Meal prep is a great way to save time and cut down on food waste. When you plan and make your meals ahead of time, cooking becomes easier during the busy week. A study by the USDA found that meal prep can help people reduce their cooking time by up to 50%. This gives families more time to spend together instead of being stuck in the kitchen.

Benefits of Meal Prep That Save Time:

1. Batch Cooking: When you cook a bigger amount of the same dish, you can save a lot of time each day. For example, making a large pot of chili means you can have meals ready for several days.

2. Organized Ingredients: If you chop vegetables and marinate proteins before you cook, you can save about 15 minutes for each meal.

3. Less Decision Stress: Having meals planned out takes away the hassle of figuring out what to cook every day. This means you can make quick and easy choices for meals.

Cutting Down on Food Waste:

• The EPA says that around 30-40% of food in the U.S. gets wasted.
• Meal prep helps you use all the ingredients you've bought. This means you plan how to use them instead of buying things on a whim that might go bad.
• When you store meals in containers that are the right size, leftovers are less likely to get forgotten in the fridge. This can help cut down on waste.

To sum it up, meal prep not only makes cooking faster but also helps people eat in a more eco-friendly way.