What is Meal Prep?

Meal prep is a way to organize daily cooking that requires you to plan and prepare for your meals in advance. This way, your ingredients are portioned, prepared and ready to whip up a quick meal.

When meal prepping, you are required to select the recipes you would like to have throughout the week, list their ingredients and purchase them in the right quantities. Then, you need to portion and prepare them according to the recipes. This involves cutting vegetables. marinating proteins, making sauces and boiling pasta or noodles.

Thus, meal prep saves you a lot of time during mealtimes. All you need to do is toss in the already prepared ingredients in a pan and viola! A healthy delicious meal is ready in minutes.

There is one other way to meal prep. That is, going a step further from preparing ingredients

‍What is Batch Cooking?

‍Batch cooking is a meal prep method that involves pre-cooking large quantities of food for consumption over the next few days. This method is typically done over the weekend, when you have more time available. The cooked food is then refrigerated or frozen and can be reheated during mealtimes throughout the week.

The benefits of batch cooking include saving time throughout the week, reducing food waste, and having a variety of homemade meals on hand. This method is particularly useful for busy individuals, families, or those who want to eat more home-cooked meals.

With batch cooking, you can prepare a variety of dishes such as casseroles, soups, stews, and more, that can be easily reheated in a matter of minutes. This allows you to enjoy a delicious, home-cooked meal without the time and effort required to prepare one from scratch every day.

Additionally, Batch cooking also allows you to plan your meals in advance, which can help you stick to a healthy diet and avoid last-minute takeout or fast food. All in all, Batch cooking is an efficient and convenient way to enjoy home-cooked meals throughout the week without having to spend hours in the kitchen every day. 

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‍How is meal prep different from batch cooking?

Meal prep, on the other hand, is the process of preparing and planning meals in advance. It can include a variety of tasks such as grocery shopping, portioning out ingredients, and cooking or preparing specific components of meals. Meal prepping can be done on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis depending on an individual's preference.

The main goal of meal prepping is to have all the components of a meal ready to go, so that you can quickly assemble and cook them when you're ready to eat. It allows for greater control over portion sizes, and the flexibility to plan for specific dietary needs or preferences. Meal prepping is a great option for those who want to eat healthy, homemade meals, but may not have the time to cook from scratch every day.

One of the main differences between batch cooking and meal prepping is that batch cooking is focused on pre-cooking and storing complete meals, while meal prepping is focused on preparing and storing individual components of meals that can be quickly assembled later. While both methods require planning and purchasing ingredients in bulk, batch cooking is more suited for those who want to have a variety of complete meals ready to go, while meal prepping is better for those who want more control over the final outcome of their meals.

To better gauge their essence, you must understand the values they bring to the table along with their limitations.