My, not so scientific, theories on meal prep...

Meal prep always starts with a research session, either on Pinterest or in my cookbooks, and making my grocery list. I found a handy-dandy pad to make it a little easier. The trick to a successful meal prep is to find recipes that complement each other. For example, if I have a recipe that uses 0.5lbs of ground turkey I'll try to find a second one that also needs 0.5lbs. This way I use it all while it's fresh and don't have to worry about freezing 0.5lbs and forgetting about it.

The setup: A little prep goes a long way. 6 bowls for 6 different dishes and a post-it for each. Post-its tell me what goes in each bowl so that I don't have to go back and look at my recipes each time. I rinse all the veggies and put them in a colander in the sink for easy access. My kitchen is not very big so I have to use my space wisely.

One of the biggest headaches in a meal prep day is clean up. If you do one meal at a time you'll have to clean up over and over again. The trick is to ... ahem ... prep everything then assemble. Therefore I chop all my veggies first then my proteins. This also avoids cross contamination with the meats and poultry. When it's time to assemble I start with the items that take the longest to cook such as crockpot meals and work my way down. This way while I have things sitting there and simmering I can be stirring in another pot.

In order to maximize efficiency, I try to pick recipes that allow me to use multiple appliances at once. For example I have something going in the crockpot, something in the oven, and three things on the stove.

The next tip is to have music on while you cook. This way you lose a few calories by shaking your booty and you annoy your husband by randomly blurting out lyrics. This works best when you are wearing earphone. You will annoy your family it's true but they will still love you because you are making them delicious food!

Finally, ENJOY IT! Don't look at it as a chore, look at it as a way to make your life easier, healthier, and less stressful.