Love it or Hate it, Food Prep is essential if you want to keep yourself on the straight and narrow with your diet.

Here are my tips to making life easier on yourself when it comes to food prep.

1. Try and Pick the same day/days each week to cook

I always choose Sunday’s to cook my food. That way I know that I need to have all the food I am going to cook before then. I’m lucky as my husband is an early riser and the shopping is done early on Sunday mornings so by the time I rise out of my bed the kitchen cupboards and fridge are full 🙂 By choosing Sunday morning to cook it means that I don’t plan anything else for that time. I plan around my food prep. It might sound a bit anal but you have to be. Like with anything you don’t like doing ….you will put it off. That said if I am away for a weekend and cant cook on Sunday then I plan for the Friday and freeze my food. Basically what I am getting at is to plan in advance when you are going to cook and try and stick to it.

2. Bulk buy your meat

Don’t get caught out on food prep day with NO food to cook. Sounds stupid but it happens. And you will be less likely to want to go through the whole rigmarole of cooking if you have to add going shopping to the list of things to do. Places like Dublin Meat company, Courtney’s and Cosgrave’s all do bulk buy meats and always have deals, you have to try their Scotch steak, they are cheaper than a fillet but just as lean, they have a deal on for 800G of lean mince beef and 5 scotch fillets for €15 at the moment and their turkey steaks are the best. Courtney’s do 1 kilo of extra lean mince beef for €5. Compare that to Tesco 450G of mince beef for €5 and you are making a saving buying the kilo. It comes in a freezer friendly pack or you can open it and divide it out into portion sizes before you freeze it. They also do bulk buy on chicken breasts. Dublin Meat company are by far the best for eggs, 20 Extra Large eggs for €4.

Dublin Meat Company

Cosgraves

Courtneys

3. Homemade Frozen Sweet Potato Fries

I know you can buy sweet potato fries in Marks and Spencer but I am always weary of what they have precooked the fries in. Also any additives and preservatives that might be added into them to make them not so healthy. I now make my own for the reason above and also I really don’t like peeling sweet potatoes every week. First world problems I know LOL. I buy 3-4 bags of sweet potato from Tesco they are less than a euro each. (So 4 bags will do me for a month) Peel them all in one go. Chop them into sweet potato fry type shapes and pop them into a big Zip Lock freezer bag and into the freezer. Voila your own homemade sweet potato fries without any nasty additives and ready to cook whenever you want. You can also make sweet potato cubes if you prefer and if you want to be really fancy make spirals.

4. Philips Air fryer

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEEEE this little appliance so much. Yes I know most people have ovens and ovens are great and we don’t need another little mini oven in our lives …but if you don’t have a lot of time and want food cooked just as healthy as oven cooked food but in a fraction of the time..this little guy is for you. Sweet potato fries in 10mins (around 12 mins from frozen) chicken breasts in 10 mins perfectly crispy homemade chicken goujons in 8 mins. Its so easy to clean , we just throw the parts into the dishwasher. TIP: Want crispy sweet potato fries: Add a small sprinkle of semolina about 2 mins before end of cooking and turn the heat up to 200 degrees. Crispy heaven!!!! We got ours in Harvey Norman and it was €149.

Air Fryer

 5 Snacks and Smoothies

Don’t forget to think about making some healthy treats while you are cooking your meals. I make some healthy breakfast muffins to have as a treat. I always have nuts in the cupboard, Aldi and Lidl allow you to buy nuts by their weight. Smoothies I only have every now and then and I try and have a ratio of 3 veg to 1 fruit. Smoothies can get quiet sugary if you add in lots of fruit. One little tip I have for you is to freeze little packs of the fruit and veg you would use for your smoothie. Saves you have to peel and chop every time you want a smoothie all you have to do is grab the premade pack from the freezer and add it to your Nutri Ninja or blender and you have a lovely frozen smoothie.

6. Tuberware is your best friend

Yep so you know when you got invited to that Tuberware party and you said no as you were washing your hair????…Oh ok sorry I forgot we aren’t in an 80’s sitcom so you probably have never been invited to one. Fret not because the shelves of Dealz are laden with the little plastic fantastic’s. As with all of Dealz ..eh deals they are priced at €1.49. If you are wanting more trendy hard wearing tuberware then Tesco and Ikea are your only man. Every shape, size and colour you could ever want. These little babies will be your best friend. Have them ready and out on the counter while you cook ready to pop your cooked food into. Divide them out into meal portions and pop them in the fridge ready to take to work or the gym.

Those are just a few little tips to help you stay on track. It takes time but once you get into the groove of food prep it gets easier. You will be glad you did it and it keeps you away from the takeaway menus.