Whether you’re wanting to eat healthier or save money, meal prepping is essential, especially if you work outside of your home! I work from home and still find the basics of meal prep to be crucial in making sure I stay on track with my nutrition. Not to mention the convenience of not having to prepare a meal every time I want to eat. The most important tip I can offer about how to meal prep is to keep it simple! Most of us don’t have the time or desire to prepare super unique and dynamic meals and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you have to give up eating delicious food.
Basic Meal Prep Outline
First you need to decide how many meals and what meals need to prepped. For example, do you have time to eat breakfast before you leave the house or do you need to prep breakfast and lunch? I find the easiest way to meal prep is to plan for a protein, carb, and a micronutrient aka fruit or veggie. This way you can make 1-3 different proteins and carbs ahead of time and mix and match them throughout the week.
Make Your Grocery List
I will insert a picture of my own personal macro friendly grocery list below to give you an idea of what my staple items are. But make sure to check out the full blog post here for more details and brand specifics.
Remember, you will almost always eat healthier just by preparing your own food rather than eating out so don’t stress about doing it perfectly. Pick a couple proteins, carbs, fruits and veggies, and snacks from each category and then some dairy/condiments to jazz it up! Broccoli is fine but broccoli with a little shredded cheddar on top is worth looking forward to.
Criteria for your meal prep grocery list:
Does it heat up well? For example, chicken heats up better than steak and both heat up better than shrimp. Choose accordingly. Will you actually eat it when it comes time for lunch? Don’t pack a big, healthy salad knowing you won’t actually want it. Will it keep you full? Remember, carbs are not the enemy. Well balanced meals with protein, carbs, and fats will keep your energy up and keep cravings at bay. Also, meal prep is tons easier when you are able and willing to eat dinner leftovers the next day for lunch. So keep that in mind when you buy your normal dinner staples.
Meal Prep Tips For Beginners:
1. Plan for your social life
If you go on a weekly date night and family dinners on Sunday, plan accordingly. You’re unlikely, and shouldn’t have to, give those those things up. Adjust your meal counts accordingly to avoid waste and feeling like you failed.
2. Be realistic
My personal recommendation is always going to be to eat a well balanced meal. But if you aren’t a big veggie eater, don’t start packing salads and broccoli knowing you won’t enjoy it. The best diet is one you can actually stick with. If you need to pack a hot pocket and some fruit to start, do that. You can always work your way up to more balanced and cost efficient options.
3. Keep the same schedule as best as you can
Aim to do your grocery shopping on the same day every week as well as your cooking! This way you don’t run out of your meal prep options or you have them, but haven’t set aside time to actually cook them. Because my schedule is more flexible than most, I cook chicken early in the week and then when it starts getting low, cook another protein next. This can work for even stricter schedules as long as you plan for it. Otherwise, I would go ahead and prep all of your food on one day. This also allows for more flexibility between your meals on a day to day basis because you can change your proteins daily.
4. Think of it as food prep, rather than meal prep.
You are prepping different categories of food, therefore you can change the actual meal daily. Unless you are really tight on time, most of us can food prep one day of the week and then prep a meal the night before or the morning of. This allows for more variation on what we are craving too! Planning your Thursday lunch on Sunday may not suit Thursday you.
5. Stock your freezer
Meal prep gets easier over time. When you are just starting out, I would caution stocking up too much until you have a handful of recipes that you know work for you. However, if you know there are certain proteins you really like and/or fit your diet goals well, go ahead and buy in bulk and freeze them. This saves money and allows you to always have some choices on hand. For example, we buy chicken breast and ground beef in bulk because we know they fit in our diets well but also because we have multiple meals that use those proteins. Buy items in bulk that overlap in your recipes.
6. Chop all your produce and portion your proteins.
As soon as you get home from grocery shopping, chop your produce! Your likelihood of grabbing strawberries or apples over chips is way higher when they are already sliced up and ready to go. Slice all your fruits and veggies up so they are ready to cook them or pack them. Also, portion your proteins into Ziploc bags as soon as you get home too. Don’t freeze 3lbs of chicken breast when you only need 1lb at a time etc. Get them portioned and labeled if necessary before putting them in the freezer. This is also a great time to decide which dinner you want early in the week. Leave the steaks in the fridge to be cooked for Monday night dinner. Then have dinner leftovers for lunch the next day.
Meal Prep Ideas
What good are meal prep tips without some actual food ideas to go with them right? You can find tons of delicious meal prep recipes online. And if you love to cook and have extra time on weekends, go for it sister. It’s awesome to have some fun meals to swap in during the week and/or eat for dinner and have leftovers for lunch. But my go to will always be a protein, carb, fruit/veggie combo. Keep on reading for my staple meal prep foods!
Related posts: 5 Easy Macro Friendly Meals To Make This Week & A Foodie’s Guide To Macro Friendly Eating
Proteins
Crockpot shredded chicken
For 3-4 chicken breasts, cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours. When you can shred easily with a fork it’s done. The best part about shredded chicken is that it heats up really well and doesn’t get as dry as baked chicken. Plus you can get really creative with the seasonings and sauces you cook it in. We tend to toss in random seasonings with some Crystal hot sauce and call it a day. You can use BBQ sauce, buffalo sauce, sriracha, taco seasoning, chipotle chicken seasoning etc. We use shredded chicken in these low calorie wraps for chicken tacos, on top of Flatout wraps for flatbreads with your preferred toppings, or with Vigo yellow rice and a veggie on the side.
