- Wednesday 22 January 2020
New year’s resolutions, anyone? Eat healthier, avoid takeaways, save money, be more organised? Sounds like last year's resolution delayed by a year? What if there's a way you could tackle those resolutions all at once? It’s time to give batch cooking and meal prep a go!
Meal prep – what’s not to love? A simple but brilliant way to make the most out of your food, that lets you reduce waste, save time and money, AND eat healthier! Don’t be intimidated by all the beautiful and insanely organised posts on Instagram and Pinterest under the #mealprep hashtag. It probably took more time to snap and post those shots than the actual preparation itself! It’s all based on planning ahead and making things easy on your future self.
According to a survey discussed in an article by the independent.ie (Bray, 2019), the average person living in Ireland spends €91 a month on takeaways and eating out! So, if your New Year’s resolutions revolve around spending wisely and eating healthier, but life gets in the way of cooking daily (don’t we all wish for a personal chef or butler…well for some, fat hope for most, dream on), then meal prep could be the answer!
Here are a few tips on how to ease yourself into a new cooking routine, and save yourself from the almighty draw of the takeaway.
What is Meal Prep?
For starters, it's all about preparing ingredients or meals in batches, portioning them out, then having them ready to go when you need them, otherwise, it's just a quicker way to say meal preparation. You can dedicate a free evening or day off to cooking meals in bulk, or even pre-chopping and otherwise readying ingredients cooking later in the week. A perfect time-saver, be it for lunches and dinners during a busy school week, or making sure you abide by your good intentions and bring in lunch to work!
You’ll find certain recipes lend themselves more to the make-ahead process than others. Try making things that you can easily add to and customisable for some variety, instead of the exact same boring meal each day. For example dahls and soups are great alone, but also make great bases to start off another meal.
'Multi-Tasking' Containers
This can be as simple as reusing glass jars that have been lying around at home – instead of bringing them straight to the bottle bank, get one more use before disposing them off, plus you are reusing and recycling. Read all about how to properly sterilise them on our blog here.
If you prefer a dedicated secure jar, Kilner Clip Top jars are ideal – for prepping salads for lunches, or making overnight oats or chia puddings for breakfasts which are time-saving yet healthy. This Make & Take kit from Kilner includes a neoprene sleeve and a fork to accompany your jar! Some specialised containers like a bento box comes with integrated dip pots, for holding dips and sauces separate to your mains. Kilner also have a range of lunchboxes which are perfect for most foods – as well as being microwave, freezer, and oven safe. Another option to consider, the popular Cirqula range from Mepal, are not only freezer and microwave safe, they are stackable and leakproof!
If another New Year’s resolution of yours is to reduce waste, try using beeswax wraps or reusable Stasher bags, a better alternative to cling film or tinfoil, for wrapping sandwiches, cut fruits and veggies, and cheeses.
Prepping for Meal Prep
Old habits die hard! Getting into new habits sometimes need a little encouragement by changing equipment. Give yourself a turbo boost to look forward to in the kitchen! Perhaps it’s time to get a new set of knives, or refresh old ones. Drop them into us to avail of our knife sharpening service, or invest in a sharpener – read our knife care blog post here for more information. Even replacing an old chopping board like the all-in-one Continenta cutting board might be a step in the right direction. This clever board comes with a stainless steel drawer a.k.a roasting dish, chop, drop and into the oven it goes, all in one swift sweep! Don't try to convince thy lazy self, you are just smarter!
If you need to cut down even further on preparation time in order to make cooking at home manageable, there are several handy time-saving gadgets out there that can make things easier. Sometimes the first step in a recipe can be the most daunting. Is the effort of peeling garlic deterring you from cooking? Don't have to be a martyr, just try a garlic scroll to quickly get you started. Hands up, who love salads but hate chopping onions and veg? This super duper chopper from OXO is your fairy godmother.
One of our bestsellers is a small wonder, this genius garlic and root mincer from Zyliss is perfect for quickly mincing garlic, chillies, ginger, turmeric, olives, nuts, and more. Toss in some ginger, garlic, and chillies, give it a twist, hey, you got yourself a quick base for a tasty stir-fry! They say good things comes in small packages.
Thinking of throwing in the towel? Oh come on now, don’t despair, correctly identifying the cause of your cooking procrastination may just find yourself running a Michelin star restaurant in a few months?! Or at the very least saving a few bob on lunches at work.
Last resort, don't chuck the resolutions just yet! Modify, tweak and own it. Have fun with it, don’t be too hard on yourself, and enjoy finding new recipes to cook! And maybe reward yourself for all your hard work with a new cook book. And if all else fail, give yourself a pat on the back, only IF and WHEN you did try, end your day with a celebratory trip to your favorite fancy restaurant…and then TRY HARDER the next day! God loves a trier!
Happy New Year by the way!
The Kitchen Whisk Team
Bray, A. (2019) 'Revealed: The county that splashes the most cash on eating out and takeaways', Independent, Ireland, 21 August. Available at: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-the-county-that-splashes-the-most-cash-on-eating-out-and-takeaways-38422692.html [Accessed: 22 January 2020]