The start of the pandemic in March of 2020 brought upon the world a renewed focus on health and fitness. Forced to confine their whole lives within the walls of their home, millions of people were inspired to re-connect with their culinary skills. Consequently, many decided to explore areas of cooking such as meal prepping. Fast forward two years, the pandemic is still around and I can call myself one of those meal-prepping-people! Upon moving into our college apartment, my roommate and I decided to take on the challenge of meal prepping every week. Almost seven months later, I can confirm that it’s one of the most efficient things for someone who is constantly working to find a balance between social and academic life. Here’s three reasons why meal prepping has changed the game for me – and why you should meal prep too.
#1. It’ll save you money.
Meal prepping is a great way to save money, especially if living off campus. One of the greatest perks of having your own apartment is the luxury of a personal kitchen. However, this implies that you’re going to be buying groceries to keep your fridge and pantry stocked. If you’re already investing part of your budget into groceries, spending $10 on a lunch at an on campus location just becomes an extra cost. I was able to save over $300 last semester just by bringing my own lunches instead of resorting to on campus food. Don’t get me wrong, Cox and Kaldi’s have amazing food options, but why spend on a seasonal salad when you can make it at home for way less?
#2. It’ll save you time.
It’s convenient! I cannot count the amount of times that I got home exhausted from a long day of classes and got to sit down to a meal right away. Having food prepped in your fridge ensures that you’ll always have something to eat at any time. This is especially convenient on those days where you don’t feel like cooking, or on the days where you just don’t have the time to do so. Even though it make take up a couple of hours a week, it doesn’t compare to the hours you’ll save from not having to cook lunch or dinner every day.
#3. It’ll turn you into a master chef.
Finally, meal prepping can help you to work on those basic cooking skills that you may have wanted to perfect for a while now. Meal prepping has allowed me to get better at skills that I didn’t feel confident with before, such as cooking rice or roasting vegetables. It may sound silly, but once you start practicing these skills at least once a week, you really do begin to master them.
Meal prepping gives you the liberty to experiment in the kitchen and ensure that you have delicious meals all week long. Of course, life gets in the way sometimes and meal prepping may not be feasible every week. But investing only a couple of hours a week to prepare food for your future self saves you time, money, and the burden of cooking when you feel flooded with work. It takes some getting used to and practice, but that’s just the way it is when something is worth it, right?