Meal prepping has become a popular trend, and for good reason. It's a strategy that can be adapted to your unique schedule and lifestyle to help you become more efficient in the kitchen. It offers a way to save time and money, reduce waste, and stick to your health and fitness goals. This comprehensive guide will provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to successfully incorporate meal prepping into your routine.
What is Meal Prepping?
Meal prepping is the act of preparing meals or recipes in advance and then portioning them out to create convenient, grab-and-go meals for later consumption. This can be as simple as packing up leftovers for lunch or dedicating a few hours each week to preparing multiple meals for the days ahead. Meal prep is preparing meals ahead of time so you can have them on-hand later in the week. Think of it like packing your lunches for the week all at once instead of packing your lunch each morning.
Benefits of Meal Prepping
Meal prepping offers numerous benefits that can positively impact your health, finances, and overall well-being.
- Saves Time: Spending a little bit of time prepping a batch of meals gives you time back during the week that you don’t have to spend cooking. That allows you more time to focus on other tasks and pursuits.
- Reduces Decision Fatigue: No more staring at the fridge asking, “What should I eat?” Having meals prepped and ready to go eases decision fatigue by lessening the number of decisions you have to make each day.
- Saves Money: Meal prepping can help you be sure you’re only buying the food you need and actually plan to eat, which helps your wallet and prevents food waste.
- Reduces Waste: By planning your meals in advance, you're less likely to buy excess groceries that end up spoiling.
- Promotes Healthier Eating: Meal prepping allows you to plan and prepare balanced meals that align with your dietary goals, whether it's weight loss, muscle gain, or simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
- Eating at mealtimes vs: Meal prep is also a proactive way of staying on top of your fitness goals.
- Controls Hunger Levels: Knowing you have something already prepared can help you to eat at a similar time each day, which helps control hunger levels and prevents overeating.
- Leads to more thoughtful meals: When you meal prep, you give yourself time to think through and create balanced meals that provide a variety of nutrients. Meal prep prevents you from choosing the first thing you see in the pantry, which may not be the healthiest option.
- Reduces Temptation: Meal prepping reduces temptation to eat outside your plan (whether the plan be a diet or a budget).
Is Meal Prepping Right for You?
While meal prepping offers numerous advantages, it's not for everyone.
It is good for people who value convenience and efficiency more than variety. With meal prepping you generally eat the same thing for a few days in a row, so if you don’t like leftovers or get bored with food easily, meal prepping is not for you. Consider your personality and preferences before committing to meal prepping. I’ve generally only seen people meal prep for themselves or maybe one other person, as opposed to a whole family.
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Getting Started with Meal Prepping
Ready to embark on your meal prepping journey? Here's a step-by-step guide to help you get started:
Define Your Goals:
- Are you just aiming for quick, easy dinners?
- Do you want to focus on saving money?
- Do you want to improve your health with a specific nutrition plan?
- Do you want to manage your bodyweight to look good and feel good, or if you are in bodybuilding competitions, meal prep is a tactic that will keep you on track.
Plan Your Meals:
- Set a day of the week to plan out recipes with an app, spreadsheet, or planner. Some common meal prep apps are MyFitness Pal, 1st Phorm My Transphormation app, and Evolution Nutrition among others.
- Consider specific meals or foods for different days of the week.
- Pick which meals you want to prep for. If you find yourself struggling to make breakfast in the morning, that might be a good place to start.
- Choose how many days you want to prep for. It’s usually best to start with 2-3 days at first and then work up to a week and freezing some meals.
- Choose what kind of food you want to include. This is where nutrition goals like weight loss, muscle gain, etc., come in. Use the NASM basal metabolic rate calculator to figure out your daily caloric needs so you can set your macronutrient goals. Find a plan that is sustainable, and you will adhere to it.
Choose Your Recipes:
- Pick simple recipes. Begin with meals that are easy to prepare and don’t contain a ton of ingredients. Now’s not the time to attempt boeuf bourguignon! You can also look for recipes that can be made in a slow cooker, which will make things even easier.
- Consider recipes that reuse ingredients. “Think about how you can prep different foods that can be used with multiple meals,” Homan suggests. For example, if you make a batch of baked chicken, you can serve it one day with steamed broccoli and a sweet potato, and another day over greens with some whole-grain crackers.
