What are the six biggest mistakes people make when they first start doing meal prep?

Hey everyone,<br><br>I have been meal prepping for a while now and I'm really proud of the progress I've made. I still do make mistakes and I'd love to hear about them, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who are just starting out and could have a nuanced conversation of what to avoid as you begin. Feel free to add more mistakes people make, or just upvote if you agree with this list.<br><br>1.) **Forgetting to label their containers.** I think everyone makes this mistake the first time they do it. If you prepare a couple weeks worth of food, you will inevitably forget what you put in which dish after a few days. I highly recommend using masking tape and marker to label each Tupperware container then put that container in a bag with the date and description of the food. Saves so much time in the long run.<br><br>2.) **Thinking meal prep saves you money.** I'm not saying it can't. But it's definitely a bad idea to waltz into Costco or Sam's Club the first time you do meal prep. I did this and ended up throwing out a good bit of the food I bought because I didn't have the Tupperware containers to hold it all and it went bad before I could afford to buy them. Start small, then go big once you get the feel for it.<br><br>3.) **Not making a grocery list.** This one I find particularly annoying because you inevitably forget an essential ingredient to a dish, meaning you will have to go to the store again. I write down everything I need and have a checklist on my phone, then I go down the list and make sure I have everything I need to make the dish. For instance, if I'm going to make a salad I need a few veggies, nuts, seeds, and some sort of protein. I go down the list and check all those things off before I go the store and buy all of it. This is also a good way to remember what you are out of and need to buy at the store. I do this for all of my groceries.<br><br>4.) **Not having the right cookware.** Again, I was very guilty of this when I first started cooking. You don't want to try to make a casserole in a pan that isn't big enough, then have to spill it into a bigger pan. Or you don't want to have to make a dish in shifts because your biggest pot isn't big enough to hold it all. I personally have a large stock pot and a Dutch oven, which I use for almost every big meal I make. I also have a big frying pan that I use, but in general it's good to have at least one or two big cookware dishes and a few smaller pots and pans.<br><br>5.) **Not scheduling how long it will take to prepare your food.** I have no problem doing meal prep on the weekends or my days off, but I've definitely found myself making a big meal that takes three hours to prepare, right before I had to go to work. This puts me behind schedule, and I'm often late to work because of it. Make sure you know how long your meals take to make and plan accordingly. Almost every recipe will tell you how long the prep and cooking time is, so you can use this to plan out your meals for the week.<br><br>6.) **Making one big meal and dividing it up.** While this is technically "meal prep," if you eat the same thing every day you will inevitably burn out on the meal and hate it. I made the mistake of making Indian curry and eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week. I haven't had it in over a year and don't see myself having it again. If you are just starting to prep your meals, it is tempting to make one big dish and divide it up. Please don't do this. Make a variety of dishes to keep yourself from getting bored of your food. You can also swap out ingredients in recipes to change the flavor without having to learn a new one. If you make fajitas, you can put ground beef, chicken, steak, shrimp, tofu, etc in it and it tastes like a different meal every time.