What are the 11 essential items needed to start successfully meal prepping today?
Cooking may seem like a simple task, but successfully creating fantastically delicious meals with minimal frustration takes proper preparation and the right tools for the job.
The following list is the 11 meal prep essentials you need for start meal prepping today so you can eat right tomorrow.
Already have the essentials? Checkout this extensive list of 107 items to take your meal prep to the next level.
Quick Answer
- Cooking method like an oven, stove top or a power source like an electrical outlet.
- Cooking medium like a large pot, pan, or crock pot
- Can opener or chef’s knife for prepping the food. If you’re using only canned goods you can get away with just a can opener
- Container to keep the food in after you’ve cooked it.
- Storage like a refrigerator or freezer to keep the containers of food in
- Reheating using a microwave, air fryer, boiling water, oven, or stove top
- Spices to make different flavors and recipes
- Serving utensils like a large spoon or tongs. You can use this for stirring also.
- Measuring cup and measuring spoons to accurately follow recipes
- Stay safe with oven mitts and a food thermometer
- Basic utensils like fork, knife, spoon, plate, and bowl
Cooking Method
The cooking method is one of those essential meal prep tools because you’ll have to cook the food some way.
The cooking method is where the heat source is provided.
Is the source provided from the oven, stove, or something that can be plugged in like a crock pot or plug-in skillet.
Pick a cooking method from the following list of meal prep essentials.
The method you choose will determine the medium used.
Stove
The stove is one of the pillars of cooking.
Usually you have multiple burners and can cook multiple things at the same time.
Cooking Medium You Can Use With the Stove:
- Large Pot
- Large Pan
- Large Skillet
Oven
The oven is great for cooking things like roasts, meatloaf, lasagna, casseroles, and meatballs
Cooking Medium You Can Use With the Oven:
- Baking Sheet
- Casserole Dish
- Roasting Pan
- Dutch Oven
Electrical Outlet
The electric outlet provides power to certain cooking appliances.
It’s a super convenient way to cook food.
Cooking Mediums You Can Use With Electrical Outlets:
- Crock Pot
- Pressure Cooker
- Plug-in Skillet
- Air Fryer
Cooking Medium
The cooking medium is the tool used with the heat source to cook your food.
This includes items like pots and pans.
Some cooking mediums also supply the heat and act as the cooking method like a crock pot.
Crock Pot
A crock pot allows you to add all your ingredients at once and give it time to cook on it’s own.
If you’re using all canned foods as your ingredients, you may not even need a kitchen knife to make this meal.
Some items you can use along with a crock pot is a chicken shredder and liner.
The liner gives you easier cleanup because you’ll be adding the food after the liner is placed in the pot.
The chicken shredder is fantastic because shredding chicken with just a couple forks can be quite tedious.
Air Fryer
The air fryer is wonderful for smaller batches and items you’d like to be crispy.
Personally, the air fryer is mainly used to reheat small portions of food I had already cooked and stored in the freezer.
I find the smaller size of the air fryer is not ideal for making large quantities for meal prep.
Large Pan
A single large pan can go a long way for your meal prep.
Of course, this will be ideal if your method of cooking is with the stove top.
Large pans can also be used for reheating foot that’s been frozen in vacuum sealed bags.
Large Pot
A large is great for pasta sauce and cooking the pasta itself.
It’s also great for soups and chilis.
Again, your main cooking method will be the stove top when using a pot to cook.
Baking Sheet
A baking sheet’s main method of cooking is using the oven.
There’s many one baking sheet meal recipes.
This meal prep essential provides a large surface area allowing for large amounts of food.
Additionally, you can double your production by adding a second baking sheet and using the second rack in your oven.
Plug-in Skillet
A plug-in skillet is super convenient as you can use it anywhere you have a power source.
This will free up space on your stove top.
If you can an extra large skillet, you’ll be able to make massive amounts of food for your meal preps.
Pressure Cooker
A pressure cooker is great for certain recipes.
It helps tenderize meats and cook things faster.
They can hold quite a bit of food so this can be a good option for meal prep.
Casserole Dish
A casserole dish will be using the oven as it’s cooking method.
Casseroles are great meal prep foods because they are easily sealed and frozen in a vacuum seal bag.
The thicker a casserole is, the more difficult it may be to reheat all the way through.