- Vary your ingredients. Well-rounded meals should include a variety of colors and textures, which keeps things interesting and provides a mix of micronutrients. “Make meals satisfying by including a balance of protein, produce and complex carbohydrates,” Homan says.
- If you’re a person who likes consistency, you might want to stick with some solid basic recipes. For people who enjoy cooking, healthy metabolic cookbooks and meal prep apps are a great way to try out new recipes and make them fit your macros.
Create a Grocery List:
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- Planning your meals ahead of the trip to the grocery store is a key strategy for eating well on a budget.
- Before you head to the grocery store, you’ll have to make a grocery list. This is a great time to figure out which ingredients you’ll make yourself and which you’ll buy ready-made - because not every element of a homemade meal has to be made at home.
- You don’t have to make everything from scratch,” Homan says. “Buying a rotisserie chicken, tuna packets or a veggie tray can cut down on time.” Keep frozen berries and frozen vegetables on hand, too. They’re pre-washed, pre-chopped and can be microwave-steamed in a pinch.
- But there are some ready-made ingredients that are definitely worth skipping - like individually packaged foods.
Shop Smart:
- Shop around for the best price and look for sales or bulk deals!
- Meal prep can save time and money if you are preparing just enough for what is needed the following week.
Set Aside Prep Time:
- Pick at least one day per week to plan the menu, whether week by week or for the whole month, and write out your grocery list; food shop; do meal prep, or most of your cooking.
- Set a day of the week to spend 2-3 hours prepping the meals.
- Multi-task! When you cook a recipe, make extra portions for another day or two of meals, or to freeze for a different week. For lunches, get a head-start and use individual meal containers.
- Prep. To make your meal prepping as efficient as possible, try cooking with multiple devices at the same time.
Cook and Portion:
- Choose your meal prep methods. Do you want to cook in one big batch you can divide up later or in individually portioned meals? Pre-portioning your meals for the week can save you time, but it takes longer upfront. Large batches might be ideal if you work from home and don’t need the meals to be portable.
- Choose whether you want to pre-cook or just prep the ingredients for later. Pre-cooking and reheating your meals are the most common method of meal prepping.
Store Properly:
- Storing your prepped meals safely is one of the most important parts of meal prep.
- Refrigeration and freezing are an important step to successful meal planning. However, forgotten food such as produce hiding in a drawer or a stew stored on a back shelf in an opaque container for too long can spoil and lead to food waste.
- Label all prepped items with a date so that you can track when to use them by.
- Rotate stored items so that the oldest foods/meals are kept up front.
- When it comes to freezing, some foods work better than others. Cooked meals tend to freeze well in airtight containers. Foods with high moisture content, such as salad greens, tomatoes, or watermelon, are not recommended as they tend to become mushy when frozen and thawed. Blanching vegetables for a few minutes before freezing can help.
- Label your meals with the macros and data to help identify them and make sure you’re not using expired food.
Essential Meal Prep Tools
Having the right tools can make meal prepping more efficient and enjoyable. Here are some essentials:
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- Containers: Containers of different shapes and sizes. I started by buying one pack of the blue-top reusable plastic Ziploc containers per week. Once my budget allowed, I graduated to glass containers. My favorite glass containers so far are the plain, single compartment Pyrex containers (I like the 3-cup rectangle and 4-cup bowl). Fold top sandwich bags or zip top bags can also be helpful when you need to separate ingredients. And, if you like to keep your dressing and dips separate, look for 1-2 oz.
- Slow Cooker: Whether you have a crazy schedule, don’t have much faith in your cooking abilities or just love juicy, flavor-packed dishes, slow cookers are amazing. Don’t have one? It’s time to invest. While small 2.5-quart slow cookers are good options for people who are tight on cabinet space, seven-quart ones can cook upwards of 10 meals at once. To cook an amazing meal, all you have to do is plug in the cooker, throw in some chopped veggies, meat, spices and liquid and walk away. Most recipes call for slow-cooking the ingredients between four and eight hours -- meaning you can cook your meals while you’re out running errands, at work or even asleep.
- Good Knives: A sharp set of knives will make chopping and slicing vegetables and proteins much easier.
Food Safety Guidelines for Meal Prepping
- Always double check the expiration date of foods when you purchase them at the grocery store to ensure food safety, especially when you buy fresh.
- Always follow food safety guidelines. Don’t let food sit out unrefrigerated for long periods of time. Cook to the minimum recommended internal temperature.
Best Foods for Meal Prepping
- The best types of foods to use for meal prep are the ones that you’re most likely to eat.
