Meal Prep 101: How Do I Meal Prep?
If you have ever wondered what meal prepping is and how you can use it to your advantage, you are in the right place. In this article, I am going to cover the ins and outs of meal prepping and provide you with a few different ways to meal prep for yourself. It’s great to save time and money while reducing waste in the kitchen but that’s not all. And you don’t have to be a bodybuilder or an athlete to meal prep. It’s great for anyone who is pressed for time or finds themself going out to buy food for lunch every day. 60-90 minutes on a Sunday could save you time, money, and even sanity over the week to follow. Check out the rest of this article to find out how.
What Is Meal Prepping?
Meal prepping is when you cook your meals in advance for the days ahead. This is usually done by taking one specific day of the week and cooking all of your meals at once. Typically you would cook a protein, a carb, and a vegetable. Let’s say you want to prepare 1 meal a day for Monday through Friday and you are going to use Sunday to prepare meals. Once you are done cooking the meals you separate them into different containers so you can grab them as needed and have a complete meal ready to be heated up and eaten.
What Are The Benefits Of Meal Prepping?
Meal prepping is beneficial because it creates convenience and it allows you to stay ahead of your nutrition. You can benefit from meal prepping if you are a busy person and eat a lot of meals on the go and you can also benefit from meal prepping if you are trying to hone in on your nutrition. When you meal prep you have a better chance of succeeding in your goal, whether it be a long-term goal like fat loss, or short-term goals like not going out to eat as much, saving time on your lunch break, or cutting down on your grocery budget.
Saves time - When you prepare all of your meals in one day you are going to save time in the long run. Eventually, you develop a strategy that allows you to make the most out of your time. You can cook breakfast and lunch for a week in 60-90 minutes of meal prep in one day. If you want to prep protein pancakes for breakfast and the ‘basic’ meal prep option(find out more in the how-to section) for lunch then a good way to save time would be to mix up the pancake batter first. That way you can do everything else for your meals while you are making your way through the batter. That could save you 30 minutes alone. And those two meals could take around 60-90 minutes a day if you cook them separately. You will also save time with clean-up because you’ll only have to clean once for all of those meals.
Portion control - Portion control is made simple with meal prep. You have control of what you are making and how much you serve. It’s a perfect time to measure foods and be in control of your serving sizes.
Calorie & Macro Tracking - If you measure your food when you meal prep you are going to know exactly what the calorie and macronutrients are for those meals. I use a spreadsheet to log the ingredients of my meals and the amount of each used. From there I can add up the totals and divide them by the amount of servings I have. It’s a great way to know how many calories and macros you are consuming in the meals you create. If you are someone who tracks that information then you can even log it ahead of time. Knowing your calories and macros ahead of time allows you to take the guesswork out of hitting your calories. And when you plan your meals for the days ahead you take away a lot of the stress that comes with deciding what to eat.
It can prevent you from making bad food choices - Most of the time bad food choices happen when you are hungry and unprepared. The food industry revolves around convenience foods that are inexpensive and unhealthy. If you only have 30-minutes to eat lunch and you don’t bring anything with you there’s a better chance of you making a vending machine lunch out of a soda, candy bar, and a bag of chips. Why resort to that when you can take control and eat a tasty lunch that doesn’t leave you craving more as you move on with your day. You can also make a meal that tastes better and is more healthy than a lot of dine-in options. When you meal prep you have the ability to make a healthy choice because you are ready for the moment with something that is nutritious and filling. Your meal is already made, all you have to do is heat it up for around 1-2 minutes or until it’s at the temperature you prefer.
How Do I Meal Prep?
The most popular method of meal prepping is done by cooking all of your meals at once and dividing them evenly for the next 3 to 7 days. You want to make sure you are getting a square meal each time so typically meal prep consists of a protein, carb, and a vegetable. However, you can put together whatever your heart and taste buds desire. Below are example formulas to give you an idea of how to sort your meals.
