You may recognize that on a busy day you still think 'damn, still have to cook dinner. Well, let's put something easy on the table'. We don't have to tell you that many people lead busy lives. And you probably know that eating healthy is important. To avoid falling into the trap of eating unhealthy and easy food, you can mealprepare. In other words, prepare your meals.

What is meal prepping?

It's all about preparing your food so you have a healthy choice in a hurry! You can do this for your breakfast, your lunch and your dinner. You make sure you cook at one time and prepare for several days after that. This way you have a healthy choice and you cover yourself for the times when it is a little harder to go for healthy. For example, after a long day or when time is short.

Why is meal prepping a good idea?

1. You make sure you make it easy: to stick to a healthy diet. At times when you're already hungry/you're busy/you have less time than expected, you're a lot less likely to make a soup or a salad. When you already have it ready to go in your fridge, you're a lot more likely to go for the healthy choice.
2. You save time: by preparing several meals at 1 time. By choosing 1 moment when you spend a little longer on your food, you have more time on the following days. Then you can do some extra exercise or conscious relaxation, for example!
3. Convenience: After your preparation, you don't have to deal with it any further! Just grab from the refrigerator and prepare to eat. Even when you are on the road or going to work every day, you have your own food on hand. How convenient!
4. Portion control: You can estimate in advance what a healthy portion is for you. If you already have these in trays, you can be sure that you will stick to these portions. It is important to eat enough food so that you are not still hungry afterwards and give in to a snack.
5. Healthy choices: preparing your meals simply helps you make the healthy choice. You know exactly what nutrients you are getting, after all, you prepared it yourself!

How should you meal prep?

Step 1: Decide how many days you need meals for as well as which meals you want to prepare (breakfast, lunch and/or dinner)

Step 2: Make a plan of what you want to eat on which day, choose recipes where you have a healthy balance of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats (including with your breakfast!).

Step 3: Get your ingredients and choose the time when you prepare your meals. For example, Sunday is a great day if you want to prepare your work week.

Step 4: Prepare your meals and divide them into equal portions into trays and refrigerate!

Step 5: Relax and pat yourself on the back that you have taken another step toward a healthy lifestyle!

It is also possible to prepare ingredients in advance, if you want to be a little less attached to certain meals. For example, you can cook rice, cut vegetables and/or meat in advance. That way you remain a little more flexible in what you eat, but make sure it's easy to make healthy choices!