How To Meal Prep

Let’s learn How To Meal Prep! I’ve been meal prepping off and on for years. I’ll be completely transparent and say sometimes, I fall out of the habit and prep nothing for weeks on end. But for the weeks that I have meal prepped, my life is so much easier and things run so much smoother.

I didn’t realize that anybody would need a “how to” with meal prep until a friend of mine asked me HOW I did it. Well, I wrote her this giant ass novella of an email. Only then did it occur to me that maybe one other person would benefit from seeing what I do each weekend. Is that you?

I’m not very regimented (as you’ll find out from reading this) but I am pretty sure you’ll relate to that much more than those people that just have their shit together and get it ALL done on Sunday.

So without further ado, let’s jump right in.

I usually spend Thursday and Friday evening (a little time out of each or all in one) to plan my meals for the next week. Usually breakfast, two snacks, lunch and dinner. Since my husband is only home for dinner, it’s easy for me to fill it all out based on what I like. I’ll grocery shop on Sunday morning and knock out prep. Or my husband will grocery shop based on an exact list I’ve given him and I’ll prep. 

We usually do smoothies for breakfast, so I buy extra fruit and bananas and freeze them right away. We sometimes do muffins for snacks so I’ll bake them, let them cool completely, then I freeze those too and just microwave them throughout the week. 
Muffins are our savior, snack-wise. So I bake up a BIG batch (think: cook now, save time later) and put a few in the fridge for the next few days and the rest in the freezer for the next week or two! You can easily pop one in the microwave for to thaw.

I like cooking a big pot of whichever grain I want with salads or dinners (me: quinoa, husband: rice) so it can just be portioned and heated at each meal. 

Some people bake up a few potatoes or sweet potatoes for the fridge. Some people cook batches of chicken or brown up some ground beef for tacos/enchiladas. I don’t love reheated meat, so I usually only cook taco meat ahead of time because I’ll do tacos one night and enchiladas another. 

EXAMPLE:
Make double-batch of enchiladas (2 pans). Put one in the fridge for dinner within the next three nights, put one in freezer for dinner next week. Use leftover/extra meat for taco night or Loaded Sweet Potato Nacho Salad Bowls.

I like to wash and cut up a big container of dip-able veggies so I’m not just eating chips or crackers with my hummus/peanut butter/salsa. Celery, carrots and bell peppers are always easy to quickly chop and have ready.

I’ll plan my snacks and make sure if I’m going to have a protein bar or an apple or whatever, I have enough for each day and have them set aside and designated, just so I don’t consider all the food free-reign on Monday and Tuesday and then eat a shit ton of almonds instead of a real meal by Tuesday night. 

If you like salads that can stay in the fridge, make those in a big batch! These include: massaged kale salad, Quinoa Cauliflower Rice Tabbouleh, quinoa salad, marinated chickpea salad, chicken or tuna salad…basically anything that can be in the fridge for a few days and still taste awesome, make it. So I like to do a giant Kale salad and eat that for lunch 3 days in a row. 

I also tend to prep for more treat drinks at home (coffee drinks that I’m tempted to rush out and buy). So I’ll make sure I have a batch of cold brew, iced tea, creamer or milk I like…anything that will make grabbing a drink at home easy. 

Prepping also includes treats for me. So if that means whipping up a batch of ice cream, a batch of cookie dough, cookie dough bars, a cake or setting aside a few of my favorite chocolate bars, I am prepared. 

Easy meal prep BREAKFASTS: overnight oats (you can create an assembly line and throw together several at once), a big baked oatmeal, or chop a bunch of veggies for morning scrambles so you just have to grab a handful to throw into your skillet. 

Grocery lists can be daunting, but if you plan out all your meals and make a tally of the ingredients (I’ll need 8 bananas, 8 apples, 4 avocados, 1 container of kale, 1 container of spinach, 2 almond milks, 6 ounces of protein for each dinner x2) its so much easier. This also helps you get in the habit of just feeding your kiddo some of whatever you are eating so you aren’t making a thousand different meals. 

 

Here’s what’s most important: find what works for you. If it’s just prepping snacks, do that. If it’s cooking all your proteins, do that. If it’s putting all of your breakfasts in individual containers in the fridge, then do that. 

 

THIS all being said, I have been following the Tone It Up program for 5 years. I subscribed to their meal plan YEARS ago and every time they have a new challenge or a new edition, they send it to you for free (so you only pay the fee once). This turned out to be an awesome investment for me. They do a challenge a few times a year, so that’s like 8 weeks of PLANNED meals and all the recipes, right there. Done for you. I was sold. Then I just repeat it or repeat random weeks until the next challenge. Yes, I’ll be doing Body Back through Fit4Mom in the fall so I’ll start following that meal plan. TIU also worked for me because I’m gluten-free and they have a gf edition of their meal plan, so that was awesome. I just adjust according to what my husband will eat too (example: if their meal is just a salad that night, I add a baked potato for my husband or I turn it into a sandwich for him)

 

You could also just start looking for bloggers you love and see if they have meal plans. Some that I know that publish their meal plans for you to follow along are: 

https://www.cottercrunch.com/recipe-index/?fwp_type_select=meal-plans

https://www.sweetpeasmeals.com/

https://prepear.com/food-faith-fitness/plans/fitness?ref=foodfaithfitness

https://realplans.com/nomnompaleo/?AFFID=217413

 

This is not a sponsored post. This post contains affiliate links.