Meal Prep - Here's How to Love It!

I have people constantly ask me why I meal prep, and then how do I meal prep.

Let's start with why....

I work a lot of hours...I have 3 jobs.  I spend a lot of hours working out.  I have a very obsessive-compulsive personality.  I like things orderly, prepared ahead of time, and I will research the heck out of everything.  That's just who I am.  So when it comes to trying to be the healthiest version of myself, I need to know on Sunday that my meals for the week ahead are not going to be a problem.  And the only way to know that for sure is to plan them, and prep them.  My husband is about the same, so for us, this works if we plan.  We have a chalk board in the kitchen where the menu for the week is posted on Sunday.  Then, on Sunday after church and the grocery store, we cook.  We spend about 2 hours doing this.  Then, after working a long day and working out, dinner is not something I have to think about.  I know what it is, and I know it is ready.  I have no fast food restaurants around my house, but they are around my work, and even though I honestly can't remember the last time I ate fast food, I still know that convenience sometimes is NOT a good thing!  So, bottom line, meal prepping makes sense to me and my life.

Now on to how....

I research recipes constantly.  I use the Skinnytaste.com site very, very often.  I also just Google things like "Lunch Meal Prep Ideas" or if I have something specific that I want to use, I will add the "Chicken" or "Shrimp", etc in the search.  There are millions of recipes out there!  Trust me!  So for me, by Friday I usually have a list of recipes ready, a grocery list of needed items ready, and a menu planned for the upcoming week.  Then it's a matter of looking at my weekend and seeing when I have time to do the meal prep.  It's usually Sunday afternoon, but sometimes I have to actually try and squeeze the time out of another day or evening.  But it IS worth it!
I usually will do the following:
1 crockpot meal (There's only 2 of us, so this will be for at least one night and a lunch for each of us, or we use it for leftover night.  Yes, we have a leftover night each week!)
1 soup if it's Winter/Grilled meat in the Summer to top a salad
1 dish which uses either baked chicken or a pork roast/turkey breast that can be put together easily because the meat is cooked - think fajitas (and the veggies can be prepared ahead, also) or something where you can add veggies and a baked sweet potato and have a great meal
1 batch of breakfast muffins or egg burritos
1 batch of snack muffins (high in protein)
1 lunch recipe of either Mason jar salads with a protein in it, or taco salad, etc. - usually makes 4

I try to coordinate so that if I'm baking chicken, I can be baking muffins at the same time, or if I'm making something that takes a lot of chopped veggies, I chop everything at once.  Everything out, everything chopped, everything put away and cleaned up.

Obviously some recipes take longer than others, but the breakfast muffins are just a container of Egg Beaters, and whatever you choose to throw in the muffin cup with that.  I use spinach and cheese usually.  But no matter how long it takes, at the end of your meal prep session, when you look in your fridge and KNOW you are ready for your week, it is an awesome feeling!

Another option which my Son and his Fiance use is to buy bulk meat already prepared, then divide it into your containers with sides that you have fixed.  Sweet potatoes and veggies are their go to sides, but it can be anything that works with your diet and taste buds!  If you are in the Baltimore/Shrewsbury area, he uses Dickie's in York, PA and Jimmy's Famous Meals in Baltimore.  Jimmy's delivers free to our gym in Shrewsbury. 

So really the key is just wanting to be organized and ready for the week.  If you want that, you can find the time and recipes.  Just do it!  You will seriously get hooked!  I love the fact that if my fridge gets a little bare, and I can't find anything to take for lunch, I usually have leftovers in the freezer from my past meal preps that I can grab and go.  Then I am (A) not spending money eating out, and (B) not blowing my diet by eating out or ordering in!  And if you cook what you like, it's not boring when you pull that lunch out of the lunch bag!  And if you aren't sure, start small.  Grill a few chicken breasts on Sunday afternoon, throw them in the fridge, and use them for fajitas one night, and a salad topped with chicken the next night.  Also, maybe put that chicken in a wrap with some cheese, spinach and ranch dressing for lunch one day!  Guess what?  You just did meal prep!  Set the crock pot up on Sunday and let it go all day.  Stick that bad boy in the fridge.  Guess what?  You have dinner already made for Monday night!  It doesn't have to be big and bold and container after container full!  It just has to help you get through the week!  And it will help you budget AND help with time management!

If you meal prep regularly, and can add to this, please, please, do so!  I also have added an album in this page titled Meal Prep Recipes.  Please add your recipes in that album!  I have added a picture of each meal plus a link to the recipe.  The key to the success of this page is helping one another!  Let's do this!