Meal Prepping for your health, the planet, and your wallet!

Whether you’ve been prepping your meals for years or you are kicking off the new year with a goal to meal prep more, we are excited to help make it easier...and greener!   

Problem A

It is estimated that the US alone wastes enough food to fill a college stadium...daily! This is about ~38 Million Tons of food. The methane gas released from food waste is equivalent to 37 million cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions.

Solution A

Plan out your meals in advance and purchase only the groceries that you know you will need for that week. Not only does planning your meals have an environmental effect, but you’ll also be pleasantly surprised to save a few bucks on those market visits too! 

Problem B

Eating out and relying on takeout isn’t healthy, is wasteful, and is a big drain on your wallet! From toxic plastic packaging to preservatives (and so many other issues) with fast food, to generally higher sodium and unhealthy fat contents in restaurant foods - primarily eating out isn’t the healthiest choice. 

Solution B

Generally speaking, and depending on what you’re cooking, eating from home usually means eating healthier in general. Making your meals means knowing exactly what’s going into your food, better nutrient control, and less waste. We all know that feeling of getting home from a long day of work and just wanting to order in. You’re human - you’re allowed to do this every once in a while, but meal prepping is a great way to make you choose those home-cooked meals more often. If you only need to heat it up or throw everything in a bowl - then you’ll be eating way sooner than you would if you ordered out! 

Problem C

Here at NTR, we’re always talking about the chemicals in single-use plastic and other packaging: from BPA to phthalates, there are so many toxins hiding in your packaging which you could be ingesting along with your favorite foods.

Problem D:

Plastic packaging accounts for 42% of plastic waste generated. That is 146 tonnes and I think we can all agree that is absolutely disgusting. A lot of people don’t think of all the trash that their food packaging creates. It becomes an even bigger problem with all the single-use food items like non-dairy yogurt cups, crackers & granola bars.

Solutions C & D

You guessed it -- Avoid single-use plastic! Make your own food & meal prep (obvi)! When you aren’t able to DIY, buy in bulk (or in the biggest containers you can find, depending on your bulk access) and portion your food into sustainable, recyclable, reusable, super rad glass food containers like Wean Green. 

We want everyone to be successful in their meal prepping so we decided to share some of our not-so-secret secrets. 

1. Write out your meal plan

Your meal plan should include everything you are going to eat for the week. Ours included breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner & of course dessert. Not sure where to start? Think of your basics: make a grain that can be used throughout the week, and work around that. What are some of your favorite meals to make that store the best? Try making a larger portion of that. There are tons of great meal prepping ideas all over the internet, especially places like Pinterest and even Instagram. 

2. Go grocery shopping with the list you created from the recipes in #1

Don’t buy anything other food or ingredients other than what’s on your list. That way, you don’t risk buying unhealthy snacks, unnecessary packaging, and don’t risk food waste. 

3. Sunday = Prep Day

Get into your comfiest Sunday clothes, put on your favorite cooking music, and start prepping! If your meal calls for 2 cups shredded carrots. Getting shredding those carrots! We prep every veggie - down to the minced garlic - and store it in containers in sections of the fridge for each day. How intense you want to get is totally up to you! A lot of people cook everything Sunday night - we prefer to do the actual cooking the day-of our meals, rather than just reheating throughout the week. But if you want to cook your proteins and other ingredients on Sunday to save yourself more time during the week, go for it!

4. Eat your veggies!

One of the best things about meal prepping is that most recipes have veggies but they often don’t use all of it. When’s the last time you used a whole celery heart or a bunch of carrots in one dish? Cut up the rest of those veggies and store them in the fridge and count them as some of your snacks for the week. We’re found that leftover veggies are more likely to be eaten if they’ve been prepped.

5. Berry Berry Important

Don’t wash your berries when you get home. Berries will last longer when they are in their natural goodness. Wash them when you are ready to serve them. We have ours portioned out but not cleaned until the day we need them. We also store them in Wean Green containers with unlocked lids and we swear they last days longer. 

6. Don’t forget about your snacks!

Every time you make a recipe that would normally come packaged in plastic, give yourself a hug from us! If you aren’t ready to spend all day in the kitchen, choose a few snacks that you know you love and find recipes to replace those. We love granola bars, and since those are individually packaged we can give ourselves a hug each time we make this super easy Granola Bar recipe (make it vegan by subbing maple syrup or agave for honey).  Some other easy snacks to make to avoid single-use plastic are: chia pudding, muffins, bliss balls, popped popcorn - the list is endless! And don’t forget those snacks that require no prep at all - like your favorite fruits and nuts!

7. Unexpected dinner plans throwing off your meal prep?

Obviously, turn down all invitations to go out for dinner...just kidding. The best part of having a meal prepped is that if you don’t use it, you can just throw it in the freezer and be two steps ahead for the next week! 

Best of luck in your prepping adventures. I think we should start a list of meal prep playlists somewhere next!