Meal Prep 101
Very few techniques or diets for health and weight loss are truly life changing. Many are demanding, difficult to stick to, and time consuming — leaving many people to discontinue them shortly after beginning.
However, a fairly new practice has been sweeping the health and fitness atmosphere, and if used correctly, can drastically change the way you live your life.
Meal prepping, or the process of preparing meals for the week ahead, is an incredible practice that is almost guaranteed to change your life for the better. By simply cooking and packaging meals for the week, you save yourself time, money, and stress. Not to mention, meal-prepping makes sticking to your health goals easy, accelerating weight loss.
Meal prepping is also a great way to nix the habit of eating out, saving you both calories and money. Not to mention, you’ll always have a meal ready to go, saving you time in the morning or night before. The benefits of meal prep are abundant, but don’t just take our word for it, see for yourself!
Here are our 5 tips to getting started with your meal prepping:
1. Start Small
Meal prepping can seem intimidating at first; making meals for entire week in one day is a pretty big task. We suggest starting with just 2–3 days a week. The meal does not have to be complicated, either.
Two oven-roasted chicken breasts, 2 cups of rice, and a head of broccoli is a classic meal that will keep your stomach satisfied and your muscles charged.
After the first week, we’re pretty sure you’ll immediately discover the benefits of meal prepping. If you are a fan of the results, add another day!
2. Keep it simple
Simple meals work best for meal prep. Your meal should include a serving of protein, a serving of carbs, and a serving of fruits or vegetables, but don’t hesitate to get creative with your combinations!
DIY chipotle bowls are easy and quick way to get all of your necessary nutrition in. Just mix corn, rice, beans, grilled chicken, cilantro, and sweet or hot peppers in a large bowl, and then dish out portions for the week.
Substituting the rice with quinoa or faro will give you more complex carbs, and is a tasty twist on this classic meal.
3. Find meals you can eat over and over again
If you have little cooking experience, finding meal prep meals that are easy to make and taste great is imperative to the long-term success of your meal prepping.
This does not mean you can’t change up your recipes from week to week, but for lazy Sundays, it’s great to have easy meals that can be prepped in no time. Once you work your way into a more advanced meal prepping stage, you can begin to customize your meal to exactly the nutritional value you need to meet your goals.
Some of our favorite quick and easy meals are:
Grilled chicken, broccoli, quinoa
Canned tuna fish, cannellini beans, olive oil and salt with a side of fruit
Salmon fillet, asparagus, brown rice
BBQ pulled pork, a whole sweet potato, side of fruit
4. Find your portions
While SmartPlate can instantly tell you the exact portion size you should be consuming, it’s important to know how much of each macronutrient you should be ingesting per day. Counting calories is crucial for weight loss, but increasing intake of protein and vegetables is important for growing muscles.
We highly recommend SmartPlate TopView to give you the best estimate of the nutritional value of your meals, and also tell you exactly how much you should be eating per day to reach your fitness goals. To order your SmartPlate TopView, visit our Website or Indiegogo.
If you have extra time this Sunday, try prepping a few meals for the week ahead. A few minutes of preparation can save you major time, money, and stress. And if you’re using a combination of SmartPlate and meal prepping, sticking to your diet will never be easier.
