In the last few years, meal prep has become so much more popular thanks to the convenience it adds to leading a healthy lifestyle. Eating well can require some hard work, though, and most of us will not want to labour over a hot stove for an hour a night. By following our favourite meal prep tips, though, you can make your life so much easier!

1) Preparation is key!

As famously stated by Benjamin Franklin “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”, and of course he was talking about meal prep (what else?). You need to plan in advance what days you will do your preparation (Sunday is usually a good shout) and when you will source the food to make it! You should know what you are doing before you do it; turning up to cook blind with no meal plan and ingredients is disastrous.

2) Tupperware is your best friend!

Storing your meals is just as important as making them – if you can’t store it, why cook it? Tupperware can be bought so easily, but we find the best ones are often found at the supermarkets and normally are relatively cheap. Don’t buy one or two, though – buy loads, you will be surprised by how many you need to make lunches and dinners for a few days!

3) Stick to the basics

5-must-read-rules-of-successful-meal-prep_02 cooking

Keeping to a simple menu is the key, so you don’t spend hours cooking fancy gourmet meals. We are strong advocates of keeping variety within meals and flavours, though, so you don’t get bored, but its important to keep the basic elements pretty simple. I, personally, would always aim to include three basic food types in my meals:

  • Protein
  • Carbs
  • Healthy fats

If you have at least one of each in every meal, you cant go too far wrong!

4) Do the maths!

5-must-read-rules-of-successful-meal-prep_04 maths

You must first work out what your goal is, then you can figure out how much you need to be eating every day! For example, I aim for 180 grams of protein every day, so I know I need to split this between 5 meals, adding a combination of healthy fats and carbohydrates.  Work out how much you need to eat, then at what points during the day you need to eat it. For those of you that are wishing to cycle your diet, e.g. higher and lower carbohydrate days, keep it simple and use A and B days. Using this technique will mean you wont lose track (or control) !

Any more top tips? Comment below and let us know – happy prepping!

 

Sources/reference/media

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/5-must-read-rules-of-successful-meal-prep