Meal prepping is a great way to eat healthy meals when you are busy, reduce waste by using fresh ingredients and produce before it spoils, and save money by avoiding expensive takeaway meals.
What exactly is meal prepping? It is planning and preparing your meals or ingredients well before you plan to eat. There’s a few different ways you might do this:
Batch cooking – making a big batch of food in one go and freezing or saving it for later
Individually portioned meals – similar to batch cooking, you make a large portion of food and divide it into containers that you can grab and go
Preparing ingredients – chop, peel, slice and even cook different ingredients (vegetables, grains, proteins) to save cooking time when you are ready to eat
Preparing for meal prepping
To get started, we recommend a few simple steps to get the hang of meal prepping:
Choose a mealtime to prepare for: Think of the meal times when you are most often running short of time. Maybe breakfast in a busy house full of kids, or dinners after a long day at work, or when lunch gets crunched by other commitments.
Pick a day to do your meal prep: Weekends or days off are best, when you have more time to shop and then spend some time in the kitchen with the least amount of distractions. Meal prepping on the weekend also gets your busy week off to a great start.
Work out how much food to prepare: Totally up to you, and it could be a couple of days or an entire week. Keep in mind that depending on the dish, prepped food lasts 2-5 days in the fridge, or 3-4 months in the freezer.
Meal prep ideas that are easy and tasty
There are thousands of recipes for all kinds of meals and cooking styles on our recipe library and Tefal app (Download on App Store or Google Play). We’ve included some here to help inspire you.
Fast and tasty breakfasts
Apple and Chia Seed Pudding stores easily in mason jars or containers for breakfast-on-the-go. Swap out the apples for blueberries or other fruit as you like.
Fig, Date and Walnut Protein Balls is perfect for those who like a light, healthy breakfast in the morning. They keep in the fridge for a week so you can grab-and-go for those busy mornings.
Breakfast Muesli is ideal for freezing so you can make a bigger batch and freeze it in portions, for plenty of speedy and delicious muesli to top on your yoghurt, chia seed puddings, or just to snack on.
Mix it up at lunch
Grilled Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta Salad can include a range of different proteins and dressings to customise during the week. Grill some extra vegetables on the weekend as a base for your weekday salads.
Sesame Beef Rice Bowls are an ideal way to turn leftovers into a delicious and healthy lunch.
Tuna Pasta is a simple and tasty lunch using pantry ingredients.
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Hearty and healthy dinners
One Pan Chicken and Potatoes uses less dishes to clean up afterwards, and leftovers can become lunch.
Stir Fried Beef is a great dish to pack in the veggies, and leftovers make for a quick and tasty lunch.
Vegetarian Lasagna serves a crowd or provides extra portions for later. And if you prepare extra red sauce it can be frozen and used with other recipes.
Cookware and appliances
We’ve included some of our most popular appliances that will help make meal prepping a breeze.
Ingenio
Tefal Ingenio is the smart range of pots and pans with the innovative removable handle that helps to maximise space on your stove, and in your cupboards. When preparing large portions of food, you can use multiple Ingenio pots and pans on the stove without the handle getting in the way. Expect minimal clean up as you can directly serve your food to the table and store them in the fridge afterwards using the Ingenio plastic lid.
i-Companion XL
Our top-of-the-range multifunctional robot, the i-Companion XL, cuts, mixes and cooks for you, making meal prep so easy. Offering a large capacity, the i-Companion XL is perfect for large batches of pasta, curries, porridge and stews that can be portioned or frozen for later.
OptiGrill Elite
The Tefal OptiGrill Elite is our most advanced grill ever, with a range of smart features that deliver next level grilling. It is ideal for when you have a large amount of meat or veggies to grill for your pre-prepared meals.
Easy Fry Grill & Steam Air Fryer
The versatile Easy Fry Grill & Steam XXL air fries, grills and steams in one space-saving appliance. With its XXL 6.5 litre capacity it is perfect to prepare large quantities of food for portioned eating through the week – think nutrient-rich steamed veggies and tender grilled meat.
At Tefal, meal prepping is a firm favourite, because it helps you save time, reduces stress and gives you more life! And it is made much easier with Tefal cookware and appliances. Explore hundreds of easy and tasty recipes at your fingertips.
Download the Tefal app now:
- App Store
- Google Play
