When I took control of my health and fitness, I knew that there were a lot of things about my day to day routine I would need to change. I would need to change the way I thought, the way I ate and the way I exercised.
One of the things that has helped me is Food prep.
Prepping my food ahead of time has been the #1 strategy I use to make certain I eat healthy meals and snacks throughout the week. I have said many times it is much easier to eat nutritious foods and control portions when you take the time to prepare food in advance. In fact, food prep is the #1 tip I give people when asked for advice on changing eating habits.
What is food/meal prep you may ask?
Meal Preparation/Food Preparation or ‘Meal prep’ means– preparing food for eating, generally requires selection, measurement and combination of ingredients in an ordered procedure so as to achieve desired results. Food preparation includes but is not limited to cooking.
Basically, this means cooking items in bulk and eating leftovers!
Recently someone left a comment on my IG post @myfitnessrebirth sharing with me that a fellow fitness and health enthusiast lost weight without meal prep. I think that's great! Not everyone can do that and that's where YOU have to decide what works for your body and lifestyle.
However if meal prep is something you think would help you here are my tips to making meal prep easier and the best way for it to work for you:
Before beginning any meal prep, I advise you to have a plethora of tupperware containers on hand, you are going to need them
Beginner's Guide to Meal Prep
The Two P's - Plan and Prep
Please remember, I am not a nutritionist, dietician, or personal trainer, this is just what works best for me and my body. Everyone's idea of "healthy" varies, and that is okay!
HOW TO:
- Pick one day a week as your "plan and prep" day
- Grocery shop on this day as well!
-Sunday is the day I use
PLAN
1. 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 that I recommend: I have put a * next to my favorites!
- 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!)
- Steak, Pork, or Sausage are all options too, but I don't eat those meats enough to offer advice on how to best prepare them for meal prep!
- Starch options: opt for whole grain, complex carbohydrates as your fuel!
I have put a * next to my favorites!
- Quinoa*— you can add whatever flavors/spices of dish to quinoa to boost flavor
- Sweet potato*
- Brown rice*
- Pasta
-Bulgur
- Plantain
(there are other options as well but I just gave a 'basic' list)
- 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
- Carrots*
- Tomatoes*
- Sugar Snap Peas
2. Check to make sure you have all the ingredients for all recipes before hand!
3. Add necessary items to the shopping list
PREP
1. Grocery shop for the week
2. 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!)
3. Repeat the process for any fruit that requires cutting to be eaten
4. Prep your protein/meals
- Make specific meals to eat as alternating left overs
- Make items to store in the freezer and eat at a later time
- Make your meat "basic" to be used in a variety of ways throughout the week
Now, you can take prepping as far as you want to.
You can:
1. 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
2.Cook two meals to generate enough meals to alternate for the week (five days of dinners)
(the weekend is always a free for all for me because I am unsure if I will be at my apartment or not)
- Everyone meal preps at different intensities or "levels" I will call them. The level of meal prep depends on their schedule, health goals and time willing to dedicate to prepping. For example, I consider myself a beginner to intermediate meal prepper, since I prep for usually four to five days worth of dinner, a few days of breakfast, and all my healthy snacks. An advanced prepper would be an individual who has all seven dinners, possibly even lunch and breakfast prepped and may even dabble in freezer meal prep (something I have not tried yet but involves cooking and freezing meals to defrost and enjoy at a later date).
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!
