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Meal prep can be complicated and a bit overwhelming, no? Chop this. Roast that. Make a pot of this. Assemble that.

Meal prep could possibly take hours, if you perfectly followed the steps of many guides that are out there.

But here’s the thing: many of us don’t have hours and hours of time to give to meal prepping, even on the weekends. And even if you have the best intentions to prep all three meals for each day of the upcoming week, if you don’t have the time to do it, well, it’s likely not going to get done. The best of intentions, no time for follow through. Sound familiar?

But we have one tip that is so simple, you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of meal prepping this way before…

When you cook, cook extra.

That’s it. What?

Yes, that’s it. Cook extra when you do cook. If you’ll remember this one tip when you have an opportunity to cook at home, it will change your life. You’ll find that you have more prepped foods in your fridge from which you can throw together a simple, healthy meal. Which means you’ll be less likely to order take out or call in for pizza delivery.

Here are a few examples of how you can put this tip into play IRL:

• When you make a pot of soup, double your recipe so you’ll have extras for lunch and dinner in the upcoming week.
• When you roast veggies for dinner, buy extras and roast two pans of veggies instead of just one. They’ll keep in your fridge for about five days and you can reheat them if you’d like.
• When you boil eggs, boil six or eight instead of just a couple.
• When you assemble a jar of overnight oats to enjoy the following morning, prep three or four more jars to have in the fridge for the next few days. 
• When you throw chicken on the grill on Saturday evening, throw a few extra pieces of (organic) chicken on the grill to use for soup, stir fry or power bowls for the week ahead. 
• When you make homemade waffles or pancakes for your kids on Sunday morning, double the batch. Cook the extra waffles or pancakes, let them cool and place them in a plastic freezer bag in the freezer. Grab one and toast it for a quick and easy kids’ weekday breakfast (pair with fruit). 

See how simple this is? It’s just a small shift in thinking about cooking, so that you’re always making extra food. 

Because when you keep good food in your fridge, you will eat good food.