Meal prep guides
Meal prep is organizing a meal that you portioned out that you can conveniently grab/heat up to be consumed during the day. This eliminates the need to continuously cook everything from scratch every day and saving you time, money, and energy.
Weekday Meal Prep is a great way to easily organize your meals to ensure that you get your nutrition and meals sorted out for the week. The last thing that you wanted to do at the end of a busy day is to think of what to eat, how to cook it and cleaning up everything. If you time this correctly, the goal is to try to only do this at least twice a week.
I usually prep on a Sunday so that I know that I don’t have to cook anything else for the week. This might take a few hit and miss before you can start just prepping once a week but this is why I can guide you to start!
Why Do a Weekday Meal Prep?
Meal prepping will allow you to save time because you only need to prepare once or twice a week for the entire week’s meals. I usually have all my weekday meals prepped in advanced so I can have a stress-free week! This reduces waste and temptation to go over your nutritional plans (If your goal is to reduce or increase calorie) or to go over your allocated budget. There is nothing more tempting than to stand around in a grocery hungry and picking out everything you wanted to cook for the night. Or sitting down after a busy day wanting to just order takeaways because there is no meal prepped for the night. If you allow yourself a time to prepare all the meals in advance, you eliminate this temptation, and you stick to your goals.
There are a few things to consider before you start meal prepping:
- Time (How much time would you like to allot per week?)
- Budget (How much do you want to spend?)
- Goals (Are you focusing on convenience or nutrition? Or both?)
- Who is this for? (For yourself, for you and partner, for family)
- How do you start? Fortunately, I get this sorted out for you.
Once all of this are organized it’s time to get all your equipment ready.
Click here for Starter Pack as well as a free meal prep for a week:
FAQS on meal prep:
How long does my meal preps last in the fridge?
This is subject to your fridge’s internal temperature as well as the food that you prepared. As a rule, keeping cooked foods in the fridge that is cooked properly (See cooking temperature guide), making sure your fridges are at 5C or less will ensure that you keep your food safe to eat within the next 4 days. (See prepped food expiry)
*Cooking temp guide
*prepped food expiry
*meals that can be frozen
Anything that can’t be consumed within 5 days should be kept in the freezer and usually thawed out in the fridge a day before consuming.
(See list on what food can I freeze)
Brochure Starter Pack:
Congratulations on starting a healthy eating habit!
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Of course, I will never ever endorse consuming an elephant, but you understand where I’m going at this. Everything new can be overwhelming at first and that’s why I have included a basic meal prep plan for the week. (See free meal prep plan)
*Meal plan for protein focus
Meal plan for gluten free
Meal plan for vegan
Let’s start with doubling a recipe that can be eaten for two nights. Then start to multiply that into three. I would normally only triple a recipe that can be heated up easily. If you are the kind of person who can’t stand eating the same thing three times in a row, prep two recipes and try to alternate the two so you don’t end up eating a meal repeatedly.
PROTEIN FOCUSED: protein + carbs + veggies
(Salad can be prepped ahead of time)
Protein and fat focused: Protein + Vegetables + Fat
Vegan/vegetarian: Legumes/grains + Veggies
Equipments:
See Weekday Meal Prep’s Starter Pack
Biodegradable ziplock bags/eco bags
meal prep containers
Food scale
water bottle
meal prep planner
Foods to include in your meal prep:
- cooked grains & pasta (rice, pasta, couscous, polenta)
- cooked beans
- cooked meat
- roasted vegetables
- hearty fresh vegetables (think celery, carrots, peas, bell peppers, kale, cabbage, radishes, etc.)
- whole fruit (apples, oranges, stone fruit)
- nuts & seeds
- cheese
- sauces and dips (like salad dressings, hummus, salsa, sour cream, etc.)
Foods that don’t usually meal prep well:
- softer fruits and vegetables (lettuce, berries, and cut fruit)
- crunchy items like fried food, crackers, or chips
How long does my food stay fresh?
IT is very hard to gauge on how long everything will last as it really depends on what you are prepping and the temperature of your fridge. As the days passes by, the food declines in quality and it depends on the you if the changes in texture and flavour will be acceptable. I usually have the first three days of my food in the fridge and the next few days in the freezer. By Tuesday, I would then proceed to thaw the remaining food in the fridge to get it ready to be heated up the next day.
Refrigeration Guidelines:
Meal Prep Ebooks:
