Meal prepping is the concept of preparing whole meals or dishes ahead of schedule.

Having pre-prepared meals on hand can reduce portion size and help you reach your nutrition goals. This way, you’ll avoid unhealthy options like TV dinners or takeout, especially when you’re overwhelmed or exhausted.

And since it requires you to determine what to eat ahead of time, meal prepping can lead to more nutritious meal choices over the long term.

Despite what people may think, there are various ways to meal prep — not all of which involve spending a whole Sunday afternoon cooking dishes for the week to come. You can choose methods that work best for you.

To find what works best for you, you should get your feeds wet. Try them out and see what suits you.

Stick to the end, and I’ll give you something to get started on you (first) meal prep!

The Benefits Of Meal Prep

Save Time

The time you can save by batch cooking your meals is probably one of the biggest benefits to be noticed. Specially if you are usually too busy to get cooking, this will be a huge win for you.

Save Stress

By planning your meals out your remove choice stress in the grocer.

When going to the supermarket without a full shopping list you’ll most likely end up buying wrong stuff that does not fit your goals.

You’ll waste time once again.

And pay way too much for your groceries, which brings us to the next benefit:

Save Money

If you track your finances you will notice a big difference here. You would be surprised about how much stuff you buy that isn’t needed when not using a grocery list.

Achieve Your Nutritious Goals

Meal prep is essential if you want to achieve goals regarding nutrition.

Be it losing weight.

Bulking.

Maintaining.

You need to meal prep, so you can push through and stay disciplined.

Different Ways to Meal Prep

As I already said, there is no “right” way to meal prep. You have to find what works for you, here are some for the meal prep variations:

• Make-ahead meals: Full meals cooked in advance which can be refrigerated and reheated at mealtimes. This is particularly handy for dinnertime meals.
• Batch cooking: Making large batches of a specific recipe, then splitting it into individual portions to be frozen and eaten over the next few months. These make for popular warm lunch or dinner options. I’ll usually go for this one.
• Individually portioned meals: Preparing fresh meals and portioning them into individual grab-and-go portions to be refrigerated and eaten over the next few days. This is particularly handy for quick lunches.
• Ready-to-cook ingredients: Prepping the ingredients required for specific meals ahead of time to cut down on cooking time in the kitchen.

The method that will work best for you depends on your goals and daily routine.

For instance, make-ahead breakfasts might work best if you’re looking to streamline your morning routine. On the other hand, keeping batch-cooked meals in your freezer is particularly handy for those who have limited time in the evenings.

The different meal-prepping methods can also be mixed and matched depending on your own circumstances. Start by choosing the most appealing method, then slowly experiment with the others to determine what suits you best.

There are many ways to meal prep, depending on your goals, schedule and meal preferences. Some options include making large batches to be frozen, full meals to be refrigerated and separate portions to be combined as you see fit.

Getting Started With Meal Prepping

I have been prepping my meals for 3 years now and have had the time to explore all the mentioned strategies.

To make it easier for you, I decided to put together a guide with everything you need.

The grocery list, recipes and a week calendar are all included along with a YouTube video that walks you through the process step by step.

If you are eager to have your shot at meal prepping, get the meal plan here!