Rotisserie Chicken
This isn’t the most cost effective meal prep but man is it delicious! Buy an already cooked rotisserie chicken and when you begin portioning your proteins and chopping your produce, pull all the meat off the chicken and store in a tupperware! Sometimes its nice to have a different chicken option.
Pork Carnitas
Check out my full pork carnitas recipe here! Pork carnitas are so delicious and they heat up wonderfully. Perfect for carnitas tacos or with rice too!
Tacos
What can we say? We like tacos! Lean ground beef or turkey is super quick to make, relatively inexpensive, and you can almost guarantee you’ll be in the mood for tacos when you’re on your lunch break. With these and the chicken or carnitas, keep your wraps on the side until your protein is heated and then add to the wrap after. Or make them into taco bowls with some greens, black beans, cheese, and salsa on the side!
Chicken sausage
Chicken sausage is a staple in our meal prep! We usually make it for dinner and then eat the leftovers for lunch. We especially love the GreenWise flavors of chicken sausage if you live near a Publix. If not, hot Italian is usually available and that’s good too! Aidells is another brand that’s really delicious if your local grocery store sells it. The best part about chicken sausage is that it cooks in less than 10 minutes and goes great in rice or paired with a pasta and sauce of your choice.
Burgers/sandwiches
Don’t overcomplicate things! You can eat a balanced and delicious meal with a classic lunch meat sammy or lean ground beef burger. Just add a veggie or fruit on the side. When you cook your burgers, cook them without cheese. When you are prepping your meal for the day, add the cheese slice on top right before microwaving. Also, heat it up without the bun and add it after.
Carbs
Rice
I love Vigo brand yellow rice. It’s my favorite and goes with most everything but you can get any rice you enjoy. The only draw back is that it takes about 25 minutes to make but if you use the family size bag, you get rice for the whole week. While you don’t need to fear carbs, I would urge you to measure out your rice portion. It’s really easy to rack up calories if you’re not measuring. If you’re short on time, you can also buy the Uncle Bens rice packets. They cook in 90 seconds so you could even make them the night before or the morning of. I mix shredded chicken, black beans, Crystal hot sauce, and diced red onions with yellow rice for a super easy and delicious meal. You could also pair it with the pork carnitas or chicken sausage.
Pasta/Tortellini
I like to use Ronzoni thin spaghetti for our pasta choice because of the lower calories. Pasta holds up great in the refrigerator and when heated up. Add sautéed shrimp (cook a little less than normal) with Alfredo sauce or turkey meatballs with marinara sauce. If you choose to do the shrimp alfredo, I would heat up the pasta and sauce for a minute and then add the shrimp for 30 seconds. For tortellini, I use Rosina cheese tortellini with chicken sausage and Rana portobello mushroom sauce.
Potatoes
Roasted potatoes are perfect for meal prep because you can cook a bunch at once on one pan! Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pick up some small red or golden potatoes and dice them up, pour a little olive oil or melted butter over the top and season how you like! Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
Veggies
Green beans/Zucchini
There’s probably tons of unique ways to cook these but I just cut them and sauté them in butter with some red onions, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and either Old Bay seasoning or Cajun seasoning. Normally it takes about 10 minutes for green beans. and 8 minutes or so for zucchini. However, for meal prep I would cook them about 2 minutes less than normal so they hold up better when microwaved the next day.
Asparagus
Asparagus is another great veggie because its quick to make and you can cook a bunch at one. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Trim about an inch or so off the bottom of your asparagus. Lay them out on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and seasonings. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes!
Broccoli
Make your life easy and just buy frozen steam in bag broccoli florets! Pop them in the microwave for 1 minute less than the recommend time and then store in the fridge until you need them. When packing, sprinkle with some cheddar cheese and heat for a minute at lunch time.
Bell peppers and carrots
I personally prefer my veggie to be in snack form aka dipped in hummus as opposed to cooked! You can also put cream cheese on the bell peppers if you’re not a fan of hummus.
Breakfast
- Hard boiled eggs (Perfect because you can cook a bunch at once)
- Bagels (Eat half for breakfast for lower calories)
- Overnight oats/instant oatmeal
- Protein shakes
- Fruit
- Scrambled eggs with cheese (Add crumbled breakfast sausage and put on a wrap with salsa breakfast tacos)
- Fried or scrambled egg with cheese and chicken sausage breakfast patty on an english muffin.
- Scramble eggs with your favorite omelet ingredients (crumbled sausage, spinach, veggies, cheese) and bake in muffin tins at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Snacks
- Protein shakes (Great for snacks or for breakfast on the go)
- Any fruit you like (Pack PB for apples or bananas)
- Cottage cheese
- Protein bars
- Rice cakes (Topped with PB, cream cheese, or even cottage cheese)
- Bell peppers and hummus
- Crackers and hummus
- Popcorn
- Dark chocolate (Perfect for curbing candy cravings)
- String cheese
- Hard boiled eggs
Everything I’ve learned about eating according to my diet (tracking macros) and meal prep has come from trial and error. Don’t be nervous to try a new recipe or even just a new protein or carb option. I hope you found these tips and ideas helpful. If you have any questions or if there is anything I missed, leave me a comment below and I’ll do my best to help. If you’re interested in more about my daily diet and fitness, follow me on Instagram @TheRelatableRed.
-The Relatable Red