Prepare Food with a Can Opener or Kitchen Knife
A good can opener or kitchen knife can be an often overlooked aspect of cooking.
We all think about what is needed while we’re cooking, but what about before any cooking even gets started.
If you can’t open the cans or package of food then you can never get started.
If you can’t process your vegetables and dice up your chicken then it’s going to be tough to make your meals.
Can Opener
If you’re just using canned goods, you can get away with just a can opener.
Some chilis and soups may not involve needing a knife at all.
You may want to use a chicken shredder for the chicken.
Eventually, you will probably want to have at least one good knife on hand for other recipes.
Kitchen Knife
You may be able to get away with just a can opener for a while, but eventually you’ll need a good knife.
Make sure it’s a good quality knife as you’ll be using it a lot in your cooking.
Container
Once your food is made, you’ll need to keep it in a container.
This container will house your meals which will be stored in either the refrigerator or freezer.
There are more container types than you may have originally thought.
The container used will be determined by your food type and storage option.
Glass Tupperware
Glass tupperware is easily the most appetizing of all the meal prep container options.
It will last the longest, assuming there are not drops and shatters.
Glass works fantastic if you’re planning on storing your food in the fridge.
If you plan on storing your food in the freezer, it will take up a lot of space.
Plastic Tupperware
Plastic tupperware is a popular container for many who meal prep.
Similar to the glass tupperware, it is not ideal for freezing
It does have the tendency to crack so it may not last as long as the glass tupperware
Large Tupperware
A large tupperware is great if you don’t want to separate your food into individual meals.
Sometimes, after cooking I don’t want to to separate my food.
I’ll just let it cool, then throw it all in one or two big tupperware containers.
Whatever I know I won’t eat right away, I’ll separate and store it in the freezer.
Vacuum Seal Bags – Disposable
Vacuum seal bags are fantastic for the freezer.
They reheat well using boiling water.
If done right, you can store many bags of food in your freezer.
The best thing about the disposable bags is you simply throw it away after use.
Vacuum Seal Bags – Reusable
Reusable vacuum bags are great for things like burritos.
You don’t necessarily want to bag each individual burrito.
So you throw all of them in one large vacuum seal bag.
This way you can open up the bag, take out the burrito, then reseal it
Vacuum Seal Tupperware
Vacuum seal tupperware is another great option especially for soups or more liquid type foods.
The liquid type foods can be more difficult to vacuum seal in a bag.
So the vacuum seal tupperware accomplishes the same thing without the headache.
Paper Food Containers
Paper food containers are usually cardboard type.
They are not the best for the freezer but it is doable.
The best thing about these containers is you can throw them away after use.
Aluminum Foil
Aluminum foil is mostly good for burritos.
It’s super easy and fast to wrap burritos in aluminum foil
Zip-lock Bags
Zip-lock bags simply get the job done.
They may not keep your food for as long, but can be super convenient and useful.
Silicone Freezer Trays
These trays are fantastic for soups and sauces.
You can get them in different sizes for different types of food.
Once they’re frozen, you an take them out and put them in vacuum seal bags to help them last longer.
Storage
The storage of your food will determine how long the food lasts.
There are 2 main ways of storing your food.
The type of food and container used may determine how you store the meals
Once you’ve put your food in the container, where will the containers of food go so they’re ready for you to consume in the future.
Refrigerator
If you’re making smaller batches of food, you’ll likely be able to simply use the fridge.
Since it’s a smaller batch, you know you’ll be able to finish all the food before then end of the week.
Anything you think you won’t eat, you can put in the freezer and save it for another time.
Keep in mind, the sooner you put the food in the freezer the more freshness it will have when preserved in the freezer.
Freezer
The freezer is super useful for meal prep.
Not only can you put any uneaten food in the freezer, but you can actually purposely make excess food for you to freeze.
By making extra food and freezing it, you begin to build a stockpile of a wide variety of foods.
This variety is key to making sure you don’t get tired on the food.
Re-Heating
We always think about how we are going to make and store our food when meal prepping.
However, we less often think ahead about how we will reheat the food when we’re ready to eat it.
Here are the different ways you can reheat your meal prepped foods.
Boiling Water
Boiling water is fantastic for vacuum sealed bags that have been frozen.
