10 Reasons You Should Start Meal Prepping Today

So you’ve been working towards your New Year’s resolution to lose weight and get healthier. You feel super motivated, have been hitting the gym consistently and even cleaned up your diet. You have taken the first steps to turn your life around and should take pride in taking these small steps, even at this early stage.

Realize that you have embarked on a lifelong journey of hard work and commitment, so you’ll need to celebrate the small victories if you want to stay on track and motivated. Especially since you won’t be seeing results immediately. So go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back.

But if this is your first time adopting a healthy lifestyle and getting in shape, you’ll soon learn that the results you want mostly depend on what you eat. No matter how hard you work, you simply will not achieve the desired results without fueling and nourishing your body with wholesome, nutritious food.

That is a fact. And trust me, after spending hundreds of hours at the gym, you will not want that hard work to go to waste.

Being in pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, you probably have a good idea of what you should and shouldn’t be eating, and have the best intentions of eating the healthiest of foods. But what you probably haven’t realized yet is that maintaining a healthy diet nowadays requires more than just good intentions and willpower.

If you have attempted it before, you know that eating healthy in today’s society is a pretty big challenge. We are surrounded by heavily processed foods, loaded with sugar, simple carbs, and added fats. These food options (if we can even call them that) are designed to be “convenient” and often times are extremely cheap, which makes them more attractive and easier to choose than healthier alternatives.

Not only that, wholesome food made with natural ingredients is very hard to come by. The majority of food establishments don’t serve food of this quality at affordable prices, and cooking it ourselves on a daily basis is very difficult with our crazy busy schedules. Wholesome food takes time and effort to cook, while fast food is usually served within minutes of ordering.

It’s easy to see that the reason we struggle to eat healthy today is simply because it is not convenient enough.

Or so it seems…

What if I told you that, despite all of these challenges, it is still possible to eat delicious and nutritious food made with natural ingredients on a daily basis. That you can have this food ALWAYS available to you when you need it.

The secret lies in taking a proactive approach that makes the eating process as convenient, low-cost, and choice-free as possible. Because if you don’t proactively set yourself up for success and take choice out of the equation, you will be more likely to choose more convenient, but less healthy options the moment your next hanger attack strikes.

But what exactly do I mean by a “proactive approach”?

I’m glad you asked.

Taking a proactive approach simply means planning and preparing your meals ahead of time (aka Meal Planning and Meal Prepping). So that you ALWAYS have real, nutritious, and delicious food available to you. So that you don’t have to worry about what your next meal’s going to be.

It means making healthy eating convenient again and leaving no room for choice or excuses.

And in case you are still not convinced, here my top ten reasons you should start meal prepping today:

1. It will make you healthier — What are the odds of you swerving into the next drive thru if you have delicious meals and snacks right in front of you? Having real food always available to you will make it harder to deviate from the diet you want to maintain.
2. It will save you money — At around $3 per meal, you will not be able to find wholesome and delicious meals for that price anywhere else. I’m talking 100% organic and natural. Think about how much money you spend buying lunch, dinner, or take-out on a monthly basis.
3. It will save you time — Yes, meal prepping is a big time commitment upfront, but it will save you time throughout the rest of the week. A meal prep session can take you around 4 hours, but planning a meal, cooking it, and cleaning your kitchen on a daily basis will take you around 2 hours. Meal prepping will free up your time during the week to do other things you love doing.
4. It makes eating healthy more convenient — By always having amazingly delicious and nutritious meals within arm’s reach, eating healthy will become more convenient than the unhealthy “food options” we are surrounded with.
5. It is less wasteful — When you have a plan for every single ingredient you buy, the chances of it going to waste are minimal. On the other hand, buying groceries without a plan in mind makes them easier to forget and more likely to go bad in your fridge/pantry. Think of how many times you have bought food without a plan only to find it a few weeks later buried in your fridge looking sad and forgotten.
6. You know exactly what goes into your body — Since Meal Prepping involves shopping for your ingredients and doing the cooking yourself, you will know exactly what goes into your food and ultimately body. You will not get that type of quality control and peace of mind anywhere else.
7. You don’t have to worry about what your next meal will be — Again, the is because we have a choice. If you eliminate having to make that decision every day, you will reduce the chances of choosing unhealthy food, especially if you are hangry. It also takes away the stress of making that decision.
8. You can take your meals anywhere you go — Meal Prepping involves preparing and portioning your meals in stackable/freezable/microwaveable containers that you can take anywhere go. You can take them to work, to school, in your children’s backpacks, even when you travel.
9. It can be a fun activity — Meal prepping may seem like a lot of work, but it can be a fun activity if you couple it with listening to music, watching a football game, your favorite show, or listening to an interesting audiobook or podcast. If you have a significant other or children, it is also a good opportunity to spend quality time with them doing something good for yourselves.
10. It will make you a better cook — Cooking at a large scale overtime will make you more efficient in the kitchen. Next time you cook a dinner, it will seem incredibly simple. The skills and techniques you’ll learn will benefit you and your family for many years to come.

So there you have it. 10 great reasons you should start meal prepping today.

Now, I will be the first to admit, meal prepping may seem like a daunting and overwhelming process even to experienced cooks. You’ll be cooking a lot of food simultaneously. But don’t be discouraged, it just takes a little bit of practice and guidance.

Over the years, I have perfected the science and I’m here to teach you everything you need to know to be successful. Be sure to follow me for meal prepping tips, tricks, and recipes….and a few nuggets of wisdom sprinkled here and there.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this, be sure to subscribe to my publication at https://medium.com/themealprepchef

Until next time, Happy Meal Prepping!!