Meal Prep 101 For Beginners

How To Meal Prep :

The Perfect 3 Ingredient Meal Prep Template to Get You Started

Are you just getting started with Meal Prep but need help with meal prep ideas?

One of the most powerful steps you can take to improve your health, boost energy levels, and prevent chronic diseases is to meal prep. Here is the why and how to help you get started on your meal prep journey plus an easy template to think about when you're grocery shopping or planning meals for next week.

NOTE: Do you know your TDEE? How about your BMR?  One of the things that could be discouraging is not knowing some of the most popular terms for meal prepping. Take a minute to review our Library of Terms to familiarize yourself with common language for health and wellness.

Meal Prep 101 and a few things to consider before getting started:

• Know your WHY and Write Out Your Goals?
  • Weight loss
  • Fat loss
  • Build  muscle
  • Save money
  • Free up time during the week
• Are there other things you need to achieve your goals?
  • i.e. Workout plan, meal prep containers, digital scale, fitbit, calendar reminder on your phone
• Do you have a system?
  • Start slow! Don't bite off more than you can chew right off the bat!
  • Meal prepping doesn't have to be done on Sunday night! Some people work night shifts, some people have weekends off... this needs to be a plan that fits your lifestyle. Sometimes, just simply having a few ready-to-go meals available, but having the flexibility to pick what to eat on the fly, is the best strategy.
• Get a baseline for your daily calorie intake HERE
  • NOTE - Stop after you fill out and calculate the first section. Your calorie recommendations will appear in Section 2.

GET MEAL PLANS DELIVERED WEEKLY
With weekly meal plans, Workweek Lunch takes the hard work out of making nutritious meals the whole family will enjoy.

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Step 1: Plan Your Meals

Make sure each meal includes a balance of lean protein, carbohydrates (starch), vegetables, and healthy fats. One suggestion is, 2-3 days before your meal prep day, email yourself a list of meals that you will want to eat the next week. When you go shopping, just buy for those meals. This will save you money in the store because you won't be overrun with impulse buys.

NOTE: It's also important to include one of the healthy fats listed below.

Most Common Foods to Meal Prep:

Protein Ideas for Meal Prep:

• Chicken breast*
• Chicken thighs
• Turkey breast*
• Salmon
• Cod
• Haddock
• Shrimp
• Tilapia
• Tuna
• Steak
• Ground Beef*
• Pork*
• Sausages
• Bacon
• Eggs
• Greek Yogurt
• Cheese
• Protein Powder
• *Cutlet, ground, strips, etc. Try to look for options that are 93% - 99% lean.

Plant-Based Protein Options:

• Black beans
• Lentils
• Garbanzo beans
• Tofu
• Tempeh
• Edamame

Carbohydrates:

• Quinoa
• Rice (brown, white, jasmine, black, wild grain)
• Potatoes (sweet, Japanese, red bliss)
• Whole grain pasta
• Rolled Oats
• Oatbran
• Whole grain cereal
• Whole grain bread

Vegetables:

• Spinach
• Green beans
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Asparagus
• Kale
• Carrots
• Snow peas
• Squash (butternut, acorn, spaghetti squash, kabocha)
• Jicama
• Salad fixings (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, peppers, onions, etc)

Fruit:

• Berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
• Oranges
• Bananas
• Apricots
• Plum
• Apples
• Kiwi
• Melon (cantaloupe, honeydew)
• Pineapple
• Pumpkin

Healthy Fats:

Oil:

• Coconut oil
• Avocado oil
• Olive oil
• Flax oil

Nuts:

• Almonds
• Macadamias
• Cashews
• Peanuts
• Brazil nuts

Seeds:

• Hemp seeds
• Chia seeds
• Flax seed
• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin Seeds

Other:

• Ghee
• Avocado
• Almond Butter
• Peanut Butter
• Toasted Coconut
• Cheese

If you don't have time to plan for yourself, here are 5 meal planners that we recommend: 5 Best Meal Planning Apps

Step 2: Create your Meal Prep shopping listed based on the meals you planned

You don’t want to be mid-prep and missing an ingredient! Check what ingredients you already have on hand and then add what you are missing to your list. Check out our resource page for multiple checklists, grocery lists (low carb, whole30, paleo, gluten free, etc) , and calendars.  If you need a little help with weekly Meal Prep ideas, here is a Week 1 Meal Prep menu that you can reference

Here is an example of a Low Carb Shopping / Pantry List:

Step 3: Prep your meals for the week

Click HERE ~~~> Meal Prep Reminder <~~~ to set a calendar reminder on your phone or computer to block out 2-3 hours this weekend. One you get it on the calendar In less than 3 hours you can have a full weeks’ worth of healthy, wholesome and delicious meals ready to go!

Click HERE to search our library of over 500 Meal Prep Recipes!

Here are some helpful resources for finding meal prep recipes:

1. Meal Prep on Fleek

- You can easily do the same thing on MealPrepOnFleek.com, as you can on Pinterest, the selection is just much more limited (to things we actually eat) instead of having millions of results to filter through you have only a couple hundred.

- Some key things to look for on MealPrepOnFleek.com are our Quick Search tabs and categories. You can easily click and filter through categories like; Paleo, Whole30, Vegetarian, Chicken, Calorie ranges, and more…

2. Our Meal Prep Mastery eBook!

Click Here to Download

3. Workweek Lunch Meal Planner

Enjoy more time, money and homecooked meals with WWL’s Meal Planner! Get 1 Free Meal Plan and a 7-Day free trial with WWL's Pro Monthly Membership:

4. Pinterest

- Start your search with the broadest category of ingredient or goal and narrow your search results from there. For example, if you’re macros indicate that you need to lower your carb intake, search for “Low Carb Dinners” + Combine that with the main ingredient in your fridge or freezer and you’re already 50% of the way there. “Low Carb Chicken Dinner”

- Once you have narrowed it down to your goal and main ingredient, then you can search through the recipes to see what looks good.

- When you see a couple recipes that look good, click through to find out what the nutrition values are. You want to make sure that each meal aligns with your macro goals. Or in other words, all of the food you eat for the day should make up your macro goals.

Here are some great boards to check out first:

• Breakfast Meal Prep Recipes
• Lunch Meal Prep Recipes
• Dinner Meal Prep Recipes
• Dessert Meal Prep Recipes
• Snack Meal Prep Recipes