When you vacuum seal your bags it’s important to flatten your meals.
You also don’t want it to be too thick.
This will allow the boiling water to reheat more efficiently.
You can use a pot or even a large pan to boil the water
Microwave
The microwave is the most convenient and popular way to reheat food.
Be smart with your microwave and use the power setting to change it to lower power.
This means the microwave will spend less time heating your food.
In doing so, your food will cook more evenly and want get nuked (overcooked and rubbery)
Oven
Generally, if you originally made the food in the oven, then you can use the oven to reheat it.
You may need to add a little moisture to the food as the oven will dry it out.
Stove Top
Similar to the oven, if you used the stove top to originally make the food, you can use the stove top to reheat.
Air Fryer
I love using the air fryer to reheat anything that needs to be crispy.
The contents of a breakfast burrito like bacon and potato are great in the air fryer.
This is a super convenient way to reheat certain foods.
Sous Vide
The sous vide is a great way to reheat your vacuum sealed meals.
You can set the temperature and the appliance heats your water to that temperature.
Not only that, but the sous vide is actually most popularly used to cook steaks to the perfect doneness.
Spices
Of course, you’ll need to flavor your food.
There are some seasoning you just can’t go wrong with.
Those are a good place to start, but you’ll inevitably need more flavors.
Salt
Not all salt is made the same.
For your basic cooking, use a salt with a lower sodium content.
This way you can more easily fine tune the amount of saltiness you add to your dish.
As a garnish to certain dishes, you can use a flaky salt to add bursts of saltiness and crunch.
Pepper
Pepper can be used on so many dishes it is actually amazing.
Get a good pepper grinder and you’ll have fresh cracked pepper with any dish.
Garlic Powder
You might be surprised how many dishes have garlic powder.
It’s one of those spices you take for granted.
You may not think certain foods have been seasoned because it seems to not have any stand out flavor.
However, if it still taste pretty good, there’s a good chance it was actually seasoned with garlic powder.
Onion Powder
Onion powder is like the sidekick to garlic powder.
It adds a bit more depth to the food and is a great base for adding additional seasonings.
Stirring and Serving
Many times the stirring utensil can actually also be used as the serving utensil.
It’s a real pain when you have tons of food but only have a small spoon or fork to stir and serve.
Make your life easier and get a good serving utensil.
Large Spoon or Ladle
A large spoon is great for chilis, soups, or anything with a lot of liquid.
Get one with holes in it if you will need to separate the liquid from the rest of the food.
A ladle is also super convenient when you need to transfer a lot of food to a container.
Tongs
Tongs are great for more solid food like chicken or steak.
You can get tongs in different shapes that will work for different types of food.
If you have a casserole, tongs can be fantastic to scoop out squares of the casserole.
Silicone or Wood Spatula
A wood spatula is great for stirring and sauteeing.
Caramelized onions add so much flavor to dishes and a spatula is just what you need to stir the onions constantly.
Depending on the shape of the spatula, they can be perfect for scooping large amounts of food as well.
Measuring
Measuring your ingredients is vital to making sure your food taste correct.
The wrong combination of spices can alter the outcome of your food drastically.
Don’t mess around and get yourself some tools to accurately follow recipes
Measuring Cup
Measuring cup is great for larger amounts of liquids or dry goods like flour.
Measuring Spoons
Measuring spoons are essential for using the correct amount of spices
Kitchen Scale
Instead of measuring by volume, you can measure by weight for even more accuracy
Safety
Safety is super important.
You don’t want to have accidents or become ill from your food.
Do yourself a favor and stay safe when making your meal prep.
Oven Mitts
Oven mitts work for more than just the oven.
Yes, of course it is a no brainer for the oven, but the also work for stove top and other cooking methods.
A burn will really ruin your day and will slow down your cooking.
Get the mitts and save yourself the trouble
Food Thermometer
A food thermometer will give you the piece of mind your food is fully cooked.
Having a food born illness is miserable and may turn you off certain foods for a period of time.
Make sure your food is cooked all the way and save yourself the trouble.
Apron
Inevitable, there will be splashes of hot oil in the kitchen.
Save both your skin and your shirts with an apron.
Eating Utensils
Life doesn’t always have to be sacrifice.
Get yourself some nice eating utensils so you can enjoy your food even more.