When I first started meal planning and prepping, it took a lot of my time and energy — and it should! Learning a new skill takes time and intention.
It didn’t take me too long before I learned what worked, what didn’t, and what the shortcuts are. The biggest lesson I learned? Getting my kitchen multi-tasking for me.
This was a HUGE revelation for me. It takes about the same amount of planning time, but it cuts the cooking time in half and gets me many delicious meals.
My Top Tips for Making Your Kitchen Mutli-Task
These tips work super well, whether you’re a single person or a large family, so give them a try!
- While you are in the kitchen prepping or making a meal, spend a couple of extra minutes and make a double batch double batch or a meal that you can throw into the slow cooker.
- Make big batches, portion them out and freeze, so you don’t have to eat curry two days in a row if you don’t want to.
- Don’t think of this only for lunches and dinners, you can do this for breakfasts and dessert, too!
My Favourite Cook Once, Eat Twice Breakfast Meals
In my house, we make waffles or pancakes on Saturday morning. It’s a ritual we don’t like to skip.
So, while we’re in the kitchen making up a batch for that day, we take a minute and double it so we have them ready for weekday mornings.
They freeze great and you can warm them up in the toaster, too!
My Favourite Cook Once, Eat Twice Lunches/Dinners
My top favourite cook once and twice meals are Pad Thai and Falafels. They’re filling, delicious, and flexible.
For Pad Thai, I make it for dinner and eat it with rice noodles. The next day for lunch I have Pad Thai lettuce wraps or a nourish bowl!
Now, if you’re staying away from carbs, add in lots of veggies to your Pad Thai like spinach and squash to eat like a stew. (Delicious and low-carb friendly — I love it!)
For the Falafels, make them your main dish one night (with a huge chunky Greek salad or veggies and dip) and then next day, add the remainder to your nourish bowl for a super tasty lunch.
My Favourite Cook Once, Eat Twice Desserts
It’s brownies. Isn’t it always brownies!??!
Instead of making them in one large pan, make then in muffin pan (or Epicure’s perfect petites pan) and you have perfect portion sized brownies for the week!
They freeze great too and don’t take long to thaw out since they’re small!
I really hope these tips will help you on your meal planning and prep journey towards self-care and clean eating. I can’t wait to see what you make!
