Meal prep has become a common wellness buzzword in the past few years. When discussing the key to healthy living or a nutritious diet, the answer always seems to simply be meal prep — but what exactly does this phrase mean, and is it actually beneficial to your diet? Every person’s definition is different — just as every person does it differently — but the answer is yes! Meal prep is definitely a great way to improve your diet and help your family build better eating habits. This is especially true if you want to eliminate artificial and inflammatory ingredients from your family’s diet. Meal prep allows you to use only safe and natural ingredients such as safe preservatives.

What Is Meal Prep?

Meal prep is exactly what it sounds like — the preparation of meals. Rather than preparing a meal as you might immediately before cooking and serving it, though, meal prep typically entails preparation done in advance. Many families, for example, do prep on the weekends and create meals for the whole week. This can save an enormous amount of time as food is ready to cook and eat in advance, thus eliminating the need for preparation and cooking before every single meal. Meal prep is typically then portioned into individual containers so that it can easily be cooked and eaten with no additional effort. Many families report that it also saves money since it allows for foods to be bought in bulk at a discount.

These benefits make it clear why meal prep is such as popular option for busy families. It’s not just great for saving time and money, though. It’s also an effective way to improve the quality of your family’s diet. If you or your kids suffer from common afflictions such as constipation, certain foods can exacerbate the problem. Meal planning allows you to be more conscientious about what you’re eating and eliminate any foods that could potentially cause inflammation. Adding supplements to your diet such as Wellements Organic Constipation Support can help alleviate the problem, too.

Preparing Nutritious Meals Ahead of Time

If you still have reservations about meal prep, you’re not alone. Although it may save you time and money, it requires a certain about of effort and planning that can be overwhelming for many busy parents. Preparing nutritious meals at home is hard enough — who has time to make five meals all at once? Luckily, there are many meal plan strategy resources available to make it easier. You can find plenty of cookbooks and online guides that offer advice for getting started, finding easy recipes, and gradually integrating meal planning into your regular routine.

It’s important to focus on nutrition as you get started. Nutritional shortcomings affect many kids and can lead to vitamin deficiencies that cause serious problems. Your child’s diet is their primary source of vitamins and minerals, so you should integrate nutrient-rich foods into the meals you plan. If you suspect that your child may still be dealing with vitamin deficiencies, it’s a good idea to invest in a supplement like organic vitamin D drops that can easily be added to your kid’s food or drink.