The Most Common Mistakes You Might Be Making With Meal Prep

It's no secret that meal prepping can make your busy week much, much easier — but only if you do it right. Despite it seeming pretty straightforward, there are still some mistakes that you can make with meal prepping. To find out what these mistakes are — and how to avoid them — Daily Meal spoke with Jessie-Sierra Ross, a cooking and home entertaining author and TV food segment creator who blogs about food and lifestyle on Straight to the Hips, Baby.

One key mistake you can make, according to Ross, is not taking the time to plan accordingly. Ross says, "Choose a selection of recipes that are both balanced in flavor and nutrition [and] easy to make ahead of time. Put an emphasis on using whole ingredients and less processed foods for a healthy touch." She adds that the more you plan, the more likely you are to actually go through with the meal prepping. Plus, planning helps you make a clear-cut grocery list, lessening your time spent at the store.

While you should always plan ahead, just make sure not to plan meals that are too complicated. Ross says, "I like to keep quality over quantity in mind when it comes to my make-ahead dinners." She gives an example of a simple and delicious meal prep idea: grilled salmon over seasoned basmati rice with root vegetables. This idea is also easily customizable — you can swap out the grilled salmon for grilled chicken, choose brown rice instead, or opt for a different selection of veggies.

Ross continues, "Make-ahead meals should be filling, tasty, and able to sit in the fridge without losing any flavor or freshness for a few days. Vegetable-heavy soups, stews, hearty salads, and grain bowls with a mix of grilled proteins and vegetables are all excellent options for meal prep!"

If you need some inspiration based on Ross's suggestions, you can go with Daily Meal's all the veggies vegetable soup or our easy beef stew. There's also the ancient grains bowl or the spiced chickpea Greek salad (which you can choose to add a protein to, such as chicken, to make it more filling).

While salads and bowls are great options for meal prepping, there is one key detail to keep in mind with them: Do not add the dressing or sauce to the meal until you're ready to eat it. Ross explains, "Who wants to take a bite of soggy salad greens, or pick up what should be a toasty pesto and prosciutto sandwich that's turned to mush? Texture is a key part of our eating experience, and sometimes, pre-prepared dinners could benefit from separating our sauces and dressings until right before we enjoy them!" This is a problem with a simple solution. All you have to do is store the dressing or sauce separately from the prepared salad or bowl. If you're making a dressing from scratch, you can still make that ahead of time — just keep it in its own sealed jar.

This tip applies to soups with noodles, as well. Ross says, "If you're storing it before eating, keeping the cooked noodles separate will prevent them from absorbing too much liquid." So, again, just keep the noodles and the liquid in different containers. You can combine the noodles and liquid either before or after you heat it up — the microwave and the stove top both work for reheating.