Meal Prep 101

If you fail to plan then you are planning to fail! That is one of my all time favorite quotes. I am honestly not sure who said it considering there are some that say it was Winston Churchill and some say it was Benjamin Franklin....whoever it is they are pure genius! 

Meal preparation is all about setting yourself up for a successful week. Whether you are on a weight loss journey, a healthier lifestyle journey or just a normal American who is always short on time, meal prep is an essential way to get through the week with a little less stress. I NEVER did meal prep until I started my journey to lose the extra 50 pounds from my second pregnancy. I mean why would I spend my precious weekend time to prep food for the week when I can do that in the evenings or something?! Well because it NEVER happens unless I make it part of my weekend routine. How many times have you woke up late only to find you forgot to make your lunch to take to work...or you said you would make it in the morning and now here you are running late and have no time? I'm raising my hand right now! We have all been that person and then we decide that we will just grab something from that restaurant around the corner from your office. Problem is that you are likely grabbing something pretty unhealthy and now you are spending MORE money than if you would have just packed your lunch. 

I am not saying it's easy to get in the routine for meal prep because it honestly was a rough start for me. When you are new to it then it takes you longer to figure out what to prep and then a system to store it and all that fun stuff. The GOOD news is that the more you do it then easier it gets. I actually look forward to meal prep Sundays at my house because it's time that my husband and I get into the kitchen together, work as a team and knock out breakfast, lunches and snacks all at once. That frees up our evening from getting lunches together and keeps us from grabbing those unhealthy snacks. 

So how do you meal prep is probably what you are asking right now. Here's the system that I use and hopefully you find it useful. 

Plan it out!

You will never be able to meal prep appropriately if you don't plan your meals and snacks out for the week. I almost always use Fridays during nap time to get my meal planning done. Now, my children don't always eat what we eat (they are pretty picky toddlers) so I do two meal plans, one for my husband and I and one for the kids. If you aren't sure how to do a meal plan then you can check out my My 5 Step Meal Planning post to help guide you through it. 

The MUST haves...

Okay, so the biggest must have is a good set of Tupperware! I use these for mine and my husband's lunches and/or snacks. I bought a few packs of them so typically I have enough for lunches for 6 days for each of us and then I can put the day of snacks into one on it's own. I absolutely love them and will probably be purchasing the two section ones (since I already have the three section) for my snacks. I am a super organized person so I like the way my fridge looks when I have done my meal prepping and everything is all organized in these containers LOL. They stack nicely and I can even label them with the day if I get overly excited that week. I also always have my 21 Day Fix containers on hand so I can portion out my items. This may or may not be important to you but if you are trying to lose weight then I HIGHLY recommend this program because the nutrition plan is on point and super easy to follow. You also need to ensure you have the right tools to get the job done. I have some more info about that in my It Starts In The Kitchen post. 

What about time?

This is a two part answer. The first time question, how long will it take for me to prep my meals for the week? Well there is no definite answer for you on this one. It all depends on how much you are prepping and for how many days. Some people prep twice a week and only do a couple of days at a time and that may work for them but I use my Sunday afternoon to prep for the whole 5-6 days. I would rather knock it out and not do it again for a week. This also means that I spend a good couple of hours in the kitchen. I have done it in less but that's when my husband helps me out with some of it. I will say it took FOREVER the first time I meal prepped but it was because I was learning what would work and what wouldn't. The time it takes you will lessen the more you do it. The second question, how many days do I prep for? Again, this depends. Like I said, I prefer to prep for the whole week but if you are just starting and that seems like too much for you then start out with just doing a couple days at a time. That system may work better for you. I just know that during the week I am so busy with kids, my business and spending time with my husband that I don't have time to prep so it HAS to be done on Sunday or it's not getting done. 

The prepping begins!

Once you decide how many days you are prepping for then you need to look at those days and decide which meals/snacks can be prepped. I personally plan my days out so that I can prep my breakfast, snacks and lunches. If it's not something that I can prep then it likely won't be on my meal plan (unless it's my breakfast omelet because those I LOVE). My snacks are typically fruits or raw veggies so to prep those I simply wash, cut, portion out and then place them in a container or ziploc back. I also like my boiled eggs so my husband typically boils a dozen or two of eggs for us. Basically, look for the items that you know you can prep and store for the week. Even if you don't cook it, the simple act of cutting the items up and portioning them out helps like you wouldn't believe. Unfortunately I can't tell you the items you should prep simply because, again, it depends on you. One thing I can say is that I never prep my dinners except maybe cut the veggies up. I like my dinners to be fresh. If it's a dinner meal being heated up then it's probably my lunch. What you can do is place items together in the fridge so you can just grab them or you can marinate your chicken and then freeze them. Then they will be ready as soon as they defrost. Small things like that will help you on busy nights. A huge part of my prepping is cutting and portioning. Even my dinner items, I like to cut and portion so I know that I only have to grab two portions (one for me and one for my husband) and cook it up. 

This is a week worth (7 days) of snacks and lunches. 

The low down, dirty truth!

* Food prepping is not always fun! I actually enjoy it NOW but when I first started it was so boring and seemed like a waste of my time. I have made it fun by either listening to music or I grab the iPad and put Netflix or Hulu Plus on to entertain me. 

* Again, I can't stress enough that food prepping takes TIME. You will spend way longer in the kitchen than you ever thought possible when you first start. It does get easier though! 

* Your kitchen will look like a hurricane hit it! I always have a HUGE mess to clean up when I am done BUT I always tell myself that it's easier to do it all at once than to continously clean up each day. I spend a lot less time washing dishes or loading the dishwasher each day because the majority of my meals are already done. My daily dishes consist of two or three tupperware containers, dinner dishes and the kids lunch dishes. 

* You can feel discouraged by how long it takes you, the mess, your fridge being taken over by tupperware or even the haters that don't understand food prepping. DON'T let any of it get to you! Try food prepping for a month and if it doesn't get better or you still just downright dislike it then you haven't lost anything but I am betting that you will end up liking it and the feeling you get when it's done. You will LOVE that your whole week runs so much smoother because you have PREPARED for it! 

If you have questions or would like some personal guidance then please feel free to contact me! Those awesome little buttons at the top of my page (under my photo on the right) will take you straight to me! Now go forth and prepare for the week! XoXo