Food prep is a true skill when it comes to kitchen crafts. You don’t have to be a real chef to get chef-quality results either. Prepping food takes a while to do but with some planning, it helps save time.
It’s a great option for anyone, but even more helpful for busy lifestyles or to accommodate hectic and unpredictable schedules. Food is ready to go as needed for recipes or random food pairings.
Keto diets are one of those alternative eating and lifestyle options that lend a lot of room for experimentation and the use of raw ingredients. It is wise to get what you can in bulk, provided adequate storage materials are available.
Even if the food doesn’t need immediate prep, such as dried goods and spices, you can still come up with blends and mixes to suit particular recipes.
Keto is a carbohydrate-restricted diet, so there will need to be alternative options for flour and other workaround ingredients. This could be unnecessary, but it’s better to adapt favorite recipes than to scrap them altogether.
Be Ready to Get Your Hands Dirty
If you haven’t done Keto Meal prep before, here are some things to start out with. You will need a reasonable assortment of kitchen tools and knives or other prepping equipment such as a food processor or slicing mandoline.
The more tools and kitchen gadgets you have, the better your cuisine experience will be, in most cases. You will have more room to get creative and spend less time planning around a limited ingredients list. Here’s a pretty long list of some things to have on hand:
● Grater for Vegetables, Fruits, and Cheeses
● Slicer for Produce, Cheeses, and to Make Chocolate Shavings
● Various Peelers and Paring Knives for Fruits and Vegetables
● Zester and Minigrater for Citrus Peels
● Food Strainers or Colanders to Drain Excess Water or Sort Dry Goods
● Manual or Electric Can Opener for An Easy to Go To Solution
● Lidded or Resealable Jars and Spice Containers in Various Sizes
● Ricer for Cauliflower, but Remember That Potatoes are Not Keto
● Ladle for Bone Broths, Soups, Chowders, Stews, and Gravies
● Whisks and Spatulas to Blend and Scrape Every Last Drop of Wet Foods
● Variety of Kitchen Knives with Blade Sharpener and Holding Station
● Garlic press and Manual Hand Juicer for Flavoring Options
● Measuring Cups and Spoons for Ease of Use
● Mixing Bowls and Spoons to Better See and Mix Ingredients Before Storage
● Ingredients Bowls to Provide a Palette of Possible Food Combinations to Store
● Egg Slicer for Topping Salads and Soups or other foods
● Fruit Slicer Like an Apple Slicing Wheel or Strawberry Slicer
● Avocado Tool to Remove Stone, Peel, and Slice
● Spiralizer to Create Vegetable Noodles and Curly Shaped Fruits for Salads
● Mixer to Thoroughly Blend Ingredients for Prepped Dough and Batter
● Food Mill to Crush, Grind and Incorporate Food Items
● Chopping Boards to Chop, Slice, and Dice Food Items Like Meats and Produce
● Cheesecloths to Strain Excess Water from Certain Cheeses but Never Tofus
● Tongs to Grab and Pop Things Into Storage Bags Like Green Beans and Leafy Veggies
● Food Processor for Chopping and Blending Nut Butters or Bean and Vegetable Dips
● Vegetable scrubber for Cleaning Vegetables and Fruits
● A Few Empty Spray Bottles to Fill with Vinegar and Water Solution to Clean Produce
Given the length of this list, it is likely that you can plan a meal around just one of the tools. Combine form and texture in endless ways. A good thing to start with would be a hearty salad.
It can be all veggies, fruits, and salad toppings, or a base for sliced meat or fish. Making your own salad dressing is a breeze and healthy oils are eaten on an unlimited basis in the Keto diet.
You can go to the store and pack a few shopping bags with random Keto ingredients and create an experiment. This is like the Iron Chef challenge version of Keto cooking.
Optimize Your Ingredients
There are other ways to do things but to get started, it’s better to get in there and try things out before giving up or suffering through even the possibility of hassles. Simple things like a citrus peeler will be like your best friend in a hurry.
Alternative flours just don’t always have the same taste and a teaspoon of zest turns things up a notch for flavored bread and other Keto baked goods.
You will be on the lookout for healthy oils and options with high levels of healthy fats. It’s probably a good investment to go ahead and get a variety of oil dispensers to create flavored versions of different oils. Prepackaged spice mixes and meal fixers are a big no-no on the Keto diet. Enjoy making personalized blends that delight the taste buds and add interest to meals and snacks.
Optimize Your Tools
Every tool for prep offers its own advantages and ideas for use. Take the cheesecloth for example. Mozarella is firmer and easier to grate when prepared by removing excess moisture from water storage. That may not sound like much fun but it is better than buying a bag of dried-out cheese with goo at the bottom.
Make Room in the Pantry and Cabinets
Keeping bulk items and raw materials for substitutes requires more space in the pantry and other food storage areas in the kitchen. Storage containers of ingredients need to be easy to identify and give a sense of visual appeal. Food should be visible but stored properly.
Foods that do not store well in light can go in the cabinet or tinted glass jars and so on. The food storage containers will need to be labeled for freshness, checked on a regular basis, and rotated to be sure that all is good. Not everything needs to go in the pantry or cabinets.
Consider Taking Bone Broth
According to Proper Good, Dr. Kellyann Petrucci introduced bone broth consumption as part of a diet plan in her book entitled ‘The Bone Broth Diet.’ This diet includes eating selected paleo foods for five days and two days fasting. The paleo foods are low-carb, such as fish, chicken, healthy fats, non-starchy vegetables, and bone broth.
Since you’re into a keto lifestyle, you can include bone broth in your diet. Bone broth helps build and strengthen bones because of its rich nutrients. It contains vitamins, essential fatty acids, and amino acids.
Bone broth is a great starter meal for a novice who wants to embrace the keto diet. One cup of bone broth contains 86 kilocalories, 2.9 grams total fat, 6 grams protein, and 8.5 grams of carbohydrates.
Here are the health benefits of consuming bone broth:
- Promotes Healthy Digestive System: Bone broth is rich with gelatine, a type of protein that binds with water, supporting the healthy passing of food through the small and large intestines.
- Promotes Stronger Immune System: A leaky or damaged gut barrier leads to a compromised immune system. Because bone broth protects the small intestine, a site of nutrient absorption in the digestive tract, the body is able to use the nutrients to strengthen the immune system.
- Promotes Weight Loss: The collagen in bone broth helps in attaining successful weight loss combined with exercise, specifically resistance training to improve lean muscle mass.
Conclusion
Keto food prep provides a time-saving option for mixing meals together on the fly. Keep a Keto food list on hand to make shopping and prepping the right ingredients a breeze.
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