- Carbohydrates tend to make up 30-60% of prepped meals, depending on you and your goals. Use complex carbs as the foundation of your meals.
- Protein plays an essential role in supporting skeletal muscle and providing a full source of amino acids to keep your body anabolic. Depending on your goal, you could pick fast or slow digesting proteins. Generally, the leaner the protein source, the better for your body and for storage after meal prep.
- Aim for a target of at least three servings of veggies per day.
- Aim for 2-3 servings of fruit daily for overall health. Softer fruits like berries won’t last as long in the refrigerator (typically a few days), so chopped raw or cooked fruits may work better for meal prep.
- Other great food choices to keep on hand and supplement your meal prep are nuts, seeds, legumes, and oils. These macro-friendly food choices are nutrient-dense and high in proteins and healthy fats.
- To help keep your meals interesting and add some flavor, you may consider adding healthy condiments that align with your nutritional targets. Store your sauces separately or in a small condiment sized Tupperware so they don’t make your food soggy or limp.
Meal Prep Formulas
An easy way to think about meal prepping is to make a formula out of it. You can add toppings to any of the formulas above to make it more interesting, like sauces, nuts, seeds, croutons, etc.
Sample Meal Prep Recipes
Ready to get started? Below are some recipes that lend well to bigger batches-and don’t forget that the Healthy Eating Plate can serve as a helpful menu planning guide.
Tips for Avoiding Meal Prep Boredom
If you’re groaning at the idea of eating the same thing for a week, don’t worry: There are ways to fend off boredom when it comes to meal planning.
- For starters, Homan says to be sure to choose foods you actually like - which may sound like a no-brainer but is so important that it’s worth emphasizing. When you’re brand new to meal prep, this isn’t the time to decide that you also need to revamp your entire palate - at least not to start.
- Challenge yourself to choose one new recipe each week to keep it exciting,” Homan suggests. “You can also try sticking to weekly themes, like Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday or Sunday brunch.”
- Finally, although meal prep is a great way to help you eat healthier, don’t feel like you have to withhold or deprive yourself of little treats - especially if the meals you’re making are otherwise healthy and well-balanced.
Advanced Meal Prep Hacks
- Cook Once Per Week: Pick one day a week and do the bulk -- if not all -- of your shopping and cooking on that day. It might sound like a big time commitment, but doing everything at once means you only have to preheat the oven once, chop your meats and veggies once and clean your kitchen once, says Casey Moulton, founder of Kitchen Karate. For instance, to chop all of the ingredients for one meal, it takes about 10 minutes. However, to chop all of your ingredients for 15 meals at once, it takes about 40 minutes, Moulton says. That’s a huge time saver. However, resist the temptation to cook two, three or four weeks in advance. Most cooked meals tend to stay fresh in your fridge for about a week. If you need help determining the proper serving size of each dish, check out 7 Portion Control Tricks for Weight Loss.
- Consider Each Food’s Timelines: Some foods are a bit more sensitive to the passing of time than are others. Berries and greens like spinach and arugula, for instance: They get mushy fast. So, it’s typically best to eat them earlier in the week, says Jaime Mass, RDN, LDN. Also, if you are prepping salads, they will stay crisp longer if you store any dressings and oils on the side in a separate container, says chef Candice Kumai, former host of Lifetime’s “Cook Yourself Thin” and TLC’s “Homemade Simple.” (She notes that kale holds up better than thinner salad greens.) When you’re ready to dig in, just drizzle and eat. Also, while you might like avocado in your salad or sliced apples for a snack, you should hold off slicing and dicing them until you’re ready to eat them -- unless you actually like them oxidized and brown.
- Fill Your Freezer: Even with meal prep as plan A, life happens: From time to time, you’ll run out of prepped food in your fridge. That’s when it’s handy to have a half-dozen prepped meals stored in your freezer, says Jaime Mass, RDN, LDN. “Most meats that are already cooked can last in the freezer from two to six months. Soups also store well in the freezer, and you can split them into single servings to store for up to three months,” Mass says. So grab a permanent marker and start marking eat-by dates. If you don’t want to write directly on your Tupperware, you can put the containers in freezer bags and then write the dates on them. Don't have enough room? You may want to read the article 11 Foods to Toss Out of Your Kitchen For Good.
