Part 1 of 3 - My Top 15 Meal Prep Tips: A Complete Beginner’s Guide to a Healthy Family Meal Prep

Part 1 of 3

Ok, so you’ve been wanting to learn how to healthy meal prep for your family in order to make your breakfasts/lunches/dinners go more smoothly during the week, but you don’t know where to start?

Well, you’re in luck!

In the next three blog posts, I’m going to be breaking down “My Top 15 Meal Prep Tips for Beginners”. This is the ultimate guide to everything I have learned over the years while preparing a healthy meal prep for my family of four. I hope sharing my experience can help you skip some of the trial and errors I’ve had along the way!

And if you need some recipe inspiration to get you started, check out my FREE 7 DAY MEAL PLAN to help jumpstart your planning and prepping. Subscribe and have the plan sent straight to your inbox.

So let’s jump right in with the first five tips:

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Tip #1 - Start small, and most importantly - just start

This is my number one tip and definitely the advice I’m constantly repeating to my new clients.

Oftentimes people think that in order to have a healthy meal prep, they need to prepare EVERY meal for EVERY day of the week…

Can you do that? Yes, of course!

Will it take up a lot of time? Yes, you could spend hours in the kitchen!

When my clients are just beginning to integrate meal prepping for their family into a weekend routine, I suggest two things to get started:

1️⃣ Identify the meal you MOST need prepped ahead of time (breakfast, lunch or dinner)

2️⃣ Choose 2-3 recipes for that meal to prep on Sunday

That’s it! Just like with anything new - starting with small, manageable goals is key!

If you go in guns a-blazin’ and try to meal prep 8 different meals on a Sunday (especially without a solid plan) then you’re going to get frustrated and get turned off before you even get started.

So focus on starting small with a few recipes and then build up to more once you have the first couple recipes down.

Tip #2 - Keep your pantry and spice cabinet stocked

Having a fully stocked pantry and spice cabinet will make your life so much easier when it comes to meal prepping. If you can sit down to make your meal prep plan and already cross off beans, canned/frozen veggies, pastas, rice, spices, etc. then you’re starting ahead of the game!

*Additional Bonus: having a stocked pantry makes your life easier in general. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve not had a meal planned or a meal prepped but I can easily whip something up because I have pantry ingredients that I can lean on for a healthy meal. Knowing I don’t have to order takeout or have pizza delivered because I have quick and easy meal options in my pantry is a huge win for our health AND our wallet!

Tip #3 - Get organized aka always have a plan

This tip is your key to success! Be sure you take the time to sit down, choose the recipes you want to prep and write out a grocery list. You can even map out the order in which you’ll prep the meals. If you are just starting out and try to throw together a few meals on the fly - well, the results could be disastrous!

Ok - maybe I’m exaggerating but you won’t be as successful as you could be!

It’s also helpful if the meals use similar ingredients - like soups or crockpot meals that have beans/legumes in them. This will make your grocery list more condensed.

If you need help getting started with a meal plan, don’t stress out! Just download my FREE 7 DAY MEAL PLAN to have a full week of recipes sent to your inbox.

Tip #4 - Never shop the grocery store without a list

After you choose the recipes and create a meal plan for your healthy meal prep, ALWAYS MAKE A GROCERY LIST!

You don’t want to be wandering around the grocery store with 5 different recipes but no centralized grocery list. You’ll be doubling back to grab the carrots you missed from the 3rd recipe because you were grabbing the beans you needed for the 1st recipe, all the while completely forgetting about the potatoes for the 4th recipe…see what I’m saying?

So take those recipes you’ve chosen and make an organized, condensed grocery list. I promise it will save you time and hassle in the store.

Tip #5 - But before you go to the grocery store - shop your pantry first

This tip goes hand-in-hand with the previous tip about keeping a stocked pantry and might seem obvious…but once you build up a stocked pantry, use it! After you choose your recipes and make a grocery list for the meal prep day, shop from your pantry first before going to the grocery store.

I can’t tell you how many times I came home with canned tomatoes or a jar of garlic when I already had some in the pantry because I forgot about it. So don’t make my mistake! If you go through the work of stocking your pantry, make sure you use it.

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So there they are: my top 5 meal prep tips to get you started. I hope you found them helpful! I encourage you to Pin or bookmark this post so you can refer back to it as you start your meal prep journey. Also, check out Part 2 and Part 3 of this post where I break down the remaining 10 tips.

Happy Meal Prepping!

Wishing you health and wellness,

Ashley