How to start meal prepping: 8 simple tips and what you need

Meal prep has a reputation for being a big project: a whole Sunday in the kitchen, a lot of color-coded containers, all of them filled with the same chicken and rice. Same meals, five days in a row.

The truth is: your first meal prep can be small, simple and done in an afternoon. You don't need new equipment, new recipes or a perfect plan. You need a few dishes you like, one shopping trip and about two hours. It's easier to try than it sounds.

This guide sums up the most important advice that comes up again and again from cooks, dietitians and people who have meal prepped for years. If you're not sure yet what meal prep is, start with What is meal prep? Its main benefits.

How to start meal prep: 8 simple tips

1. Start small

The most common advice is also the most important one: don't try to prep the whole week on your first try. Pick three days, or just the meal that's hardest for you, like weekday lunches or the dinners after a long day. Two or three dishes are enough. A small first session is quick, easy to get right, and shows you whether meal prep fits your life before you invest much time in it.

2. Cook what you already like

Your first session isn't the time to try five new recipes. Choose dishes you already know and enjoy: a chili, a pasta bake, a curry, a sheet pan of chicken and vegetables. Familiar recipes go faster, and you already know your household will eat them. Add one new recipe at a time once the routine feels easy.

3. Choose dishes that keep well

Some food is better on day three than on day one, and some falls apart. Stews, chilis, curries, soups, grains, beans and roasted vegetables hold up well in the fridge. Leafy salads with dressing, fried or crispy food and avocado don't. Keep those for the day itself, or store the crunchy and fresh parts separately and add them when you eat.

4. Make dishes that share ingredients

This is where meal prep saves the most time. If one sheet pan of roasted vegetables goes into a grain bowl, a wrap and a pasta, you chop once and use the oven once. One bag of spinach can go into a frittata and a curry instead of wilting half-used in the fridge. Fewer ingredients means a shorter shopping list, less waste and less washing up.

5. Write one shopping list

Once your dishes are chosen, add up everything into one list, grouped by store section. If two recipes need an onion each, write "2 onions." Check your cupboards before you leave: oil, spices and stock are the items people most often buy twice. Working out the totals by hand is tedious, which is one of the reasons Bocalito builds the combined list for you once you've picked your dishes.

6. Pick a regular time slot

Meal prep sticks when it has a place in your week. Sunday afternoon is the classic, but any two-hour slot works: Saturday morning, a quiet weeknight, your day off. Put it on your calendar like any other appointment.

7. Plan the order before you cook

Two hours go much further with a plan. Start whatever takes longest and needs you least: preheat the oven, put the rice or beans on, get the stew simmering. Chop the next ingredients while those cook, and finish with the quick things like sauces and eggs. Set everything out before you start, and wash up during the waiting times. Ordering the steps for several dishes at once is the hardest part to get right on your own, so it's what Bocalito's step-by-step guide does: every step has its time, so the oven and the stove keep working while you chop.

8. Store it safely

Let food cool before you close the lids, but get it into the fridge within two hours of cooking. Shallow containers cool faster than a deep pot. Most cooked dishes keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge, so eat the most fragile ones (fish, rice, anything creamy) first, and freeze the portions meant for later in the week. Move them to the fridge the night before. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.

What you need to get started

The basics: what's already in your kitchen

You can start today without buying anything:

• A large pot or Dutch oven for a stew, soup or curry
• A sheet pan for roasting vegetables or meat
• One or two frying pans for quick things: sautéed vegetables, sauces, eggs
• A sharp knife and a cutting board
• Containers you already own: old glass jars, takeout containers, bowls covered with a plate or plastic wrap
• Some room in your fridge, and in your freezer if you have one

The regular setup: if you keep going

After a few weeks, a few inexpensive things make a real difference:

• A set of airtight glass containers in two or three sizes, stackable, that go from fridge to microwave
• Glass jars for soups, sauces and dressings
• Freezer bags or freezer-safe boxes, plus labels or a marker for the dish and the date
• A second sheet pan, so two things can roast at the same time
• A large pot for cooking grains or beans in quantity
• A kitchen scale and measuring cups for portions that come out right every week

The ideal kitchen: for enthusiasts

None of this is necessary, but if meal prep becomes part of your week, these save the most time:

• A rice cooker, slow cooker or pressure cooker: they cook without you watching, which frees the stove and your hands
• A food processor for chopping a lot of vegetables or making sauces and soups in seconds
• A really good chef's knife and a large cutting board: if you invest in one thing, make it these
• Divided containers for lunches you take to work, so sauces and crunchy parts stay separate

Your first meal prep, this weekend

Starting really is that simple: three days, two or three dishes you like, one shopping list and one two-hour session. If you'd like to see what that looks like before you begin, take a look at this budget meal prep plan for 2: five dishes (a turkey and black bean chili, meatballs in marinara, fajita wraps, a sheet pan of sausage and potatoes, and a frittata), one shopping list and a session of about an hour and a half. You can browse other ready-made plans too: vegetarian, high-protein, low-carb and seasonal, for fall or winter.

When you're ready to make your own, create a free meal prep plan with Bocalito. Tell it how many people, how many days and how much time you have, pick one of three menus, and get your shopping list, your step-by-step session and your plan for each day. Your first meal prep is closer than you think.

And so it goes smoothly, here are the 9 most common meal prep mistakes, and how to avoid them.