Meal Prep: Tips And Tricks Part 2

I know, I know, that last post was a bit overwhelming. It seems like a lot but once you get into the swing of things, it’s not so bad. You get into your groove and sashay around the kitchen shoveling food into containers and labeling like a BOSS. Or, you drop stuff on the floor, can’t find your containers, and lose your shit at all the dishes you have to do now. We have our days. It’s ok. 

After all my meals are planned, I begin my actual prep for the week. I try to get the bulk of stuff ready to go on Saturday, so I just have to mix and match my foods into the containers they go on Sunday.

Some of my go-tos

 

So if I went to BJs and came home and already broke down the chicken all I have to do is go to that container and measure out the ounces I need for each meal. Yes, I have a food scale which gets used A LOT on the Transform App. Bought it from Amazon for cheap and it’s great–here’s the link: Food Scale

Like I mentioned before, if I have time on the weekend and we do our shopping on Saturday, I prep some of the stuff so they are ready to go on Sunday when I cook and that way I have a bit less work to do. I always start with the following:

1. Break down rotisserie chicken
2. Cut bell peppers and put them in container
3. Cut onion and put in container
4. Roast cauliflower rice and broccoli (if I have fresh)
5. Make pot of brown rice

At this point, I have my go-to meals so I tend to use the same ingredients for multiple days. It makes shopping and prepping a lot easier. On Sunday, I start by browning my ground turkey and while that’s cooking, I open the cans (black beans and corn) which are used in multiple meals, and bring out stuff from the fridge so it’s on the counter ready to go. If I didn’t have fresh broccoli and cauliflower now is the time I start microwaving the frozen steam packs–each ones takes about 5 minutes and they cover at least 3-5 meals.

1. Brown ground turkey
2. Open cans
3. Take out extras from fridge (salsa, lime juice, marinara, shredded cheese, etc)
4. Microwave steam packs (broccoli, cauliflower rice)
5. Take out measuring cups/ spoons and containers
6. Take out spices I need for my meals
7. Start assembling containers

 

Extra canned corn or peppers you won’t use? Freeze them!

Some of my meals consists of onions and peppers and I like to cook them instead of eating it raw–I also cook it with the chicken that way all the flavors meld together–but I’ve also seen people just throw each thing into a container. Since I’m cooking it, it does take longer and because I have specific measurements I have to do each meal separately. If I wasn’t following the Transform App I would definitely throw it all in the same pan then divide it between the containers which would probably cut my meal prepping time in half. The meals I do choose from Transform App are usually ones you can throw into the container without much cooking (as long as all the ingredients are prepped beforehand).

 

Once the containers are filled I label each one with some tape and a sharpie–it’s all very official–and I check it off my list. When all the meals are done and I’ve cleaned up, I make my oatmeal containers for breakfast. At least one of my snacks for the day is grab and go so it’s usually protein powder and Rice Krispies treats, almonds, cheese stick or granola bars on the side. It’s something I don’t have to put a lot of effort into and is quick to grab the morning of as well.

I’ll say that most Sundays I can churn out Sunday-Tuesday without a problem. If a meal that I’m making for one of those days repeats on Wednesday or Thursday and I have enough of the ingredients out, I make that container as well and label it. Any leftovers on Sunday go into separate containers so I can use when I cook for the rest of the week. I usually schedule what I’m eating later in the week based on what I have leftover and in the fridge. I try not to have to go food shopping during the week since the closest store is a bit overpriced and it’s too much to go food shopping after work, work out, do other errands AND cook. That’s a long day. 

Hopefully this all helps some people who are feeling overwhelmed about meal prepping. It is a bit daunting, especially when you have to measure everything, but once you find your own stride, it should be a lot better. Feel free to leave any questions or comments below—thoughts, ideas, I’d love to hear from people!

