Are Prepared Meals a Good Alternative for Individuals on the Go?

Are Prepared Meals a Good Alternative for Individuals on the Go? : Social media has no doubt popularized meal prepping for those who’ve watched it, but a lot of planning and practice goes into the craft. Not everyone has the time to prep their meals every day.

Preparing meals is an integral part of diets like the Mediterranean diet and FODMAP diet. If you don’t have time to prep them yourself, a meal prep service can help you tremendously. There are prepared meal deliveries that offer just what you need for the day. The wide variety of choices will ensure that you’re following your weekly diet.

Prepared meals offer several benefits that we will discuss further down the line. But generally, you ensure that your body gets the various nutrients it needs to remain healthy. You’re able to live well and healthily every day, especially if you’re eating based on a diet plan.

How Are Healthy Prepared Meals Made?

Planning Your Meals

Plan Your Meal Schedule for the Week

You need to choose a day when you’ll plan your menu for the week or the month and shop for groceries. When will you prep your meal and cook your ingredients? Some tasks can overlap or you can break them up to keep things manageable.
Watch Out For Sales

As your menu becomes more consistent, you need to watch for sales so you can save when stocking up on ingredients. In a Mediterranean diet, you’re more likely to need fruits, vegetables, and legumes. You also need to stock up on dairy, fish, and nuts as part of the diet.
Focus on the Ingredients that Take the Longest to Cook

When you start meal prepping, it’s best to focus on the ingredients that take the longest to cook. For example, the priorities are protein food, whole grains, dried beans, and roasted vegetables. Examples of protein food are chicken and fish while whole grains are brown rice and quinoa.

Sometimes, it’s too time-consuming and you’re too busy for the week, so you need to order instead. Some quality organizations deliver dietician-recommended prepared meals. Modify Health offers food delivery for those who practice the Mediterranean diet and low FODMAP diet. You can keep your health in check without sacrificing time for work or family.
Prep Food that’s Staple for the Family

While preparing your meal, you can also cook your family’s staple food. It can easily be on their weekday meal or grab it for a snack. For example, washed greens, hardboiled eggs, or a bowl of chopped fruits for them.
Multi-Tasking the Prep Work

When the food is baking or bubbling on the stovetop, you can direct your attention to other areas. You can wash and dry the vegetables you plan to use for later in the week.
Cook Extra Portions

When cooking, you can make extra portions that will last for another day or two. You can just store the meal or freeze it for a different week. It’s important to put a date and label on what you put in the freezer so you know what you still have.

What are the Health Benefits of Prepared Meals?

Treat Diseases with Low FODMAP Meals

Knowing the kind of diet you need is crucial to helping any condition you might have. In the case of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), the low FODMAP diet is commonly recommended.

IBS has symptoms like cramping, diarrhea, gas, and bloating which affects a person’s quality of life. You can avoid triggering the symptoms by eating the right food—that is, the low FODMAP diet.

A low FODMAP diet means you avoid eating lactose, fructose, and fructans. You should also avoid eating GOS and polyols so you won’t trigger any bloating.
Prepping Your Meals Improves Diet Quality

Scientifically, preparing meals lets you have a more diverse and higher-quality diet than the usual takeout. And people who did so adhere to nutritional guidelines more or try out diets. Their meal planning includes a longer thought process which allows for informed food choices.

Your diet will help you feel nourished but not overstuffed because of careful planning. And because you planned, you can use ingredients that usually take days to prepare. You then end up with a balanced and satisfying plate.
Save Time and Money with Meal Preps

You might be wondering how cooking saves you time instead of ordering takeout. But the key to this idea is to prepare one week’s worth of food in one day. After prepping on a Saturday or Sunday, you can just reheat food for the rest of the week.

You can save money with meal prep because spending on groceries forces you to be intentional with your choices. You have a plan and a list of ingredients you need for the week. Meal prep is a great budgeting exercise because you’ll purchase just what you need with your money.

Improving Heart Health with a Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean diet has long been known as the heart-healthy eating plan. Like its name, the diet consists of the eating habits of people living around the Mediterranean sea. This involves a daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats.

For protein, you can eat whole grains, fish, poultry, beans, and eggs. Dairy products are eaten moderately while red meat is occasionally eaten. The Mediterranean diet is recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for heart health.

Healthy fats are a mainstay of the Mediterranean diet so you stay away from unhealthy fats that cause heart disease. Olive oil is the primary source of added fat in this diet which reduces your total cholesterol. The monosaturated fat from olive oil, nuts, and seeds will lower your low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol.

Conclusion

It’s a common reason amongst adults that they can’t prep meals because they’re busy with work. It’s hard to find the time when you commute to and from work and you’re too tired to prep at home. However, with proper meal planning, you can have prepared meals for your week without needing takeout.

There are several health benefits to prepping meals because you’ll most likely be following diet plans. If you’re experiencing IBS, you can try and prep for the low FODMAP diet. If you have cardiovascular concerns, the Mediterranean diet is the most famous practice.

If you really can’t afford to prepare your meals, then ordering meal prep deliveries can solve your problem. It may not be the cheapest option but it can sustain your healthy lifestyle until you can meal prep. In the end, it’s a worth it investment to care about your health and lifestyle.