Tips On How To Meal Prep

 

The key to having a healthy diet and actually sticking to it, is planning ahead. You need to have a plan of what foods you will eat, what workouts you will do, etc. By prepping your meals ahead of time, you get rid of all temptation to snack on food while cooking your actual meal, or just choosing the most convenient snack bar at hand. This way you have your meals ready at hand, all measured out and hunger will not dictate what goes into your body. Sometimes meal prepping can seem like an extremely daunting task. How are you supposed to cook all your food for 7 days, in one afternoon? It’s easy actually! Follow these two simple steps and you will become a meal prepping pro!

The blog on how to meal prep by Skinny Minnie Moves shows a step-by-step example including pictures on easy ways to meal prep. If you are a visual learner, this is definitely for you!

Getting Started

• Invest in GOOD tupperware.
• Purchase a food scale. Portion is everything. We recommend the electronic scales because they are easy to zero out and you can just put the tupperware on top of it and measure.
• Make an assembly line. Try to cook everything at once by using stove top and the oven to make your life easier and decrease prep time.
• Eat with your eyes. I like to make veggie medleys with bright colors and variety so you are not stuck with the same boring lunches.
• Make foods that will keep. Chicken breast and turkey meat are good for meal preps. If you cook seafood, make sure you eat it the first day or two or it will go bad!
• Keep it simple. You don’t need to make lavish meals for meal preps. That’s what I leave dinner for. Just pop in your proteins with spices, veggies, and grains and it’ll leave you satisfying with much less prep time
• Pick one day a week as your “plan and prep” day. Grocery shop on this day as well!

What to eat

The items listed on here are not the end all be all. Choose the healthy items you would like to use if they are not listed below! Plan your meals for the week out using the following guideline: Protein + Starch + Vegetable (and be making sure to get your healthy fats in!)

Protein options

• Chicken Breasts Boneless, Skinless
• Chicken thighs are okay for specific recipes
• Ground Beef – 85% lean or higher
• Ground Turkey – 93% lean or higher
• Fish – Salmon, Tilapia, Shrimp*
• Eggs (hard boil a bunch for the week!)
• Vegetarian or Vegan? Try plant based proteins: beans (black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, etc.) edamame, tofu, tempeh

Starch options

Opt for whole grain, complex carbohydrates as your fuel! (There are other options as well, this is a ‘basic’ list)

• Quinoa— you can add whatever flavors/spices of dish to quinoa to boost flavor
• Sweet potato
• Brown rice
• Pasta
• Potato
• Rice Varieties: Jasmine*, Basmati*, Wild Grain*, Etc.
• Buckwheat
• Amaranth

Vegetable options

Leafy greens are your best bet here! I have put a * next to my favorites!

• Spinach
• Green Beans
• Mushrooms
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Cucumber
• Red, Yellow, Orange Peppers
• Zucchini
• Kale
• Bok Choy
• Spaghetti Squash
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Sugar Snap Peas

PREPARE

 

1. Check to make sure you have all the ingredients for all recipes before hand!
2. Add necessary items to the shopping list
3. Grocery shop for the week
4. Peel, chop, cut all raw veggies for the week to put in lunch or to have as a snack (Healthy choices are easier to make when they’re ready to be eaten!)
5. Repeat the process for any fruit that requires cutting to be eaten
6. Prep your protein/meals (see below)
7. Make specific meals to eat as alternating left overs
8. Make items to store in the freezer and eat at a later time
9. Make your meat “basic” to be used in a variety of ways through out the week

Now, you can take prepping as far as you want to. You can:

Cook enough protein, veggies, starches to eat for the week (keeping these items basic will make them more versatile to use during the week) OR Cook two meals to generate enough meals to alternate for the week (five-seven days of dinners)

MEAT

Preparing

• Make ground beef/ ground turkey meatballs and freeze for a later date
• Make homemade burgers for now and to freeze for a later date
• Crockpot freezer meals, Google this! So many ideas out there to make in your crockpot and portion out for the week

Cooking

• Cook as much of your protein that you would like to have for the week
• Grill chicken in bulk with a variety of seasonings to switch up the flavor during the week
• Bake chicken in bulk, check out a great recipe here
• Use your crockpot!  Makes enough of a dish to have for the week!
• Cook chicken in chicken broth in the crockpot and use as shredded chicken to add to recipes for the week (think chicken salad, chicken tacos, to put on top of salad)
• Sauté ground beef/ground turkey with a little bit of garlic powder (eat as is through out the week or create dishes with it such as tacos, beef and peppers, etc.)
• Hard boil enough eggs for the week as a lunch option or go to protein based snack

Happy Food Prepping!