Wouldn’t it be amazing to know you have a week’s worth of healthy, delicious meals prepared for your family? If you often find yourself scrambling at 4:55 PM to figure out what to make for dinner tonight, a meal plan can seem like an impossible dream. I promise you can make it happen! Use these 5 easy meal prep solutions for busy women to make easy, delicious meals for you and your family.

Serve Your Family Healthy Meals

As busy women, it can be challenging to find time to get a meal on the table every night. The prep, the cooking, and the clean up can all seem like menial (and endless!) tasks.

Yet when I serve wholesome meals, I am loving my family well. I serve God by serving them.

Consider what the Bible says,

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

Proverbs 31:25

I want to be one of those women who is so confident about the future that she looks ahead and laughs. How about you?

When you meal prep and plan for future days, you serve God by serving your family.

What is Meal Prep?

Meal prep is preparing part or all of a meal ahead of time.

Yep, it’s really that simple!

Meal prep can involve prepping a lot of meals at once (such as once a month freezer cooking) or preparing one ingredient, like browning several pounds of ground beef to use in casseroles and soups later.

Why Meal Prep Matters

Let me assure you that as busy women, meal prep is a sanity-saver, and here are reasons why.

• Meal prep saves time. Perhaps you’ve heard of batching or time-blocking to get more accomplished, faster. This is when you do a lot of one task all at once. Whether it’s laundry, work tasks, or cooking, it just makes sense to do it all at one time.

• Meal prep saves money. I do a much better job of sticking to my grocery budget when I plan ahead for the week’s meals. I can shop according to sales and am not as tempted with last minute easy-prep purchases or drive-through runs.
• Meal prep saves calories. As someone who runs a Christian online Weight loss program, I encourage our members to meal prep in order to choose fresh, wholesome foods that fit into a healthy eating plan. Whether you have a weight loss goal or not, all of us have the desire to eat a more healthy diet for optimal energy and wellness.
• Meal prep saves sanity. I don’t know about you, but my week days get hectic! Between my work, my kid’s activities, volunteer work, church and more, there’s always something going on. I love when I have meal prep done because it’s one less thing each day I need to think about.

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5 Easy Meal Prep Ideas

If you are new to meal prep or just wondering how to fit more of it into your busy week, here are 5 easy ways to get started.

1. Freezer cook. If you are ready to go all-in with meal prep, consider freezer cooking or Once a Month cooking. My favorite freezer cooking resource is Once a Month Meals. They have a paid membership that gives you everything you need to prep meals in advance, but they also have lots of free resources and all their recipes are tested to work when frozen. Don’t feel like you have to make a whole month’s meals. Use this free printable grocery list to plan a week or two’s worth of meals and give a try to making them all at once.
2. Meal Prep Lunches. Save time and money when you have all your meals for the week ready to go. I like to use one healthy dinner recipe and divide it into 5 lunches for my week. Take some time to prep the kids’ lunches too.
3. Prep breakfast. Consider making one or two recipes for the week’s breakfasts. Items like muffins, egg casseroles, smoothie packs, and oatmeal are all great options.
4. Prep healthy basics. If you don’t have time to make a week’s meals, you can still save time by making enough healthy basics to keep you going through the week. Try cooking several pounds of lean ground beef, boil a chicken or chicken breasts, make hard boiled eggs and cook brown rice, and you have the basis of many healthy dinners.
5. Get an Instant Pot. While certainly not a requirement, meal prep has gotten much easier since I invested in an Instant Pot pressure cooker. Learn more about how to use it for meal prep here.

With these 5 simple meal prep options, you can look ahead to the future with a smile. Your days will be easier and life will run smoother since you have healthy dinners ready.

Do you meal prep? Share about it in the comments below.

About Sara

Sara Borgstede is a writer, triathlete, TaeKwon Do black belt, and 100 pound weight loss success story. She and her husband are parenting 5 kids through birth and special needs adoption. Sara takes a lot of power naps. Find her at www.theholymess.com and at her online Christian weight loss program, www.faithfulfinishlines.com.