Health Check: Dietitian shares meal prep tips to save money and eat healthy

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – This segment on The Three was paid for and sponsored by St. Joseph Health.

Registered dietitian Michelle Dohrman with St. Joseph Health discussed meal prepping tips during a health check segment focused on saving money while maintaining nutrition.

Dohrman said meal prepping starts with having a plan.

Dohrman said people can begin by writing out one or two days of menu ideas and keeping a running list of those ideas over time.

“Maybe write out one or two days worth of menu ideas. And then if you can, maybe keep kind of a running list of them. And so after a month, you have a whole bunch of menu ideas so you don’t have to always reinvent the wheel with coming up with ideas,” Dohrman said.

Preparing parts of meals in advance

Dohrman recommended preparing at least one part of a meal ahead of time, such as cooking a batch of chicken on the weekend to use in different meals during the week, including tacos or chicken spaghetti.

She also suggested cooking a batch of frozen vegetables to eat as leftovers, and said many people meal prep lunches by portioning chicken and vegetables into containers.

Dohrman mentioned instant brown rice as a healthier, quick option, and said her household cuts up sweet potatoes to eat throughout the week. She said washing and chopping fresh vegetables ahead of time can also save time.

“Anything that will save you time when you get home from work. Otherwise, it’s very tempting to say, I’m just going to hit a drive-thru or pick up a pizza or go to a restaurant of some sort, which will probably cost you a whole lot more money,” Dohrman said.

Dohrman said restaurant food tends to be higher in calories, sodium, sugar and fat.

Grocery shopping and pantry planning

Dohrman said writing menu ideas before shopping allows people to create a grocery list, which she said reduces impulse buying and saves money at the store.

She also recommended “shopping your pantry” by checking existing supplies in the pantry and freezer before buying more groceries.

Dohrman suggested keeping items such as canned beans, brown rice, whole wheat pasta and quinoa on hand.

“I know a lot of people are kind of anti-carb, but those actually are very nutritious and we like for people to eat them and they cook really quickly,” Dohrman said, adding that grains such as quinoa typically cook in five to 10 minutes.