How to meal prep and why you should do it.
I started prep cooking in college when I began to take body building seriously. Even though I started prep cooking for the main reason of tracking my calories, I noticed that it also made my life easier since I never had to worry what I was going to eat and helped me save money. Meal prepping is now something I do every week and I will explain why should as well.
Just a side note – if you are just getting into fitness and would like some guidance on how to get started please read this article here.
What is meal prepping?
Meal prepping, short for meal preparation, is preparing your meals in bulk ahead of time so your meals for the week are already made. Based on your goals you can choose your meals to either cut weight, gain muscle, or to maintain your current weight….I will dig into this subject in a future article.
Why you should meal prep.
If you could save 7 hours a week by doing something that takes you only 1.5 hours wouldn’t you do it? How did I get to 7 hours? On average it will take you 30 minutes to go out and pick up something to eat or 30 minutes to prepare something and if you do that for lunch/dinner every day that comes to 7 hours. That’s a lot of time that can be spent doing more productive activities.
For one-person lunch will cost you around 11 dollars and dinner would cost you around the same. If you eat out every day of the week, that will come up to 154 dollars a week and 616 dollars a month. Also take into consideration that doesn’t include breakfast. In terms of saving money, I’m 6’4 210 lbs and work out frequently so I eat quite a bit, my weekly grocery bill is only 100 dollars a week. That includes my breakfast items, beverages and meal prepping ingredients. For some people a hundred dollars a week is pricey, but on average the normal human being is not as big as me. For an average female or male, your grocery bill should only be 60-70 dollars a week for a healthy diet that hits your calorie requirements.
What you need to meal prep?
Meal prep containers – I prefer the largest ones you can find. In my experience the plastic containers tend to break after several uses. If you would like containers that last, I would recommend purchasing glass containers even though they are a little pricey.
Food Scale – This will be needed to weigh your foods to accurately measure the number of calories you are consuming. These last forever if you take care of it.
Cookware – I’ve loved my huge stainless-steel pan since it only takes me 10-15 minutes to cook 5 lbs of ground beef or chicken. Also purchase a stainless-steel pot to boil pasta if that is your carbohydrate of choice. One last thing is to make sure you have the proper basic cooking utensils to cook your items.
Rice Cooker – My carbohydrate of choice is rice because of how easy it is to cook. The bonus of having a rice cooker is that you can cook your rice while you are doing other things. For example, I put rice in the cooker while I’m at the gym or off grocery shopping. Also with a rice cooker you can cook a large amount of rice within a short amount of time and they usually come with a vegetable steamer.
Crock Pot – Personally, I have yet to use a Crock Pot, but for those who do use them its an easy way to cook food over night or when you’re at work. Since meal prepping is all about convenience this is something you should use if you’re familiar with it or would like to learn how to use one.
Spices and Sauces – Since meal prepping usually leads to you eating the same thing multiple times a week, you need the right seasoning and sauces to make your meals enjoyable. I have a Sriracha, Pace Chunky Salsa and Mesquite McCormick Grill Mates Mesquite Barbecue Seasoning addiction so that’s what I typically use.
Additional Items – Make sure you have a non-stick cooking spray to cook with. You can also use cooking oil’s such as olive oil, coconut oil, etc…
Cooking and storing your meal
When have finished cooking and portioning your meals make sure you store them properly. If you plan on eating your meals over a two-day period its fine to store them in the fridge, but due to how fast protein spoils I would recommend putting them in the freezer.
If you have any questions about this topic, please let me know by commenting on this article or by sending an email to thedailynook@gmail.com