Recently people have been asking me about meal prepping because, if you look at my Instagram feed, it consumes my life. Mostly, they’ve been asking if I can pack meals and deliver it to them. If I had a big enough kitchen, I would totally do that instead of my current job.
I figured I would share some tips and tricks I’ve learned in the last 6 months and also share what my typical purchases and preps are. I’ve always had a lot of food containers but prepping for two people at least 3 days ahead of time showed me that I didn’t. So the first thing is to invest in containers that you actually love. Ones that don’t spill in transit and that aren’t too big to carry around. I HATE carrying around containers. I usually carry my meals in my bag because I also HATE lugging around 2 bags (especially in the winter when I’m freezing and barely want to be outside). I take the train to work and
walk a lot so I need things that fit in my bag–that usually includes 2-3 food containers, a travel coffee mug and a small shaker bottle–also my usual wallets, keys, 6-8 lipsticks/glosses, charger, tissues, pen, small planner, etc. It’s a lot.
Once you have those containers sit down and plan the upcoming week. I consider my start of the week as Sunday, so I start thinking about cooking on Thursday or Friday. It’s a lot easier if you’re solo and you don’t have to cook for a whole family, trying to please everyone throws you for a whole other loop, but meal planning is also easier if you’re not on a program because you don’t have to count out specific measurements. But always look for meals that can carry over as leftovers. I don’t mind eating the same thing for 4 days, I hear some people are picky about that but just consider all the time and money you’re saving and get over it!
Write out the meals you plan on making then figure out the ingredients you need. I write everything out on a paper then cross off when I confirm I have it already in the kitchen. If you’re like me and you’re on a budget, then you have to compare prices at different
stores. It’s a lot of extra work but I got it down to a science now. I usually shop at BJ’s Club and Stop n’ Shop–I love that both their apps have coupons you can load right onto your card so there’s no more clipping. I look at the coupons first then go to the circulars for that week and compare pricing at my local stores.
We try to do our shopping on Saturday that way I don’t have to leave the house on Sunday and can focus on the actual cooking. But sometimes I start the cooking on Saturday, shop on Sunday, and then finish the prepping Sunday afternoon/evening. It depends on how much we have going on during the weekend.
When I started the Transform App, the first few weeks was trial and error—determining what meals we liked to eat, what was easiest to make, the amount of 1 ingredient we would need for the week. At first I tried to make a lot of different meals during the week which would leave me with leftover foods that would spoil because I wasn’t making the same meals. Then I started only making 1 or 2 new recipes each week and made sure to use ingredients that I already shopped for and used. Once we had a list of the 10-15 meals we constantly ate, it was A LOT easier to shop at the store.
Protein powder and meat are the biggest investments. For powder, shop around until you find the one you like that will also not break the bank–there are some expensive ones out there! There’s a brand I like but at $68 a bag, it’s not practical. I found a powder on Amazon that is super cheap and made for women (my hair and nails look amazing btw)– Nature’s Bounty-Amazon . I usually end up drinking 1 shake a day and then the powder goes into smoothie recipes or oatmeal for the most part.
Meat is expensive and I found that BJ’s Club is the best for that. Supermarkets also have sales on meat and if you have the space in your freezer I would definitely recommend stocking up during a cheap sale and freezing it. We don’t have the space so I can only hoard 2 packs of ground turkey at a time. I’m obsessed with the rotisserie chicken at BJs. For $4.99 you get a whole bird that can give you at least 3 days worth of meat. I break it down when I get home and put it in a container, then anytime I need chicken I just take from there. In the beginning I was getting chicken and ground turkey then it would take me an hour just to prep the meats which was such a waste of my time.
Vegetables are the easiest and it makes me so sad I don’t have a farmers market close to me. Or a garden so I can grow my own. One day. At first I was buying fresh and breaking down the cauliflower and broccoli then cooking it. That took a lot of time. I’m obsessed with those steamable veggie bags–they make meal prepping so easy, are typically cheap, and a lot of different brands are doing them now so you can always find a sale. I always have steamable bags of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and cauliflower rice in my freezer for when I need quick preps. It takes about 4 ½ minutes in the microwave and while that’s going I can prep other things. Super convenient!
Fruits are mostly used in the smoothies or my oatmeal so I buy a bag of strawberries and blueberries from BJs and that usually lasts about 1-2 months (depending on how often you use it). The first month of shopping I took a big hit on my grocery budget because I had to stock up on big things like oatmeal, protein powders, peanut butter, and frozen fruit but the trade off is that it usually lasts for 2 months so it’s not too bad when you break down the cost.
Things I buy at BJs Club (starred are weekly or biweekly) :
- Rotisserie chicken*
- Ground turkey*
- Frozen blueberries
- Frozen strawberries
- Brown Rice
- Jars of salsa
- Peanut butter
- Quaker 1 minute oats
- Feta cheese crumble
- Shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
- Jarred marinara sauce
- Almond milk*
- Peanut butter powder
- Cans of black beans
- Rice Krispies
- Almonds
- Quaker Chewy bars
- String Cheese
- Franks Red Hot
Things I buy at Stop n Shop or the local grocery store:
1. Fresh fruits: apples, grape tomatoes, bananas
2. Fresh herbs: cilantro and green onion
3. Fresh vegetables: cucumber, sweet potato, onion, avocado, baby spinach, bell peppers, zucchini
4. Frozen steamable bags: broccoli, cauliflower, cauliflower rice, snap peas, green beans
5. Shredded cheeses
6. Laughing cow cheese wedges
7. Deli turkey and cheese
And the most important thing to putting these meals all together are: SPICES.
If you spice your meals properly then you don’t need to cover them in heavy sauces. I used limited amounts of salt and have increased the use of my other spices and I don’t even miss the salt. Also, I use hot sauce on everything–Franks Red Hot is my go-to because it’s not too spicy, just gives it a kick.
When I’m browning my ground turkey these are the spices I use to give it a little kick before adding it to my specific meals. There’s no measurements (if you read my previous posts you know I’m a pinch of this and a dash of that kinda girl) because it’s how you feel—maybe you like a lot of paprika, maybe you hate it–who am I to tell you how to live your life
Spice mix for ground turkey (sprinkle it over the turkey while it’s cooking in the pan):
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Paprika
Chili powder
Cumin powder
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Cayenne pepper
Next post I’ll be breaking down the actually meal prepping. This was just set up, people!
Life With Purpose (And Other Things) 
Thanks for sharing your spice for ground turkey! I’m going to try it! I’ve been looking for a way to get more flavour from my meat, this is perfect!
LikeLike
No problem! Cumin is my new go to spice. I put it on chicken as well and in rice as it cooks.
LikeLike