how busy they are, other important tasks that relate to their well-being, like preparing meals, aren’t always prioritized. The lack of prioritization may then lead to other means including eating takeout more often than they’d like or making subpar home-cooked food, both of which make for unsatisfying dining experiences. If this sounds like what you’ve been thinking about lately and you’re a busy professional who wants to have better meals via improved prepping strategies, here are some tips:

Look Up Quick And Easy Recipes

There are a lot of quick and simple recipes that taste very good as well. Great places to find some include websites such as allrecipes.com or you could look up cookbooks by reputable chefs. Are there any specific dishes that you’ve been craving? Would you like to see if there are easy-to-make versions of them? Overall, you’ll likely find many options if you do this research.

Consider Purchasing and Cutting Up Versatile Vegetables

Certain vegetables are used in many different dishes. For instance, people put mushrooms in salads, omelets, burgers, pasta, on pizza and more. They’re also delicious when sauteed or eaten raw on their own. If you cut up these vegetables all at one time, then you’ll have them immediately ready to use for the next few days. A good idea would be spending either a Saturday, Sunday, or any day you have time to do this.

Cutting might seem like a monotonous activity so you can make it more enjoyable by listening to your favourite music, audio book, podcast, etc. while doing so. You can also think of this as a relaxing break from work.

Freeze Food To Eat Throughout The Week

While it’s (of course) ideal to always have fresh, nutritious meals, sometimes this can’t happen, especially for busy professionals. Thus, another idea would be, relatively similar to what’s stated above regarding vegetables, making about a week’s worth of meals one day, but then further dividing them into their appropriate portions, freezing the food, then taking these portions out to defrost throughout the week or whenever you see fit. The freezing strategy is especially convenient for dinners. As a result, there are no worries about what to eat when you get home/finish work. Casseroles are good to make for this option.

It’s additionally advised to ensure that the food is stored properly should you plan on freezing it (if you don’t know how to already) as proper storage would prevent premature freezer burn. For example, would solely using a re-closable bag suffice? Or do you need other supplies to cover it such as plastic wrap or aluminum foil?

All in all, balancing various responsibilities when you’re a busy professional can definitely be difficult. Nonetheless, carving out the time to prioritize other areas of your life, even when regarding seemingly menial tasks like meal preparation, is beneficial. For many, having good home-cooked meals contribute to more quality moments in everyday life. The pieces of advice above including finding easy recipes, buying and cutting versatile vegetables, and freezing are meant to make prepping experiences more efficient as well as take the stress out of deciding what to eat. If you consider meal preparation a priority and want to try better ways to go about it, following these tips is a step in the right direction.