1. Meal Plan
The first step to meal prepping is to come up with a meal plan for your week.
Take out your calendar or pull up your google calendar and write out what you’re having on what days.
A lot of my clients have a family calendar on their fridge or in their kitchen with what meals the family is having every night for dinner.
You can pick 3-4 dinners that you want to make that week. And pick 1 lunch that you can have for at least 3 days.
Decide which day you are having what and put it on your calendar.
2. Create Your Grocery List
Now that you have a plan for your meals, build out a grocery list. Take a survey of what you already have in the fridge and pantry, so you don’t buy something you already have and waste more money - I know we’re all guilty of this.
3. Make Your Grocery Run
Because you have a list, your grocery run will be more time efficient, healthier, and more cost effective. I like to plan my grocery runs on Sunday morning right when the grocery store opens so they have everything I want and it's not a nightmare to get around.
When you have a list, you won’t be wandering through the aisles wondering what to make, you won’t pick up unhealthy things that catch your eye, and you won’t buy food that ends up going to waste.
4. Prep Your Foods
Here are a few ideas of the different types of foods that you can prep and pack.
Raw Veggies
Wash and cut some raw vegetables like carrots, celery, cucumbers, and bell peppers to have as a snack or to throw on salads throughout the week.
Roast Veggies
Roast 1-2 pans of veggies that you can quickly reheat throughout the week. You can roast brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, squash, onions, potatoes, or asparagus.
I like to simply drizzle my veggies in avocado oil, season with salt and pepper and roast at 425 degrees for 15-30 minutes depending on the vegetable.
Prep Your Protein
Depending on the kind of protein and your cooking preference, there are a few different ways to do this.
You can buy a rotisserie chicken and simply pull it apart.
You can go ahead and marinate and grill or bake chicken breasts.
You can prepare ground beef or ground turkey on the stovetop.
Cook Your Grains
If any of your meals call for rice, quinoa, lentils, or farro, go ahead and cook those.
Other Snacks
If you’d like to pack some other quick grab and go snacks like fruits, nuts, and cheeses you can do that as well.
5. Store Your Food
When it comes to storing your food, you can do whatever works best for you, what works best for what you’re making, and how you’re spreading your meals out across the week.
For example, you could keep things simple and keep all the protein separated into their own containers.
Or if you're preparing something like a salad for lunch throughout the week, then you could go ahead and put all of your ingredients in each container. You could pull out 4 pieces of tupperware and put all of the following in each of them:
Romaine lettuce, rotisserie chicken, chopped hard boiled eggs, diced onions, diced tomatoes, and cucumbers.