7 Meal Prep Tricks For The Lazy Girl That Actually Work

Meal prep is way of life. The art of taking the preliminary steps to make sure you avoid the unhealthy foods you'll be craving later in the week is grueling. This is especially true if you're even a slightly lazy person.

If you've ever struggled to find motivation to make Easy Mac or Ramen Noodles, it's likely that meal prepping will be an uphill battle for you. But this doesn't mean it's impossible.

Meal prep will just take some extra work for all us lazy, yet health-driven people out there. Here are seven ways even the laziest of ladies can prep their work week meals without hating every second of the process:

1. Always cook on Sundays.

Trust me, you don't want to skip a Monday. It's so helpful to start your week on a positive note. If not, you'll be halfway through the week when you tell yourself you'll start back up again the next week. Then more and more time will pass, and before you know it, summer is over. Then you'll try to remember when the last time you had a successful meal prep week was, and you'll draw a blank.

Starting off the week on the right track will help you stay on the path to healthy living. Get into a routine, and before you know it, meal prep will be your way of life.

2. Always cook for the whole week.

Nobody wants to spend their Wednesday night after work or school cooking more food for the week. It's so much easier to stop at Chick-fil-A or eat the pizza that's sitting in your freezer.

In order to stay away from this mid-week slump is to already have everything done and ready to go. You'll be way more inclined to stay on track when everything is already prepared, waiting for you in your refrigerator.

3. Keep it simple.

It's probably tempting to look up one million different crazy prep recipes, but lets be real. If you're already a lazy chef, getting extreme with the cooking probably isn't in your best interest. Keep it easy.

Chicken, fish, turkey, brown rice and vegetables can easily be prepared with little effort. You can easily combine these foods into one pan and cook them all at the same time. This cuts down the amount of time you have to spend slaving over the oven, but still allows you to have a variety of options throughout the week.

4. Have it ready to go.

If it's possible, do not leave anything unprepared. Especially in the mornings, you're going to be in a rush and not have the time to finish cooking anything. If you constantly feel rushed, you're likely to give up. Because let's be real, sleep is always going to feel more important than finishing up your meal prep at 6 am.

5. Portion everything ahead of time.

Invest in some nice tupperware. Make sure you have enough for all the meals you need for the week and use it. It's easy to just decide you don't have time or feel like portioning out everything ahead of time, but then you're basically defeating the purpose of meal prep, right?

6. Heathy snacks.

Sometimes you're going to crave a snack. Take a breath, and step away from the Oreos and ice cream. There are millions of simple recipes online for healthy alternatives to all the snacks you're craving. Whether you dream about salty or sweet snacks, you can combat these cravings by preparing for them ahead of time. Even if you have smoothie ingredients portioned ahead of time, any little preparation will help.

7. Seasonings are your friend.

There's probably never going to be a week when you decide you want to make seven days worth of different foods. That's just not realistic. This doesn't mean you have to eat the same flavored food all the time, however.

Go out and buy some different types of seasonings. You'll be thankful you did. This way you won't feel like you're constantly eating the same foods all the time, but you're really not putting in too much effort. It's a win/win.

Being a lazy meal prep guru isn't easy, but that doesn't make it impossible. Following these seven tips will definitely help you in the long run.