Meal Prepping: A Western Concept, or Something the Indian Diet Can Support?

Hello Ziddis! Is your Instagram algorithm also transcending towards meal box content? Those cute and well-organized meals come with loads of behind-the-scenes preps. However, preparing meals in advance can save time. While meal prepping is very popular in Western culture for convenience’s sake, now with busy lives here, we are all feeling the need to prepare meals ahead of time. While it’s often associated with salads, quinoa, and grilled chicken, many people wonder if meal prepping works for Indian diets, which are rich in grains, dals, curries, and spices. The answer is yes! It can and it does work very well for the range of healthy homemade foods we have.

Meal Prep Guide

So how to get started? So let us go through the basics of a meal prep guideIt involves planning and preparing meals in advance, whether it’s for the next few days or an entire week. You can start slow by only preparing boiled lentils, sprouts or dal to be stored for a few days and clean and cut veggies for sabzi and salads.

You can also use this meal prep guide for the breakfast menu to start with, like preparing dosa batter or sandwich filling for the week. After you are comfortable with this practice you can start preparing all the other meals

Some Quick Tips:

• Plan your meals
• Go grocery shopping weekly
• Keep a check on your refrigerator and what is stored.
• Cook in batches that can last only for as long as it is safe to consume
• Invest in good storage options like air-tight and microwave-safe containers.
• Portion out meals
• Stay consistent with this practice
• Maintain your meal prep journal
• Follow a healthy meal prep schedule every week.

This meal prep guide should be good for you to get started

Healthy Meal Prep

If you are on your journey to start eating healthy and homemade food to get fitter and save more money, healthy meal prep is your deal. But how to make sure you are doing this meal prep the right and healthy way? For a healthy Indian meal prep plan, aim to include a variety of food groups:

• Proteins: Lentils and dals, sprouts, chole, paneer, tofu, eggs and meat are all great sources of protein you can chop, boil or shred and keep for easy protein access.
• Healthy fats: Having avocado guacamole prepared or homemade peanut butter can help you get healthy fats.
• Complex carbs: Instead of white rice switch to brown rice, quinoa, whole grains and millet.
• Vegetables: Leafy greens are rich in vitamins and minerals. The rest of the vegetables can help with minerals and fibres. By chopping those for future use you can help yourself prep up a nice salad or quick sabzi whenever necessary.

Make your plate colorful, especially with greens and yellows to get the most out of your meals with some healthy meal prep.

Benefits of Meal Prepping

There are tonnes of benefits of meal prepping which we do not realize under the shadows of all the efforts we need to put in.

• Meal prepping helps you avoid the daily hustle of cooking from scratch every day
• Offers you a quick solution for busy days
• When meals are pre-portioned, it’s easier to control how much you’re eating.
• You eat healthier and do not give in to ordering in cravings when the meal is already halfway prepped.
• Prepping meals in advance means you buy only what you need and use whatever you buy.
• You save a lot of money by buying in bulk and avoiding takeaways or dineouts
• You can have a nutritionally balanced meal
• You stick to healthy, home-cooked meals.

Make sure you encash on these benefits of meal prepping to make the most of it.

Indian Meal Prep Ideas

Now coming to the main concern: How do you meal prep for an Indian meal? We can give a solution for that too.

• Khichdi: This would take 2 minutes to prepare,15 minutes to cook and just one pot to make in. Add some pickles or yoghurt to the side and complete the meal.
• Paneer: Marinate and store paneer in advance for a high-protein snack or meal.
• Dosa and Idli: Prepare a batter that could last for a few days. By adding chopped veggies to it while cooking you can get a balanced breakfast.
• Chole: Boil chickpeas in bulk and use them for salads, hummus, wraps and more throughout the week.
• Dal: You can cook dal in advance to have as soup or with roti and rice.
• Sprouted Pulses: You can soak the pulses to sprout and then boil them to store for a few days to have as a snacking alternative.
• Bonus Tip: For those who are into heavy lifting and building muscles, consider adding whey protein to pancakes or bodybuilding supplements to your morning shakes for an extra protein boost and to support your muscle-building goals. Take a shot with MuscleBlaze for premium quality supplements at super affordable prices.

These meal prep ideas are just the beginning. With a little creativity, you can adapt almost any Indian dish to fit into your meal prep plan.

Takeaway

Now we understand that meal prepping is not rocket science but requires some dedication and discipline. With a little more creativity we can make a perfect meal. Let us try our shot at pledging to have a great homemade meal every day and keep up our fitness resolution.