Basic: Protein + Grain + Vegetable
Vegetarian: Legume + Vegetable + Vegetable
Mix and Match: This is a unique way of choosing your meals for each day. I love this for people who need a little more variety in their life. The way this works is you color coordinate your tupperware with specific foods and then mix and match when it comes time to eat. For example, proteins go in a tupperware with a blue lid, carbs go in a tupperware with a red lid, and vegetables go in a tupperware with a green lid. The type of protein, carb, or veggie doesn’t have to be the same in each color, but you’ll always know what is what. Say you cook 3 pieces of salmon and 3 pieces of chicken, each of them go in a blue lid container. You also cook 3 cups of brown rice and 3 cups of quinoa and they each go in a red lid container. Next, you have 3 cups of broccoli and 3 cups of green beans, each separated into their respective green lid container. When it comes time to pack your lunch or eat you can grab whatever mix and match combo you are feeling that day. One day it could be chicken, white rice, and green beans and the next day it could be salmon, quinoa, and green beans. You can create different meals each day based on the combination of tupperware that you grab.
Foods that work well for meal prepping:
cooked grains & pasta
cooked beans
cooked meat
cooked mashed sweet potatoes
roasted vegetables
hearty fresh vegetables (think celery, carrots, peas, bell peppers, kale, cabbage, radishes, etc.)
whole fruit (apples, oranges, stone fruit)
nuts & seeds
cheese
sauces and dips (like salad dressings, hummus, salsa, sour cream, etc.)
Foods that don’t usually meal prep well:
softer fruits and vegetables (lettuce, berries, and cut fruit)
crunchy items like fried food, crackers, or chips
What do I need?
If you want to do it right then you need a solid tupperware collection. There are a couple of different options but basically, this comes down to personal preference. You can choose from glass or plastic, 1 compartment, or multiple compartments. Don’t overthink this, just pick something and go with it.
Tips for quick meal prep!
Use frozen bags of veggies
Use pre-marinated meats
Discover strategies over time - Know what takes the longest and start that first so you can have it going while you take care of other small tasks.
Example Recipe
20-minute Meal-Prep Chicken, Rice, and Broccoli
Ingredients
For the Rice:
2 cups water
1 cup jasmine rice
3/4 teaspoon salt
For the chicken:
4 small-medium boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs about 4 oz each
1 teaspoon brown or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 cups broccoli florets
water for steaming
Instructions
To cook the rice: Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Then, stir in the rice; cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes until all of the water is absorbed.
To Cook the chicken: Rub the chicken with brown sugar, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a large heavy-duty pan or skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes on the first side without moving, until the undersides develop dark grill marks. Flip the chicken breasts using a pair of tongs or a fork and cook the other side for 5-6 minutes. Turn off heat and allow chicken breasts to rest in the pan for at least 5 minutes before cutting.
To steam broccoli: There are two ways to cook the broccoli. To blanch the broccoli on the stove-top. Boil water in a large pot. Add broccoli florets to the pot and blanch for just 1 minute. Remove from the pot. To steam in the microwave: Place broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and add 3 tablespoons of water to the bowl. Cover with a ceramic plate or plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 3 minutes.
To combine: Cut the chicken into slices or small bite-size pieces. Use a 1 cup measuring cup to evenly spoon 1 cup of rice into each (4 total). Top the rice with sliced chicken and broccoli florets. Cover and refrigerate for up to 4 days. To reheat, microwave on high for 2 minutes or until steaming.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving | Calories: 356kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 9g
Wrapping Up
Now that I’ve given you a couple of strategies and a recipe it’s time to send you off into the wild world of meal prepping. It may be a little overwhelming but I know it won’t take you long to get the hang of it. Remember that it takes time to experiment and figure out what works best for you. I appreciate you taking the time to read my article and I hope you are able to take something from it to improve your life in some fashion. If you have any questions you can feel free to email me directly and I’ll help you out as best I can. You can message my personal email, I usually respond within 24-48 hours.
And if you want some more nutrition and fitness information then you should sign up for my newsletter using the form below. I use my newsletter as a way to share my knowledge, not bombard you with junk mail. You’ll get a free copy of my 50 Metabolic Workouts eBook when you sign up so make sure to check that out.
Much Love,
Patrick
