Hopefully youÕve read Part 1 of the ÔHow to be a pro at meal prepÕ series! Perhaps youÕve tried it out a few times, maybe made a few mistakes and learned a lot! Well here is the highly anticipated Part 2. More tips and tricks to help you be successful with your meal prepping and nutrition!
Perhaps you found that on Friday you do not particularly care for the food you cooked the previous Sunday. Maybe by then your baked chicken tastes more like fish. Well one tip or trick for this is to prepare all your fresh food/meals and FREEZE them to lock in some freshness. If youÕve invested in some quality containers/tupperware (thereÕs another mini tip!) storing your food in the freezer and then taking it out either the night before or the morning of will help you avoid food turning bland or spoiling.
But perhaps this doesnÕt seem appealing to you. Perhaps you want something a little more fresh. Well how about two meal preps? Two? Yes, two! Instead of doing one big meal prep on a Sunday for example, you can have two mini meal preps (or more if youÕd prefer). Imagine cooking on a Sunday evening and having food for Monday all the way until WednesdayÕs lunch. Then on Wednesday evening you can cook to have meals until the next meal prep on the weekend or simply go until FridayÕs lunch and make fresh meals on Friday and Saturday night when you may have more time! This will for sure help keep things fresh!
Maybe you donÕt have time to do two meal preps, let alone one! Well one tip to beat this struggle is to use a slow cooker (crock pot, instant pot/pressure cooker…etc.)! Literally throw everything in, set to low, simmer for a few hours and bam youÕve got a huge pot of something delicious by the time youÕre home from work. Package it up and your meal prep is done for a few days!
One last tip for this write up is to buy in bulk/keep your pantry stocked! Doing this allows you to almost always have what you need on hand and can save you trips to the store and money as you prep each week. All youÕll need to grab is some fresh meat and maybe some veggies, if you donÕt buy the frozen ones (yet another mini tip!). ItÕll save time when youÕre at the store as youÕll be in and out in no time as most of the ingredients will be waiting for you at home. This works well with non-perishables such as rice/quinoa, legumes, canned/frozen vegetables.
So what do you think? Do these sound reasonable enough? Try them out and see if they help you with some things you may have been struggling with! Feel free to let us know how youÕre doing and if you have any comments, questions, or concerns with meal prepping and nutrition!
Coach Steve
