One of the proactive measures to prevent coronavirus infection is to stay at home and reduce human contact as much as you can. That's why we've come up with some ideas for meal prepping, and meal combinations as we wait and watch.
How To Prep Meals For Coronavirus Lockdown In Nigeria
In the event that you have to self-quarantine or lockdown is imposed, you’ll need enough food for that entire time. If you’ve never had to plan out meals for that long a stretch, this can be daunting. But with a little advanced preparation, you can have delicious and nutritious meals during a lockdown or quarantine period.
See these 6 tips for prepping meals successfully:
- Take a sheet of paper and armed with your calendar, plan meals for a two week period. If you would prefer to prep meals for a month, you can go ahead too.
- If you're prepping for two weeks starting on Monday, the Easter weekend falls into your calendar. You will want to make special meals on those days so it's smart to note special holidays in your meal plan.
- Does your family enjoy pizza on a Saturday evening? Or is boiled yam and egg stew a Sunday morning favourite? Factor these into your meal plan too.
- Then start adding meals into the remaining squares, alternating meatless with meat; or varying the proteins from meal to meal to keep things exciting.
- Remember you’re not married to this plan! Write it in pencil if it makes you feel less committed. So feel free to change it up as different things happen throughout the month; drawing arrows where you’ll swap tonight’s meal with another night.
- Cook a huge pot of soup, stew or any food, and store in bowls big enough for a meal. Freeze these bowls and microwave one bowl per meal. This will not only help your food last; you'll be saving yourself hours of cooking time. Of course, this is subject to the power station in your area, but it is doable.
Prepping Meals Has Its Advantages. Here Are Some Of Them
- Meal prepping can save you time and money since you're preparing home-cooked food ahead of time. Many people meal prep by shopping and cooking on the weekends. And this may work better with your schedule than cramming it in during a weekday.
- Meal prepping can also make it easier to eat healthier (and lose weight, if that's your goal) since the menu gets set in advance. You're less likely to choose a not-so-great option when you already have a healthy dinner at home, ready to go. So, your social distancing time is not an excuse to stuff your face with unhealthy food. It's actually a great time to practice eating healthy.
- It takes away your stress as you avoid last-minute decisions about what to eat, or rushed preparation of meals.
- Ultimately, prepping your meals will contribute to an all-round nutritious balanced diet in your meals.
How To Prep Meals For COVID-19 Lockdown With Powdered Foods
For some time now, some local brands have innovatively found a way to preserve the staples for swallow. Garri has always been garri from time immemorial. But now there's packaged fufu flour, oat flour, potato flour, and almost the flour version of every vegetable known to man. And this is great for meal prepping and bulk buying. The other great part is these items are readily available and relatively affordable. So as we wait to know what happens in the coming days, stock up as best you can, and remember not to panic.
See These 5 Delicious Recipes And Interesting Meal Ideas
All-Purpose Black Pepper Sauce Courtesy 9jafoodie
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Considering the power situation in the country, it would be smart to make meals that will keep with or without refrigeration. That's exactly what this stew will do. Very similar to the Ghanaian shito, this stew is great for boiled rice, beans, yam, and even bread.
Chicken Director General Courtesy 1Q Food Platter
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Chicken, Dodo, veggies, herbs and spices with all the flavours and textures paired with rice. All items that you bought and stored from your bulk grocery shopping. Frozen veggies will keep really well in the freezer, and last for weeks.
Chicken Apple Sandwich courtesy 1Q Food Platter
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Boiled Yam And Egg Sauce
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Now that you have an idea of how to meal prep with sumptuous tasty meals, what's on your Covid-19 lockdown meal plan?
Good Housekeeping 9ja Foodie 1QFoodPlatter
Also read: COVID-19 Update: Here's A List Of Things To Buy When You're Grocery Shopping For A Quarantine
