Protein should be the foundation of these meals and snacks that are prepped in advance, as they typically serve as the entree or main dish and play an essential role in building and preserving lean muscle, supporting metabolism, and keeping you satiated during the day. Eating high protein meals will lead to reduced unnecessary snacking, provide your body with steady energy, and allow you to stay fueled and focused.
If you are new to meal prepping, start small and try to prepare 2-3 days worth of lunches and dinners. Choose your lean protein of choice: chicken, turkey, or fish, and prioritize foods that can be packed for high protein snacks like Greek yogurts, cottage cheese, and protein shakes. Then try to think about what carb and vegetable you want to pair with these proteins. Side dishes like potatoes or sweet potatoes and rice, quinoa, pastas, combined with any green vegetable, whether it’s broccoli, green beans, brussels sprouts, asparagus, etc. will complete that balanced meal. For convenience, try to buy frozen grains and veggies where you can just to make preparation easier, as these frozen foods are just as nutritious as fresh foods. Buying your choice of fruit as a snack to pair and pack with a Greek yogurt. You’ll prepare your grocery list based on whatever combination of these foods you decide on.
Once you have made a decision and planned out your grocery list, it is time to meal prep. There are a few ways to do this, but one way for ease and consistency is to start batch cooking, or cooking large quantities of these proteins, grains, and vegetables at once. For example, you can bake a whole pack of chicken breast while roasting green veggies in the oven and use a rice cooker for your rice. You can also cook foods that are easy for variability such as ground turkey to use in tacos, wraps, protein bowls, etc. Other meals that you can make in bulk like chili with beans, high protein soups, and breakfast burritos that are freezer friendly and easy to grab and warm up.
If you want to save time, repeating meals will be best for your sanity and reduce fatigue due to the amount of different meals that would need to be prepared in one sitting. Using sheet pan or slow cooker meals and recipes will make things vastly easier for you since you can prep everything all at once with your only task being to monitor the time as opposed to stirring or flipping anything. Investing in quality meal containers, sheet pans, and any other materials for your meal prep will go a long way and make life much easier. Try to label your meals with the date they were prepped and store meals in the fridge for up to 4 days at most, freezing anything else.
Some tips to help you sustain these meal prepping habits are to treat meal prepping in the same way you would treat an important doctor’s appointment or event where this time is blocked off on your schedule as one of those things in your schedule that is non-negotiable. Try not to do your shopping and meal prep on the same day, as that can take a lot out of you as well. Keep a list of go-to recipes with staple meals that you can consistently implement, and plan for any weeks that you may be too busy to meal prep by having frozen meals, frozen veggies, and store bought rotisserie chicken. Remember to start small, stay consistent, and plan accordingly. Once you meal prep long enough, it becomes second nature and very effective for keeping you on course with your health goals.