Meal prep varies from person to person. What works for one person may not necessarily work for another person. In this article I will share with you a few different options that you can try and see what works best for you.

Plan Your Week:

 Get out your schedule and have a look at your week. Consider work, school, extra curricula activities, events etc. You will find that some days you need something that will be either precooked, super quick to cook or perhaps will have the time to make something that takes quite a long time.

Sit down and plan out your meals for the week, including any meals that will either be eaten out or ordered in. Do this for each meal every day of the week.

Once you have decided what you will eat for each meal, you can then make a list of any ingredients you will need to stock up on and either put in an order for your groceries or go out grocery shopping.

Pre-planning your meals means you will:

• Save money on impulse buying at the grocery store.
• Prevent food wastage because of buying food you don’t need for the week.
• Reduce the amount of extra takeout you get, because of not being organised.
• Prevents you sabotaging your health and body composition goals, by eating the quickest easiest thing you can grab simply because you are hungry but have nothing prepared.

TIP: Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach!

And remember, failing to plan is planning to fail.

Bulk Prep Cooking:

One of the most common ways people meal prep is cooking in bulk on the weekends. You can cook several meals at once using different appliances such as your oven, slow cooker, stove top, air fryer etc.

Bulk prepping is awesome for stocking up on ‘back up food’ in your freezer as well as for the week ahead. That way if you get caught without a meal for any reason, you can grab something out of your freezer.

Ensure you always label food properly and include the date of preparation, before freezing.

Bulk prep does take time however, so if you are limited in time this may not be ideal for you. Spending 3 hours cooking on your only day off for instance, may not be your ideal way to spend your down time.

Storing Cooked Food:

Once you’ve cooked everything, allow it to cool down thoroughly.

Once it is cooled completely, separate it into containers.

Glass containers are the most ideal, to prevent toxins leeching into your food from plastic containers. These toxins are stored in your fat cells making the cells bigger. They can also mimic the oestrogen hormone, known as xenoestrogens. These increase belly fat, fat under the arms and around the hips and thighs.

If you are going to use plastic containers:

 Ensure your food is completely cold before placing it in plastic.

• Ensure the plastic is BPA free.
• Avoid heating your food in plastic containers. Transfer the food to glass for heating, even if it is classified as ‘microwave proof’.

Bulk Prep Without Cooking:

Rather than cooking several meals, you can prepare ingredients in bulk ready for use.

Vegetables:

• Peel, chop and slice vegetables in advance, ready for use when required.
• Do some research on the best way to store your vegies to increase their longevity. This might be in an airtight container, in water, in a container covered by a wet paper towel etc. The internet is a great place to source this info.
• Label all stored food thoroughly.

Animal Protein:

• Buy your protein in bulk from the butchers.
• Invest in butcher trays, freezer paper, freezer bags and bag ties.
• Season your protein with desired seasoning in line with your meal plan for the week. (You can even plan a month ahead!)
• Lay freezer paper down on the butcher’s tray.
• Place a single layer of a particular protein across the tray. Ensure you only use one type of protein for each tray, don’t mix them.
• Place another layer of freezer paper and place another single layer of that protein. Repeat for the entire quantity of that protein.
• Place the tray in a freezer bag and close tight with a bag tie.
• Label your tray with the type of protein, date and quantity in the tray.
• Do this for each protein type.
• When it is time to cook the said protein, take out desired quantity in the fridge from the night before to defrost, ready for cooking.

Other Simple Meal Prep Strategies:

 When cooking dinner, prepare enough for the next day’s breakfast and lunch. Prepare a double amount so that everybody has enough for either breakfast or lunch or both.

• Boil a dozen eggs and store in the fridge fully labelled for emergencies.
• Invest in jars of salmon or tuna for quick meals.
• Bake a tray of chicken breast or chicken tenderloins without seasoning. Once cooked, shred them into pieces, allow them to cool and separate them in single serves on freezer paper, like the protein we discussed earlier. Then pop them out to defrost in the fridge as you need them and season them with desired herbs and spices. That way you can vary the flavors from Lemon Pepper, Cajun, Mediterranean etc.
• Create frittata slices and quiches in big lasagna dishes. Allow to cool then cut into serve sizes. Place baking paper over freezer paper and store the frittata/slice on the baking paper like we discussed about protein. The baking paper absorbs any moisture lost during defrosting. Place a serve in the fridge from the night before, ready for use the next day.
• If you are super tight on time, invest in healthy home delivered frozen meals or something like ‘Hello Fresh’.
• Cook 2 legs of lamb that can be used in different types of meals over the next couple of days. You might have it with vegetables one night, and in a fajita the next.
• If really struggling buy the bags of ready cut salads in the supermarket and add protein. They aren’t the most ideal, but they’re certainly better than fast food or no food.
• Bulk cook and freeze the following, ready for breakfast or lunches:
  • Baked wingette and drumettes
  • Meatballs
  • Egg muffins
  • Chicken muffins
  • Fish fillets
  • Lamb fillet strips

NB: With home delivery services such as Uber Eats, you really have no excuse to not eat. You just need to choose wisely.

These are just a few tips to get you started. Always reach out if you need extra help.

Happy cooking!

• Coach Terri