- Don’t Dismiss Frozen Produce: Bags of frozen broccoli and blueberries aren’t just convenient, they’re surprisingly nutritious. According to 2013 research from the University of Chester in England, the vast majority of frozen produce is higher in antioxidants and other nutrients than is fresh produce. For instance, in the study, frozen carrots were found to have about three times the lutein and twice the beta-carotene, as well as greater levels of vitamin C and polyphenols, compared with their fresh counterparts. “They are picked at their peak of freshness and flash frozen so they don’t lose nutrition during transport from farm to store,” says Jaime Mass, RDN, LDN. “They are nutritious and can help keep you on track when prep time isn’t plentiful.”
- Go Ahead, Repeat Meals: So what if meal prepping means you eat four Greek yogurt parfaits in a week? “It isn’t a bad thing to repeat meals, especially if it helps keep you on track and you enjoy the food you’re eating,” says dietician nutritionist Jaime Mass, RDN, LDN. After all, making a big batch of a dish and then dividing it up to eat throughout the week is a simple time-saver. However, to keep yourself from getting bored, you might want to mix up what meals you repeat each week, Mass says. For instance, one week you may want to make a huge batch of quinoa salad and another week an enormous pot of turkey chili.
- Cross-Utilize Ingredients: For cooking newbies, shopping for exact recipes can prove helpful. But for those who are prepared to take some creative license with their food, looking for ingredients you can use in a variety of dishes can save you time and money, says Casey Moulton, founder of Kitchen Karate. After all, if you buy an entire bunch of tomatoes for a single taco salad, you’re going to end up with a lot in the garbage. But if you buy a whole bunch of tomatoes, cook them and divide them up to use in pastas, in wraps and in salads. You can save on cooking time and keep from throwing away your money. “Go into the store knowing how many servings of proteins, grains and vegetables you need,” he says. When you get home, get creative to use up everything you’ve purchased.
- Form an Assembly Line: Rather than prepping and cooking each meal individually, focus on cooking everything all at once -- just do it in stages. After all, pretty much every ingredient will require some combination of washing, chopping, seasoning and cooking. So as soon as you get home from the supermarket, rinse/wash up every ingredient that needs it, and then get slicing, dicing and chopping, recommends Casey Moulton, founder of Kitchen Karate. Next, fire up all four of your stove’s burners and use both of your oven racks to cook up to six ingredients at once. If you have more than six ingredients to cook, just rotate them in once the other ones are done. Then, all you have to do is mix and match to make your dishes.
- Spice It Up: When you’re eating chicken three days in a row, spices are vital to beating taste-bud boredom, says Casey Moulton, founder of Kitchen Karate, who uses one or more of the following in each of his meals: salt, pepper, onion, garlic and olive oil. They’re among the world’s most versatile flavoring agents and create a tasty palate for adding more herbs and spices. After all, a sprinkle of basil in one dish and a dash of curry in another can make two seemingly similar chicken-and-onion dishes taste wildly different, Moulton says. Bonus: Herbs and spices are full of health-boosting antioxidants and are great for adding flavor to meals without increasing your sodium intake, says Florida-based dietician nutritionist Jaime Mass, RDN, LDN. Take a stroll down your supermarket spice aisle and stock up.
- Upgrade Your Kitchen Tools: Hardcore meal preppers can benefit from investing in the right tools, says Casey Moulton, founder of Kitchen Karate. For instance, think about your pots and pans: Can you fit them all on your stove at the same time? If so, you can cook more food in less time. Moulton also recommends storing your pantry’s oils and vinegars in labeled spray and squeeze bottles for easy and lightning-fast handling. (Plus, you’re less likely to overuse calorie-dense oils if you’re spraying them rather than pouring them out of a bottle.) Resealable plastic containers can also come in handy when storing grains like rice, quinoa and couscous. On each lid write any pertinent cooking instructions. (Do you need a one-to-one or two-to-three ratio of water to cook the grain?) It’s so much easier than dealing with boxes, bags and clothespins.
- Organize Your Fridge: Pack it up as completed meals to eat throughout week, recommends Casey Moulton, founder of Kitchen Karate. To make it even easier, he recommends dedicating each shelf in your fridge for a different meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you want to take some thought out of the whole “what lunch should I bring to work today” conundrum, consider labeling each meal with the date you plan to eat it. That way you can eat from the front of your fridge to the back. Plus, if you plan when you’ll eat each meal, you can make sure that each days’ proteins, grains, fruits and veggies are varied.