Meal prepping is a great way to save money and time. When cooking meals in bulk, you can reheat them throughout the week. It’s also an easy way to maintain healthy eating habits and lose weight. As you prepare your own meals ahead of time. We all know that grocery shopping for one person can be expensive. So meal prepping is a perfect strategy for people who want to reduce their monthly grocery bill. Let’s get the hang of meal prepping and how to maintain the whole week.
What Is Meal Prep?
Meal prepping is simply preparing your food for the week ahead. You can do this by cooking all of your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners at once or in large quantities. Meal prepping is getting popular as it’s a great way to save time and money. It can help you stay on track with your weight loss goals as it makes healthy eating easier. You can order meal prep online like the best prepared food delivery service in Miami Dade IdealNutritionNow.com does or cook on your own. So what are the benefits of meal prep services?
Why Should You Meal Prep for the Week?
There are many amazing benefits of lunch prepping for the week. These include saving time, keeping things organized, staying healthy. While being cost-efficient, and making healthy eating easy.
It will save you time by having your meals ready at once and in bulk. It is a great way to stay organized as well. Especially if this is how you like to do things. You’ll never run out of food during the week and you’ll know exactly what to eat.
Lunch prepping for weight loss is a great idea. It helps your body lose excess fat by having no room for bad food choices at all times. This way, you will be able to follow a healthy diet plan that leads to fast results. Preparing foods in bulk is an important part of meal prepping. This way, you won’t have to cook every day and it will reduce the risk of burning or overcooking your food.
Following a food plan is also crucial for muscle gain. Many athletes stick to a meal prep routine as you can control protein intake flawlessly.
How to Meal Prep for the Week – Tips to Consider
To start lunch prepping, you should plan your meals for the entire week. You can do this on a Sunday by writing down what you would like to eat every day and making grocery lists accordingly.
While lunch prepping, avoid using too many cooking methods as it will increase the chances of overcooking foods or burning them. It is best to choose one method only such as boiling, steaming, or baking.
When you are just starting out, it is best to opt for simple recipes that won’t take too much time in the kitchen. Lunch prep is only healthy foods but feel free to have a cheat meal once in a while. You can also choose to interchange some meals with similar options. This will break your food monotony throughout the week.
When you lunch prep, make sure to use the right containers and buy food storage bags. These tools will help keep your foods fresh throughout the week. Another thing that can go wrong is not having enough time to cook every day of the week. If this sounds like you, choose dishes that don’t take too long to prepare.
What Food to Include in Your Meal Prep?
Here’s a list of lunch prep food that you can prepare:
- Chicken and brown rice/white rice.
- Turkey meatballs with zoodles or spaghetti squash (bulk buy both and freeze them). Add your favorite sauce, i.e.: marinara, pesto, teriyaki.
- Salmon and quinoa or lentils (add a vegetable side dish to complete the meal).
- Stir fry vegetables over brown rice/quinoa (bulk buy your favorite veggies from Costco). If you’re using frozen veggies, make sure that they are thawed before cooking them. Add some protein, i.e.: chicken or tofu).
- Salad greens with your choice of veggies and meat (optional). Add avocado on top to make it more filling.
What Food to Avoid in Your Meal Prep?
The key is to avoid processed foods. Think of the ingredients that you’re using for your lunch prep and make sure they are all healthy. Avoid adding lots of carb-rich food such as pasta, white rice/bread, etc. Especially if your goal is to lose weight. When you prepare snacks, these should be healthy snacks as well. No chips and chocolate bars.
Minimize your use of cooking oils, butter, etc, as much as you can. Because these won’t help in achieving a healthy meal prep either. Try roasting or baking instead of frying the veggies for example. Avoid using cream sauces too. These are unhealthy dressing. And they will increase body fat percentage thus defeating the main purpose which is weight loss.
Some people also tend to drink alcohol during meals. Avoid doing that if possible (unless it’s an occasional cheat day). In fact, alcohol contains lots of calories and sugar. So it’s better to stay away from beverages especially when trying to lose weight.
The Final Word
If you’re looking for a way to save time and money, lunch prep is the answer. With just one hour of work on Sunday, you’ll have meals that last all week long. You can also use this guide as your starting point when creating your own plan. Adjust your diet plan according to your fitness goals. Lunch prepping is great for both who want to lose weight and gain muscle.
Lunch prepping is an effective way to stay in shape. So you want to make sure that the food is healthy at the same time. Here’s a beginner guide on how to meal prep for your week:
- plan out what meals you’ll be having during the week and write them down in a list (make it as detailed as possible).
- cook one day ahead. So by lunchtime, there’s already something prepared for dinner and breakfast the next day. You can use leftovers too especially if they’re easy dishes like pasta or rice etc. These won’t take much effort to prepare again after cooking once before.
- carefully consider portion sizes. These should also fit within your calorie limit per meal.
Consider these useful tips and you’ll nail meal prepping like a pro.