You know you need to stick to your meal plan if you are going to reach your fitness goals. But it can be so challenging.
My key to staying disciplined and on track with my plan is “meal prep.”
By setting aside time to prepare and package meals ahead of time — meal prep for short — I am able to stay on track with my off-season diet, save money and have time for other, more enjoyable activities. I have become so accustomed to this practice that I now feel lost without it.
If you recognize the value of meal prep, but don’t know where to begin, the tips below may help you get started.
My System
With my meal prep plan, I set aside about three hours every Friday evening to prepare and package most of the food I will consume over the next week, at home, at the office and on the road. Friday evenings are my “date nights” with the kitchen.
This food will be reheated in the microwave or eaten cold and supplemented with ready-made food or items I can cook quickly at home. Since I eat out infrequently and bring food with me everywhere (even when I run errands or gather with friends), this may represent up to 35 meals and snacks a week.
This setup works for me. The system you settle on will undoubtedly look different. Just keep in mind, there is no one-size-fits-all meal prep plan.
No matter the plan, there are several things you’ll need to consider before you ignite the stove or turn on the oven.
1. Determine Meal Prep Time Period and Diet
I prep for a week at a time because it suits my lifestyle. You may want to meal prep for fewer days if your social calendar includes eating out or other events on weekends. Or you may want to prep for just a few meals and snacks during the day and cook for evenings, especially if you have a family.
I purposefully incorporate foods that can be kept safe in the fridge or freezer for a week at a time. If you aren’t comfortable with keeping foods for that long or don’t have refrigerator space, consider meal prepping twice during the week or preparing foods that can be frozen and then thawed as needed.
Below is an example of a typical weekly diet for me during off season. I keep things fairly simple, varying lunch and dinner alone, so I can buy and cook in bulk without dirtying a boatload of dishes.
2. Set Aside a Block of Time for Meal Prep
I prep on Friday evenings because it fits my schedule. I like to have my entire weekend free as a block, so knock out meal prep early. Many of my gym friends meal prep on Sunday afternoons and then another day during the week.
From start to finish, it takes me 2-3 hours to meal prep. This is all-encompassing and includes time to cook, bake and clean up. Though you might cringe at setting aside such a large chunk of time, it is a more efficient way to prepare meals, so you will spend less time overall doing it. If you are cooking evening meals now, you likely have seven-plus hours invested in cooking dinner alone. Don’t fuss if it takes you longer at first. You will get better and more efficient with practice.
Meal prep requires discipline, like every other aspect of healthy living, but you will be rewarded with more time to partake in things you really enjoy. And you will most likely spend far less on your food budget.
Be sure to create an enjoyable environment for meal prep. Play your favorite music, listen to an audio book or watch your favorite series on Netflix. Treat yourself to bright new pans and a pretty kitchen towel and experiment with new spices or recipes you always wanted to try.
3. Create a Shopping List
First, create a list of every single meal you will be eating during your meal prep period (see above).
Second, create a shopping list for the foods in your diet. Be sure to include the amount of food you’ll need (two dozen eggs, for example). As well, make sure you have pantry staples (olive oil, garlic, spices and such) on hand so you aren’t short on meal prep day.
4. Make Sure You Have Adequate Meal Prep Containers on Hand
There are many, many, many food container options, so you may need to experiment to see what works best for you. Search “meal prep containers” on Google and Amazon and you’ll be given hundreds of different choices.
Personally, I keep it basic. I use three different sizes of round and oblong plastic containers (3 cup, 2 cup and 1 cup) and a couple of insulated thermal containers. I have about 10 each of the plastic containers. This gives me flexibility and allows me to save space in the fridge and cupboards because they stack well. I generally put 1-2 food items (chicken and rice for example) in a single large container and separate them with a piece of wax paper or plastic wrap. By doing this, they can be reheated at different times and temps or eaten cold.
Though they are pretty, I don’t like the containers with compartments. My foods rarely (more like never) require the same reheat times and temps. As well, I think they are harder to clean and seldom have the right number or right-sized compartments.
Whatever option you choose, make sure your meal prep containers are microwave safe, PBA-free and transition well in and out of the freezer. For the sake of Mother Earth, select ones that are re-usable rather than single-use, throw-away kinds that clog landfills. Glass is tremendously environmentally-friendly. Though, it may be slightly less convenient than plastic.
