Nutrition success comes down to one thing: preparation. Not only does meal prepping eliminate stress during the week, but it also narrows the endless options, helping you stick to a well thought out and nutritionally balanced choice at mealtime. The simplest way to meal prep for success involves three easy steps: plan, purchase and prepare.
First, you must plan your meals. If you have never meal prepped before, it might be best to stick with focusing on a few days’ worth of one meal. For example, a great start would be dinners during the work week. Now that your focus is on one meal, you can decide what foods to include. Make sure that each meal you are planning includes the trio of complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and protein (animal or plant-based) and that there is plenty of color on your plate.
See the chart below for some examples for each category. Note that many foods such as nuts, dairy, eggs, lentils and vegetables overlap into multiple categories.
Select at least one from the three categories for each meal and write your selections down on your meal planning PDF. Here are three example dinners:
- Quinoa with salmon and cooked spinach
- Sweet potato hash with eggs and broccoli
- Brown rice bowl with avocado and chicken breast
Now that you have planned your meals, the second step is to purchase your ingredients. Based on your meal choices, write down the ingredients you need on your meal planning shopping list. Bonus: Because you have planned your week, you might even stick to a budget and save some money.
The third and final step is to cook and prep your meals. Set aside a time that would work for you to do this. The weekend would be an ideal time to meal prep so that your meals are fresh and ready for your busy week ahead.
Congratulations, you have just successfully meal prepped. Once you’ve portioned your meals into containers, you can sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of your weekend knowing your week will be full of nutritionally balanced choices. Bon appetit!
by Megan McKee