If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that Springfield, IL residents are busy. They don’t always want to cook a fancy meal such as steak or shrimp tacos after a long day at work. That’s where meal prepping becomes useful. By devoting just a few hours a week to preparing meals in advance, it eliminates the need to cook from scratch every day and frees up time and energy to do other things.
Meal Prep with Ease Thanks to Our Expert Advice
If you’re new to meal prepping, don’t worry because it makes lunch dining so much easier. There’s a lot you can learn from our popular lunch restaurant in Springfield, IL. We’re accustomed to serving many people each day, so we know a lot about prepping ingredients, so they’re ready for use whenever someone orders something special like seafood off our dinner menu. We’ll have everything we need on hand to prepare a spectacular dish. Here are four easy tips on how to food prep:
Plan a Week’s Meals in Advance
Create a lunch menu and dinner menu for each day of the week. You can do this by finding a template online with each day already labeled out, or you can write it out yourself in your smartphone or a journal. This ensures that you always have something to bring with you to work and school, while also having a meal prepared for dinner when you get home.
Cook Once, Eat Twice
Prepare the type of meals that have lots of leftovers. Tacos, casseroles, and spaghetti are good examples of the perfect meals to prep that can last for multiple days of meals. You can easily add different ingredients to the base ingredients you’ve prepared to create new and interesting flavor combinations.
Exercise Portion Control
With items like fish, it’s easy to eat more than one serving. Consider increasing the number of vegetables you eat instead. Have a big salad or bunch of steamed vegetables to go with your protein. That way, it stretches further.
Don’t forget to make it fun
You should enjoy the food you eat. You can recreate the restaurant experience by offering yourself a feature of the day. Maybe it’s a handmade dessert or an outstanding casserole. Take your lunch or dinner outside and enjoy outdoor dining at home or work.
Minimize the Number of Times You Eat Out
Save yourself time and the expense of eating out regularly and booking dinner reservations. Take it from a restaurant pro when we say that it’s easier to prepare meals in bulk than it is to cook one meal at a time. You can save yourself the hassle of deciding what’s to eat for lunch and dinner each day by spending a few hours meal prepping for the week. Still, there will be occasions when you don’t feel like cooking and can’t wait to let someone else do the task for you by dining out.
What to Do When You Don’t Have Time to Meal Prep at Home
If you don’t have time to food prep, Loukinens’ On 4th in Springfield, IL has menu options for you with patio dining. Offering outdoor seating so you can enjoy a break from being indoors, the restaurant provides lunch and dinner options for you to choose from today. Call Loukinens’ on 4th at 217-670-1363 with your request for more information or a reservation.
Our local restaurant has a banquet hall perfect for hosting special events like banquets and large-scale meetings. Learn more about our lunch menu and what chef specials we can offer you and your guests. There’s even a dinner buffet worth sinking your teeth into right away. If you want to skip food preparation at home this week, make dining with us a priority, and know that we offer patio seating.
