Njaanuary: Why you need to meal prep

January, or should I say Njaanuary for some reason feels like 3000 days. After celebrating the fun holiday season that was December, we are in the process of adjusting to normal life and many of us are still in denial that the holidays are over.

At the beginning of every year, a common topic that gives people the January blues is financial stress.

Right now, there might be less money to cater for extravagant meals so the focus must be on simple meals.

One thing that can really help you pull through the month is meal prepping. This is basically preparing your meals ahead of time whether you choose to prepare everything at the beginning of the week or prefer to do it twice a week.

This has tons of benefits and to prove it to you, these are some of the reasons why you should try meal prepping this month and probably every other:

• It keeps you from impulse buying

Now that we are back to busy schedules, we often find ourselves too exhausted to cook at the end of the day.

When you know you don’t have something prepared at home that you can just warm up and eat, you’re more tempted to pick up some fast food on the way home.

If you are trying to save some cash the last thing you need is an extra expense which you hadn’t planned for.

You might enjoy those wings and fries for a minute but later, you will realize that you would have saved a lot more if you had meal prepped.

• It teaches you how to stretch your stock

With meal prepping, you are more aware of what you have at home and you become more intentional with how you want to use everything.

For example, if you have prepared some chicken for the week and have some leftovers after figuring out the portions, you could easily use some of that for a breakfast sandwich.

This means less wastage and more food which is a huge plus.

• You become a smart shopper

There is a lot of planning that goes into meal prepping because you actually take time to see what you already have at home and what you need to buy.

By the time you are doing your grocery shopping, you’re already sure of what you are looking for so you won’t spend so much cash buying things that aren’t necessary by guessing and going with your gut feelings.

• It’s a huge time saver

Thinking of what to cook can be one of the most stressful situations you will find yourself in over and over again. It’s sometimes tough to think of a simple dish to prepare especially when you have already had an exhausting day.

With meal prepping though, you will already have something in the fridge that you can just warm and eat or something that you can quickly fry without being forced to make everything from scratch.

This way, you will have less stress and more time to focus on other things like resting and spending some more time with the family.

• It’s a good start to healthy living

There are always so many jokes about ‘njaanuary’ because many people blow most if not all their cash during the festive season and the bills come the new year are crazy.

Right now, you might not have the cash to order some takeaway but this can actually be a blessing in disguise.

Don’t feel bad if your meal prep ingredients mostly include cabbage, beans, peas and rice instead of mutton, beef and shrimp. You are still getting nutritional benefits from these basic ingredients.

Research on different recipes to make them taste better and you will forget about your meat and fish cravings.