The Struggle of Meal Prepping
But meal prep is really time-consuming — you need to chop veggies, marinate proteins, and cook numerous meals after a day of work. By then, all you want to do is lay in bed, eating ice-cream, and wondering why bothered. Does this resonate?
But what if I told you that with the right meal prep gadgets you could halve your preparation time? Would you be interested in slashing five hours a week? You’ve got to be joking. There’s no possible way of reducing prep time without compromising taste or nutrition, and besides, that’s not half-time savings, that’s time savings. Oh, I assure you that it is — halved prep time. All of a sudden, you cook time is half of what it was. And in the end, that matters far more than thinking of it in those terms from the outset. Stay with me, I you’re about to be on the verge of a glorious new life. The meal prep gadgets are coming.
The Game-Changing Gadgets
But now, if I may push on and suppose that you, dear reader, are in possession of many kitchen gadgets: ‘Gadgets?’ I can imagine you saying. ‘Aren’t those just preening knick-knacks on the countertop that gather dust between convoluted image promotions?’ You are astute. But the gadgets in question aren’t like that. The gadgets in question make your life better, not worse. And once they become habit, you’ll swear you can’t remember life without them.
1. Vegetable Chopper
Like the bane of every meal prepper’s existence: chopping vegetables. Tedious, time-consuming and, let’s face it, dangerous (who hasn’t cut off at least one fingertip?). Enter the vegetable chopper. With this bad boy at your disposal, you can dice, slice or julienne your veggies in no time flat, keeping your precious fingers intact in the process.
2. Instant Pot
If you don’t yet have an Instant Pot, what are you waiting for? This one gadget will change your life — literally. The multi-cooker pressure-cooks, slow-cooks, sautés, even makes yoghurt. Throw in a few ingredients; push a button; come back and dinner is ready. Done.
3. Immersion Blender
Soups, smoothies, sauces — pesto, gazpacho, hot cocoa — immersion blenders do it all without forcing you to pour your hot liquid from the pot into the blender and back again. Which you should really never be doing. Just poke your immersion blender right into the pot or bowl. All that cleaning it can do, well, you get the benefits.
4. Mandoline Slicer
Slicing a vegetable uniformly is an art, and it’s an art most of us haven’t quite mastered. Enter the Mandoline slicer: set it up and you can slice uniformly every time for your next stir fry or batch of homemade chips.
5. Food Processor
The food processor is the cross-platform app of the kitchen, chopping and slicing and shredding and kneading bread dough. No more hand chopping or grating or peeling — just put everything in and go.
6. Spiralizer
Have some zoodles? A spiralizer can turn practically any vegetable into long noodle-like ropes, to shake up your favorite pasta dishes. And eat your veg in disguise if you have picky eaters.
7. Vacuum Sealer
That’s part of the process of meal prepping since it involves an initial cooking session that produces a volume of prepped meals, some of which you’ll end up with as leftovers. A vacuum sealer vacuums the air out of a plastic bag so it adheres to the food, thereby protecting it from freezer burn and keeping it fresh for much longer.
8. Sous Vide Cooker
You steam it sous vide, basically — simply seal your protein in a bag, put it in a water bath, and wait for your sous vide cooker to do the hard work for you, meaning that you’ll never have another overcooked, dry chicken breast or browned-on-the-outside-raw-in-the-middle steak again.
9. Air Fryer
Who doesn’t love fried food? All that oil though — yikes. Those calories skyrocket! Enter hot air: air fryers buzz and whirr their way through your favorite fried foods, keeping the calories low — if you don’t believe it, know that they tick all the boxes for frying when using oil. You know what that means? Guilt-free fries!
10. Meal Prep Containers
But you will need a few high-quality meal prep containers to store your prepped meals. Make sure the containers are microwave-safe, leak-proof and stackable so that you can save more food in your fridge and freezer.
The Benefits of Meal Prepping with Gadgets
At this point, you might find yourself thinking: ‘Wow, that’s a lot of junk to buy!’ And you would be right. Acquiring all that gear can be an expensive proposition early in the game. But you might also see it as buying your health and sanity.
You’ll save time and energy devising what to eat for your next meal, leaving more of both for the important stuff — plus, you’ll be more likely to stay the course when you’ve got all those nourishing, tasty meals waiting to be devoured.
And don’t forget, by not ordering in takeout and delivery meals, the savings you’ll make over the years will more than make up the cost of the gadget.
Not The Gadget Type?
However, what if you are not the gadget type; what if you prefer your kitchen as simple as your dining table? For sure, but hear this.
Because these are not merely itemizations of shiny gadgets; they are problem-solving pieces of equipment that are supposed to make your life easier. And who couldn’t use a bit more leisure and comfort in their lives, especially in relation to such a basic necessity as nutritious meal prep?
Moreover, many of these gizmos are extremely easy to use, giving us something barely more to do than press a lever or push a button. The Instant Pot, for instance, is basically plug in, flip to your preferred setting and forget. The chopper? A whack and done.
The Bottom Line
Meal prep needn’t be a chore — and with the right gadgets by your side, you can make it more efficient and free up time in your schedule each week. What have you got to lose?
Go to one or two pieces of hardware that seem the most complimentary to their biggest pet peeves, and see if they’ll convert the mentally frazzled home-food preparer into a gadget believer.
After all, anything that makes it easier to eat healthy is worth having — and that’s precisely what these meal prep gadgets are meant to be.