9 Meal Prep Tools You Need to be Successful Now
What meal prep tools do you need to be successful now? It’s a fair and valid question for anyone looking to start their journey to a meal prep lifestyle. Which meal prep tools are essential or necessary? Which tools can I wait on and add to my kitchen, once I’m more established in my meal prep lifestyle? Are there certain meal prep tools that you need to make meal prepping easier and more efficient? In short, what are the meal prep tools you need to be successful now?
8 years ago when I started my meal prep lifestyle journey, I had no clue about the meal prep tools I or you needed to be successful now. I just knew I was tired of figuring out several times a day what to eat. I knew I was not a fan of eating out (very picky about food and I’m not a big fan of fast food, with a few delicious exceptions). I also knew I didn’t have oodles of money to put into meal prep tools to help me to be successful.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you click and buy, I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you). Please see my full disclosure policy for details.
Now, I can say to you, based on trial and error, there is absolutely a list of meal prep tools you need to be successful now. They are the go to meal prep tools that keep my meal prep lifestyle going from week to week. Over the years, as I’ve been able to or as ‘ve been gifted by friends and loved ones, I have made updates and improvements to my meal prep tools. I will make a follow up post soon where I’ll share those with you too. Before we take a dive into the exciting world of the meal prep tools you need to be successful now, let’s spend some time covering a few bases.
What is Meal Prep or a Meal Prep Lifestyle?
I received this question so much on my social media posts as I shared my weekly meal prep recipes that I finally wrote an entire blog post dedicated to explaining how to Live a Meal Prep Lifestyle. Meal prep or meal prepping is the practice of preparing meals in advance and dividing them into portions that can be easily eaten at a later date. Meal prep is not explicitly focused on health and fitness, however, meal prep is usually practiced by people working on achieving and/or maintaining specific health and fitness goals.
Meal prep is also practiced by people and families who want to save money, by not eating out often and also save time by not having the constant worry over what to cook and eat. Regardless of the “why” behind someone’s choice to meal prep, the general idea is the same: preparing meals in advance so they can be enjoyed at a later time.
What are Some Simple Meal Prep Recipes?
A huge mistake that I made when I started my meal prep journey, outside of having no clue about the meal prep tools I’d need to be successful, was not having some simple meal prep recipes in mind or on hand. In those early days, I looked everything up on Pinterest (not a bad plan in and of itself) and chose recipes that were way too complex and time consuming. Add to that my lack of knowledge on how to portion things correctly and I had a mess. I frequently made way too much of something I didn’t even like and ended up wasting so much food. Because of my mistakes, my advice is to keep it simple. Stick to recipes you already know and like and find ways to adjust them based on your need or goals.
What are Some Meal Prep Must Haves?
Above, I have talked about the importance of the right meal prep tools to your success. I also have mentioned the importance of having and following tips for busy moms and finding some go to recipes you can use when you are low on time. Are you wondering if there are any other meal prep must haves?
Let’s talk about some intangible meal prep must haves, some things that you can’t buy. To succeed at meal prep, you not only need certain meal prep tools to succeed, you will also need flexibility, patience and innovation. I cannot tell you how many times I have accidentally left an important ingredient off my meal prep list or forgotten to turn the crockpot on while wondering why nothing was happening. The truth is as a novice or new meal prep planner, mistakes will happen. They happen sometimes even as a meal prep veteran, but in the majority of those cases a little bit of flexibility, some patience and innovation can help.
Now, that we’ve talked about meal prep, tips for meal prepping and looked at some simple meal prep recipes, let’s dive into the meal prep tools you need to succeed now in your meal prep kitchen.
What are the Meal Prep Tools You Need to Succeed in Meal Prep?
There are a million different meal prep tools that you or anyone could use, but here are the meal prep tools I have consistently used that help to ensure success in my meal prep lifestyle. Below, these essentials, I will also share the meal prep tools that you don’t “need,” but that are my favorite to make meal prep easier or healthier.