This week, my wife and I are on vacation, which means we’ve taken the opportunity to “cheat” on our meal prepping and enjoy eating out a little more. Since we had the extra time, I decided to reflect on my meal prep experience and look into ways I could make it easier or more efficient.

So far, prepping breakfast, lunch, and snacks has been a breeze, even planning out our suppers ahead of time has made things simpler. But despite the planning, I still find myself scavenging for ingredients when it’s time to cook, dealing with a mountain of dishes, and spending way too much time in the kitchen—something I definitely don’t want to do after a long day of work.

That’s when I came across Good Housekeeping’s blog, “A Beginner’s Guide on How to Meal Prep for the Week,” which suggested focusing on prepping ingredients rather than full meals. This got me thinking about how I could apply that idea to our dinners. From there, I found a video by KWOOWK called “Why You Should Meal Prep Like a Restaurant.” In it he talks about prepping a variety of ingredients that can be easily mixed and matched for different meals, making dinnertime quicker and less stressful.

I also watched Ethan Chlebowski’s video, “How to ‘Meal Prep’…if you hate Meal Prepping (like I do),” which breaks down the pros and cons of meal prepping in a way that really clicked with me. He discusses breaking meals into steps ranging from “very easy” to “hard,” which, when simplified, makes the whole process feel much more manageable. This was helpful because sometimes I find myself dreading all the steps and not knowing where to start. His approach reminded me that meal prepping doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it’s just about finding the right system that works for me.

I really like this approach and want to adapt it for our weekly suppers – still choosing and planning meals ahead of time, but prepping the ingredients in advance so they’re ready to go each night. No more last-minute ingredient hunts or long prep times! Of course, this also means I need to invest in better storage containers to keep everything organized. While I’m at it, I think I’ll pick up a variety of lunch containers too, since the ones we have don’t always work for every meal.

Lots to consider, but I’m excited to experiment and see what works best for us!