Before beginning any meal prep, I advise you to have a great deal of food storage containers on hand and room in the fridge so you can ensure you won’t have a war zone of toppling containers and food on the floor when you open the fridge.
My little disclaimer: Now keep this in mind that I am a certified personal trainer and certified Diet Free Life coach, but I am not a nutritionist, or dietician. This is what has worked for me, my family and my clients.
How to Begin:
1. Pick one day a week as your “Prep and Plan” day and keep it consistent.
2. Grocery shop on your “Prep and Plan” day.
3. My day is usually Sundays, I will grocery shop and as soon as I get home from the store I get busy.
Planning is the MOST important:
*Plan your meals for the week by using the following guidelines:
Protein + Fast Carbs + Slow Carbs + Fats (have questions on the carb situation, send me a message)
Protein options: These are my suggestion but you can go with any meat product as well as protein powder or ready-to drink shake, such as FitPro Protein.
Chicken Breasts– Boneless, Skinless
Turkey Breast
Ground Beef – 85% lean or higher
Ground Turkey* – 93% lean or higher
Fish – salmon, shrimp, tuna,
Eggs (hard boil a bunch for the week, for salads, and snacks)
FitPro Protein
I also use my Taco Egg Muffin recipe for quick morning breakfast. Visit here for, Taco Egg Muffin.
If you are vegetarian or vegan–Protein sources:
Beans (black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, etc.) edamame, tofu, tempeh.
Fast carb options: opt for whole grain, complex carbohydrates as your fuel.
Quinoa— you can add whatever flavors/spices of dish to quinoa to boost flavor.
Sweet potato/white potato
Brown rice
Pasta
Breads/bagels
Oatmeal
Rice, all varieties (jasmine, basmati, wild rice, brown, and white)
Buckwheat
Amaranth
Corn products
Fruit—all fruit except for berries, and grapefruit (more questions on what is a fast carb, send me a message)
There are more foods that fall into this category but these seem more like the basics.
Slow carb options:
*These will include the berries, grapefruit and also most vegetables.
Spinach
Green beans
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Broccoli
Cucumber
Red, yellow, green, and orange peppers
Zucchini
Kale
Bok Choy
Spaghetti Squash
Carrots
Tomatoes
Sugar Snap Peas
Grapefruit
All Berries (blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries)
Next Step for Planning:
Make sure you have all the ingredients for all recipes BEFORE you grocery shop, the worst thing is coming home and forgetting an essential ingredients for your recipes and have to go back to the store.
Or you can also use the tip below that I often use to ensure I get exactly what I need OR I can send the picture to my husband so he will get the right item on the list!
On to the preparation of your meals:
1. Grocery shop for the week.
2. When you get home from the store make sure to cut, peel and clean all veggies and fruits to ensure you will use them, and have them available for healthy options when you are ready to eat.
3. Prep your protein sources and meals:
*Make specific meals to eat as alternating left overs, I use the chili recipe for leftovers; I double the batch so the whole family will have leftovers for a few days. Visit here for the recipe: Turkey Sweet Potato Chili
*Make items to store in the freezer and eat at a later time.
*Make your protein source be the first food group with your meal prep.
*If you are a beginner to meal prep, you can take the prepping your meals ahead of time either as basic or more advanced as you would like, some of you may have less time to prep meals so just keep in mind that you are prepping your meals based around YOUR schedule and what YOU want to do.
How to start this:
1. Cook enough protein, fast carbs, and slow carbs and have enough healthy fats on hand for the week. (Keeping these items basic and in separate containers are great for making them more versatile to use during the week).
2. Cook 2-3 meals to generate enough meals to alternate for 4-5 days.
Protein Prepping
How to prepare:
Make ground beef/ ground turkey/vegan meatballs or burgers and freeze for a later date.
Make ground beef/ground turkey/vegan crumbles for taco salads or sprinkle on spaghetti squash, salads, chili, etc.
Crock-pot freezer meals .
Cut and chop your fruit and veggies, label EVERYTHING. Even what day you will eat them on.
Cooking or bake your proteins- cook as much as you would like to have for the week.
For the summer: Grill chicken in bulk with a variety of seasonings to switch up the flavor during the week (I use Ms. Dash), love summer time prep, so much easier!
For the winters: Bake chicken in bulk, change up seasonings so it correlates with your meals for the week. I will bake my chicken in a glass container in the oven with a little water on the bottom of the dish, add the chicken (add seasonings, marinades before), and cover the baking dish with tinfoil, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. After that hour, take chicken out of the oven and let sick for 10 minute and carefully remove the tinfoil and you will have streamed lean chicken.
Use your crock-pot, that thing is the bomb and can make enough meals for 2-3 days!
Cook chicken in chicken broth in the crock-pot and use as shredded chicken to add to recipes for the week (think chicken salad, chicken tacos, to put on top of salad). If you want you can add some potato, and carrots and make a meal out of it.
If you get sick of chicken, a great idea is to bake 4 different packs of chicken with different types of marinating spices or use salt free spices to you always have a little variety.
Sauté ground beef/ground turkey with a little bit of garlic powder, paprika, chili powder and onion powder.
Hard boil enough eggs for the week as a lunch option or go to protein based snack.
About my Meal Prep:
When I prep my meal I prep in two ways, one being based on my schedule for the week.
I do all my grocery shopping, cutting up of vegetables and fruits on Sunday. Then I cook one of my meals for Sunday-Monday so I ensure I have enough food prepped for that night, my lunch is ready for leftovers on Monday and Monday’s meal is also prepped.
Then, on most Wednesdays, I will cook again because I have more time to prep for the next few days. I will usually cook while I make dinner for that night so I’m in the kitchen already.
I prep my husband’s overnight oats for five days at a time, so those are pretty quick ready to go meals and easy to make 5 at a time. I also have those listed on my website under recipes.
I make all of my lean proteins very plain, so they are more versatile for eating throughout the week.
As far as lunches go I need to plan and make sure I have my lunch planned and prepped before bed, or even multiple nights in advance. Prepping lunch ahead of time is much less work on you and ensures you have a nutritious and delicious lunch to fuel you through the day. With me being a parent I feel the mornings are so rushed so being proactive and prepping at night is SO important!
Lastly, everyone meal preps at different levels. The level of meal prep depends on their schedule, health goals and time willing to dedicate to prepping. For example, I consider myself an advanced meal prepper, since I prep for usually four to five days’ worth of meals, a few days of breakfast, and all my healthy snacks and have been doing it for years. The more practice you get the easier it will become; you just have to keep it consistent like anything else. And, remember, do what works best for you though, if cooking everything at once on Sunday is too much because that’s your day of rest, pick two days to meal prep then, this is what I do sometimes!