5. Organize Your Workflow for Efficiency
This is the aspect of meal prep that develops with experience. Liken it to making a big, holiday dinner every week. If it takes you a long time to prepare your meals the first go-round, don’t give up. You will become more adept the more you do it. Your parents and grandparents would probably tell you they learned how to cook a holiday meal with loads of experience!
When it comes to cooking, I start with foods that take the longest time to prepare, like roasted chicken or steamed brown rice. I bake items that require the lowest oven temperatures first and then increase temps progressively for subsequent foods. I portion out some of my ready-made foods, like cereal and yogurt, too, for a plan that requires minimal effort during the week. I clean up and wash dishes during the process, so I’m not left with a pile of dirty dishes at the end.
My workflow for the meal plan that I detailed earlier would look something like this:
- Begin steaming brown rice in steamer.
- Cut chicken into cubes or thin slices; place in baking pan and season; roast in 350-degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.
- Cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces; place in baking pan and season; set aside to roast after chicken is cooked, increasing oven temp to 415-degrees.
- Cook ground beef; make homemade spaghetti sauce; combine two for open face sloppy joes and portion into containers.
- Make biscuit dough; shape and cut; place on baking sheet; set aside to bake after cauliflower is cooked, increasing oven temp to 450-degrees.
- Wash, cut and drain lettuce; store in salad spinner in fridge.
- Peel bananas and wrap individually in plastic wrap; freeze.
- Wash and core strawberries; freeze.
- Crack eggs; separate whites and yolks; place in containers.
- Portion large container of yogurt into individual serving containers.
- Portion cereal into individual containers.
- Weigh baked chicken; place in containers.
- Measure steamed rice; place in containers.
- Divide roasted cauliflower among containers.
- Freeze biscuits.
Cutting chicken into cubes before roasting saves time and energy because it takes less time to cook. As well, there is less cleanup because it can be placed directly into a container on my scale.
I use the same container for rice and roasted chicken, separating them with plastic wrap or wax paper so I can heat the rice in the microwave and eat the chicken cold with a dressing of mustard and balsamic vinegar.
6. Arrange Food and Containers in Fridge, Freezer and Pantry for Easy Access
Organize food and containers in a manner that allows you to use exactly what you prepared for the day. If you have a family, you may want to designate certain areas of the fridge, freezer or pantry just for your foods.
I generally organize my meal containers by the day in the fridge. So, I will have all the food I need to bring with me to the office on Monday in a row, all the food for Tuesday in a row, and so forth. I set aside an area of my pantry for all the ready-made items that I need to supplement the prepped foods.
Until you become familiar with the process, it may be helpful to keep a check list of items you’ll need to bring with you each day and mark them off each as you go.
This is a typical group of foods I bring to work each day in an insulated bag. I eat breakfast, lunch and pre-workout meals at the office and post-workout and dinner meals at home.
The Benefits of Meal Prep
The system I now use for meal prepping didn’t come overnight; it was born through trial and error. If you have an open mind about experimenting, you too can develop a plan that will help you save time, eat healthier, reduce waste and shrink your grocery bill. Like me, you’ll soon be wondering how you ever lived without meal prepping!
I’d love to hear more about your journey with meal prep. Please pass along your thoughts to encourage others to join the meal-prep bandwagon to eat healthier, save money and have more time for the people and things they truly enjoy!
Carb-dense gluten free biscuits are one of my favorite pre-workout foods. I have never take pre-workout supplements. Rather, I time food (a cup of coffee and food source like this) as my source of energy. I freeze a batch of these biscuits shortly after they are baked and pull as needed.
I typically roast chicken 4 pounds at a time for the sake of efficiency. I freeze excess I don’t need for the week in baggies with 6 oz. (2 meals) of roasted chicken. When I get a buildup of chicken in the freezer, I get a “free” week’s worth of food and don’t need to cook (smiley face!).
Though you can buy egg whites by the carton, this is a less expensive alternative. I remove yolks from five eggs and place in a container along with a whole egg to create my own egg beaters.
When fresh greens are on the menu, I buy a pack of 4 artisan heads of lettuce, cut them into pieces, wash, spin and store right in the spinner in the fridge. I prefer this method to purchasing pre-cut, pre-washed greens as lettuce stays fresh longer and is crisper.