If you have a nutrition goal to get healthier you’re going to need to get organized. This post will teach you how to organize your meal prep Tupperware cabinet so that you’ll know what storage containers you have for your prepped meals!
Not into reading? Then watch the video at the bottom!
1. Pick A Cabinet
We all have unique kitchen spaces so I can’t tell you which one to chose. We picked a cabinet in our kitchen that is right below the silverware drawer. You might need to a different one. You might not even have a cabinet under your silverware drawer. Just make sure the cabinet you choose is deep enough to hold all of your meal prep storage containers.
2. Empty It Out
Next you will remove all of the the items in there. Yup, get ready to commit to this purging of the cabinet. If you are not jazzed about putting dishes on the floor, place a towel down beside you to lay the items on that. Then you won’t have to worry. We’re not trying to organize just yet so just focus on getting all of the contents out. You need a clear picture of what kind of space you are working with and what items are actually in the cabinet.
3. Match Tops To Bottoms
Now is where you organize. Start with the actual meal prep storage containers and match the tops to the bottoms. No real strategy here, just find the matching pieces. Kind of like sorting change (does anyone do that anymore?). Separate the tops out first and then gather the bottoms. At this stage you’ll match the tops to the bottoms.
I layer all of the bottoms together and then tops together. This saves so much space instead of keeping tops + bottoms together and stacking the complete items.
By now you should have a clear idea of what meal prep storage container you have to work with.
Small containers will hold your fats and dips. Think almond, hummus, salsa, capers, pine nuts etc.
Medium containers that are too small for a meal but bigger than holding 1 oz. almonds will be great for holding items you can pack separately. For example, you might toss in some dry oats just to have and fill it up with water then buy something protein-rich from a cafe. Or a serving of veggie sticks.
The meal sized containers are great for the complete meals. Aim for a protein, a starch, and a veggie in each meal. That keeps it simple! And with meal prep, simple is key.
The big containers are perfect for making items in bulk that you won’t individually meal prep. Chicken, rice, past, soup etc. You might live with someone and you both eat the same food and just want to cook something and store it without individually portioning it out.
1 large container I recommend everyone have is a large glass bowl for salads. Commit to making 1 veggie rich salad , leave it plain (no dressing) and just have this each week. It makes getting in your veggies SO easy!
By now you have identified your meal prep storage containers and then whatever other random items you may have that fit. For us that included an immersion blender, and electric risk, my popcorn machine (!) and a big-ass pot.
4. Put Least Used Items In The Back*
Whatever you aren’t using regularly , as in at least once a week, put that in the back. For me that was the random salad dressing container, the electric whisk, and a few other things.
If you’re stuck and are like “I don’t know what I don’t use!”, hold it right there. Don’t let this analysis paralysis creep in! It is just a system of organizing and nothing is permanent.
Let’s say you think you don’t use something but then you keep going for it week after week. Well, then you learned that you do use it and maybe it can be in front.
My point here is don’t stress! Organizing isn’t a perfect science and it isn’t permanent.
5. Put Most Used Items In The Front
This leaves us with the most frequently used items. Oh! And the small items. I don’t use my smaller containers very often, but to see them from getting lost int he abyss of the cabinet I put them in front along with the meal prep containers that hold full meals and the big bulk size containers plus my salad bowl!
6. Commit To Keeping This Spaced Organized!
Lastly, commit. Like I said organizing isn’t a perfect science and it’s also not a permanent state. Organizing is really re-organizing. You’ll be (Hopefully) using this cabinet a lot! At least once maybe even twice a week so it can get messy but if you commit to this system I’ve laid out for you, then it will help you stay organized and meal prep will be even easier AND you’ll save more time (which is a barrier I hear a lot of people have that keeps them from prepping!).
What are your tips?! Please share with me how you organize your meal prep Tupperware cabinet so we can all learn! Also if you know someone who can benefit from this, I would love if you shared it with them