Giving some forethought to planning and preparing meals can save time, money and your sanity. Oftentimes newly motivated meal preppers overcommit to the process and the motivation to make food ahead of time quickly dwindles. Instead of making resolutions that quickly come to a screeching halt, find ways to make prep more sustainable.

As a dietitian who dedicates a lot of effort, including an entire cookbook, to meal prep I have learned that establishing a base skillset can make a huge difference. I also know talented people who have mastered certain aspects of the meal prep game.

The hardest part of meal prepping might be deciding where to start. Keep it simple and make it enjoyable so you can actually stick to it. “Motivation is not the right mindset for long-term meal prep success,” says Nick Quintero from Workweek Lunch meal planner. “It might help get you started, but meal prep success happens because it becomes a habit,” he adds.

Establishing any healthy habit is more attainable by setting small, realistic goals that you can build on. Instead of going from zero meal prep to making 21 meals on a Sunday for the entire week, start with a few dinners or even lunches. Work out the kinks in smaller phases and keep the workload manageable. Meal prep isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some people might only meal prep dinners for the week, others may batch cook and fill bento boxes for meals on repeat.

Here are six strategies to commit to meal prepping for the long haul.

One of the biggest meal prep challenges is deciding what to make. To help manage the indecision, create a framework to guide what type of meals you want to make. For example, if prepping and planning dinners for the week, start by outlining one day for seafood, one for a vegetarian meal and pizza on Friday. For the rest of the week, dedicate one day to grilled or roasted chicken. On your busiest night of the upcoming week, plan a slow-cooker meal. Use this same method to plan your meal prep for the month by assigning themes to each week. This method also helps streamline grocery lists.

For many people, having the same meal every day can get boring. “However, there are recipes you can creatively reuse to easily create other dishes,” says Toby Amidor, MS, RD, author of The Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook and Smart Meal Prep for Beginners. For example, Amidor says chili can be served the traditional way, made into quesadillas with a touch of cheese or used to make nachos. Grilled chicken breast can be used to top a salad, wedged into a sandwich or cut into bite-size pieces to make a bowl (with some grains and greens). Get creative and see how far you can stretch a dish.

Nothing throws a wrench in your meal prep plan like picking a recipe that you didn’t realize requires a long cook time or overnight marinade, but there are some workarounds for that according to Quintero. “Identify the items that take the longest to cook and buy them pre-prepared.” There’s no shame in taking a little help from the grocery store and since things like frozen vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh, you aren’t compromising on the healthy benefits of homemade meals. “This often works because the amount of time you might have to meal prep can decrease in an instant. Having pre-prepared rice, frozen veggies and sauces leaves you with the faster cooking items like ground meat or fish.”

When meal prepping, once you finish cooking your recipes make sure to pack and stash them right away. “This helps minimize any picking at the dish (thereby decreasing your meal prep yield),” explains Amidor. “Measuring also helps ensure that you get the full portion for all servings.” For example, if you’re planning on cooking a chili with six portions, make sure you measure your portions so that portion number six actually has an equal amount. This also helps if you’re looking to keep calories in check for weight maintenance or weight loss.

Less time shopping leaves more time for cooking! Take advantage of all the store apps and delivery services available to get grocery items delivered to your door. Before assuming that ordering groceries will cost more money, pay attention to per-unit pricing, online coupons, loyalty programs and other incentives. Delivery services can lead to reduced impulse buying and overall money savings.