If you follow these steps, you should be OK:

1. Have a plan
2. Stay organized
3. Use meals for multiple days so you don’t have to do extra work
4. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and off your groove, take a break and prep the rest of it tomorrow
5. Have designated prep days–mine are Sunday, Monday, Thursday

Meal Prepping Tips And Tricks: What To Eat And How To Do It

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

My beloved oatmeal containers by Sistema. So convenient to pack ahead of time

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

What my desk at work looks like every day

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) :

1. Rotisserie chicken*
2. Ground turkey*
3. Frozen blueberries
4. Frozen strawberries
5. Brown Rice
6. Jars of salsa
7. Peanut butter
8. Quaker 1 minute oats
9. Feta cheese crumble
10. Shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
11. Jarred marinara sauce
12. Almond milk*
13. Peanut butter powder
14. Cans of black beans
15. Rice Krispies
16. Almonds
17. Quaker Chewy bars
18. String Cheese
19. 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

Some of my favorites: BJ’s rotisserie chicken, ground turkey, steamables and rice

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!

Meal Prepping: My 2nd Job

More meal prep talk! I began intensely meal prepping last year because of Chris and Heidi Powell’s book Extreme Transformation. They really emphasize the idea that if you are prepared for your meals then you typically eat healthfully and mindfully and…it can

The book that started it all last year

also taste good! I think what throws people off when trying to change their lifestyle is they take what is written and force themselves to eat things on a meal plan they don’t like without realizing that they can swap things out and customize to what they actually like to eat. On the other hand, if they get a blank meal plan they freeze and don’t know what to make or what they like to eat and then give up. I think it’s a good idea to look at several plans and tailor it to what you want to eat.

Once I started realizing that it’s not about following someone else’s plan to a tee but making it my own, it was easier to weed out all the recipes I wasn’t interested in: like cottage cheese, yogurt and eggs. Bleh. In some cases you can just swap out a particular ingredient like, if you don’t fancy mushrooms in your stir-fry you can add asparagus. But that requires thinking outside the box and the people who think they have to follow that meal plan to the letter are the same people who measure out the exact amount of things for a recipe and don’t deviate. My husband is like that–he’ll sit and dice each piece into exact measurements and if it says ¼ teaspoon of chili powder you know that’s what you’re getting–it drives him crazy when I throw in a handful of this or add some more of that. I’ve been cooking since I was 12. Sometimes you gotta go with your gut feeling.

Most of my recipes are based on other recipes that I’ve changed or added extra to because, in most cases, if I have 90% of the ingredients I’m making it. What am I gonna do–run to the store every time I need 1 lime or a box of penne? No thank you. And some people just think they can’t do it if they don’t have everything on the list which then means they’re going to the store every day for some ingredient or another. Who has time for that! Most of my planning comes from what I currently have in the fridge that I need to eat before it goes bad or whether or not I have meat like ground turkey or chicken or if I have to use beans for my protein (meat’s expensive and we’re on a budget!). A recipe calls for broccoli but I have cauliflower. Swap! Need black beans? I’m adding red beans! That’s how I roll.

I must say, since I’ve been following the Powell’s meal plan (which is rooted in Macro-science), I feel great. I’m less bloated and gassy and never feel gross after eating a meal. And ladies, when you have a boyfriends or husband and you’re still trying to keep the romance alive, it’s nice not to have to hold in your gas because you don’t really have any when you eat right! It’s never fun and it’s never sexy sitting on the couch saying to yourself “Don’t fart…hold it in. Oh he wants to cuddle? Damn, I can’t move from this position!…don’t make any sudden movements…” (you know what I’m talking about. Don’t pretend. We’ve all been there).

My meals for the following 3 days are always planned and I have flexibility on the weekends—especially Saturdays which are reward days for me and that makes my husband happy since we can eat pizza. But meal prepping also means carrying around a bunch of Tupperware all the time BUT that also means I never get to the point where I’m hangry and want to murder people….like out of my mind hungry…once I hit that point, get out of my fucking way.

It’s also like having a 2nd job–when I was following the plan 100% it was my job to meal prep and to work out. By the time I got home from work, worked out, showered, and cooked…it was 9pm. I really can’t imagine what that would feel like with kids pulling at you all hours of the day. I don’t know how people do it and I say kudos to them. I do know how the celebrities do it though: nannies and chefs. One day…