12 Must-Have Meal Prep Tools
by Amanda KeeferWhether you’re looking into becoming a serious meal-prepper or are just looking for a few ideas to make mealtime easier during those busy weeks, here are 12 essential meal prep tools to add to your kitchen.
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For the longest time, the thought of meal planning and prepping seemed like a daunting task. Some nights I can barely figure out dinner, so planning them out all at once seemed even more difficult…until I did.
Now, each week I sit down and write out our meals for the week and use that to create my shopping list. Since I’ve planned ahead, there’s only one trip to the grocery store.
As I’m putting away my groceries, I look ahead at the week to see what I can do now to help make mealtime a little easier during the week. Some things I do include:
- Chop fruits and veggies now for the week
- Roast veggies tonight for dinner and repurpose later in the week
- Throw chicken breasts in the slow cooker for easy meals all week.
It took me a few weeks to find my groove and now I never have to worry about dinner. It’s already planned, prepped and ready to go!
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Having a few meal prep tools on hand, like the ones below, can really make things easy too. Everything from containers to store chopped veggies to a slow cooker to cook that chicken are included.
12 Must-Have Meal Prep Tools
19-Piece Measuring Cups & Spoon Set
Measuring cups and spoons are a kitchen staple that everybody needs. They make portioning out meals and ingredients a breeze.
Pyrex Storage Set
Having a set of different-sized storage containers on hand is key when prepping food ahead of time or for storing leftovers. These Pyrex containers are a staple in our house.
EasyLunchboxes - Bento Lunch Boxes
Speaking of containers, my family loves these! They have 3 compartments to easily separate food and are perfect for prepping several meals at once.
Digital Kitchen and Food Scale
When it comes to measuring flour for baked goods, this scale is one of the handiest items in my kitchen. I also use it to measure out portions of meat, potatoes, etc. so I know how many meals I can prep in advance.
Crock-Pot
Don’t underestimate the Crock Pot when it comes to meal prep. You can make a big batch of a recipe to enjoy throughout the week or to freeze for later.
Silpat Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat
Almost every week, I chop up a bunch of veggies and roast them on this mat to enjoy throughout the week. Nothing ever sticks and it’s super easy to clean. These mats are also great for sheet pan dinners!
12-Pack Mason Jars
How else can you meal prep pretty mason jar salads? Other than salads, mason jars are great for storing soup, chili, homemade sauces and dressings…this list goes on!
Silicone Cupcake Liners
Great for baking up a batch of healthy muffins for the week, or use them to separate foods in those Easy Lunchboxes!
Sistema 4 Dressing To Go Containers
We can’t forget about dressings, condiments or sauces! These small containers are the perfect serving size and fit easily into most containers.
“What’s for Dinner?” Weekly Meal Planner with Tear Off Grocery Shopping List
Perfect for planning out your menu and shopping list for the week, this planner hangs on the fridge so the whole family can easily see what’s for dinner.
Rubbermaid FreshWorks Produce Saver Food Storage Containers
Keep fresh produce fresh longer with the help of these containers, which keeps produce fresher up to 80% longer than other containers!
OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner
Buy lettuce and chop yourself to save money. This salad spinner is used weekly in my house so we can have fresh salads almost every day.
I am always running out of space to store our fruits and veggies!
love fruits and veggies
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Samples and entries
love my fruits and veggies
Thanks
There are so many things that I could use, but the storage containers would be the most useful!
I would like to win so I can make fun meal for my 4 kids and they will help me it be nice
Some of the things they have for you young folk that have children makes me envious that they weren’t there when I was raising my two in the 70s and 80s. My granddaughter is getting married in May and they are wanting children right away so I hope she is as wise as you all are
We love going to the kitchen and prepare health meals for the family. It would be great to win all the tools to make our time even more fun.
I have always wanted to get a salad spinner…or two…one for food and one for art activities 🙂
I could really use a mixer for baking with the kids
I would love to win. All of it would help with my food prep for daycare.
I love chopping veggies ahead of time! Makes cooking so much easier!!
This would keep everything fresh. No more wasteing food
awesome!
How wonderful this would be! I don’t have much in my kitchen, it would be nice to have the right equipment to work with.
Always on the go! Makes it a lot easier to bring snacks and meals with me!
I always have a lot of leftovers and nothing to put them in
We love fruits and veggies in so many ways
I would love all these containers to store them!