Meal prepping is one of the best ways to work towards a sustainable lifestyle and healthy living at the same time. It makes both of these efforts easy, almost effortless, as you’re going through your busy week.

In today’s article, we’re sharing our top 5 favorite benefits of meal prepping for your health and the planet with you!

1.    Avoid hidden sugars

If you’re buying takeout from a restaurant or ready meals from a supermarket, hidden sugar is likely to be one of the ingredients, meant to make the meal taste better.

By meal prepping, you’re making sure you know exactly what you’re eating and, if sweetener is in the recipe, you can choose healthier options or skip it.

2.    Portion for your needs

Servings from restaurants can make it difficult to make sure you don’t overeat, whereas ready meals can cause the opposite problem. We each have different nutritional needs.

One of the best meal prep benefits is that you can always make sure you’re portioning exactly the amount your body needs to thrive.

3.    Make healthy eating easy

If you’re feeling hungry, it often feels much easier to just order pizza instead of whipping up a healthy meal.

If you’re meal prepping, you can always make sure you have food that will keep you full and nourished through the day on hand. There’s no space for excuses, as the easiest thing to do is just to grab the meal you prepared in advance.

4.    Skip the packaging

Takeout and ready meals often come packaged in a lot of plastic, which can substantially increase your contribution to plastic pollution. The meals you’ve meal prepped, on the other hand, can be simply packaged in a reusable container and, when on the go, a handy lunch bag.

It’s never been more important for us all to work towards reducing our plastic use, which is what makes this one of the best meal prep benefits!

5.    Choose earth-friendly ingredients

By making all your meals yourself in advance, you can always make sure you’re using earth-friendly, locally sourced, organic ingredients for your meals.

Even if you’re not always choosing organic groceries for your meal prepping, it allows you to take small steps towards reducing your footprint, one ingredient at a time!

DaCosta Verde