3 Ways to Meal Prep like a Pro

Have you ever heard of meal prepping? For years, I’d heard people talk about “meal prepping” but I didn’t really know what that meant. Today we’re going to lean what meal prepping is and 3 ways to meal prep like a pro.

For years, I cycled through bouts of trying to “eat healthier”. They all inevitably ended in me falling off track when I found myself in a hurry or just tired at the end of a long day. Convenience would win out over willpower and I would end up munching on fast or processed food that didn’t align with my nutritional goals.

It was a repetitive cycle that took place again and again over the years and I never really got anywhere with my goals. Until I started meal prepping.

What is Meal Prepping?

A failure to plan is a plan to fail. When it comes to changing your diet, in a world of tempting and convenient junk food options, you cannot coast on willpower alone.

Meal prepping is a method of planning and preparing your meals in advance so have easy access to healthy, well balanced meals through the week. Like the name implies, you’re simply “prepping” your meals ahead of time

This has been a game changer for me and many other people in reaching their nutrition goals. Meal prepping allows you to set yourself up for success for those moments while willpower is waning.

It used to be that at the end of the day, my husband came home and had to figure out what was going to be for dinner. Then it was another hour or two long process of chopping, prepping, cooking, serving, eating… Followed by the clean up of the kitchen and washing of pots/pans/dishes.

At the end of a long day when you are tired or burnt out, it’s hard to muster the willpower do whip up a healthy, homemade meal from scratch. That’s typically when we would turn to processed food (hello frozen pizza) or fast food.

Not only did meal prepping help us get on track with our nutrition, but it gave us back so much more time together during the week. We could come home, heat up our meals and sit down to have dinner and spend more quality family time together.

There are different ways and strategies to meal prep and some people enjoy incorporating more than one method. So here are 3 ways to meal prep like a pro.

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1. The Full Week Meal Prep

The full weekly meal prep is a popular method for planning and preparing an entire week’s worth of meals. It involves cooking large volumes of food at once to be divided in containers for equally proportioned breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

It can take a few hours in the kitchen to prep, cook, and process everything, so many people choose to do it on an afternoon when they have several hours of free time (we usually do ours on Sunday).

The first time I meal prepped, it took about 4-5 hours. I didn’t know how to manage my time well and was individually cooking a lot of different components. Over time as I got used to it, I got faster. I also switched to batch prepping, which helped speed things up.

Now I can meal prep an entire week of lunches and dinners in about 3 hours. Compare that to when we were cooking/cleaning for a couple hours a day (not even counting making/packing lunches), that’s about 3 hours cooking/washing pots and pans in one day vs 14+ hours of cooking/washing spread throughout the week.

Learning to Batch Prep

A full weekly meal prep doesn’t have to be an overly complicated process with batch cooking. Like the name implies, batch prepping is cooking food in big batches.

For most meats and a number of vegetables, we actually prefer cooking them on our grill. We use a charcoal grill because we love the more smokey flavor it gives food than a gas grill (don’t even get me started on when we add hickory smoking chips in there).

Weber 741001 Original Kettle 22-Inch Charcoal Grill

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We batch prep most of our meats and veggies. It’s such a huge time saver.

You can throw all of your vegetables (potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, or whatever) together with some seasonings or on the grill (or into the oven) and 20-30 minutes later have enough veggies for a week’s worth of lunches and dinners. Same thing with your meat or protein of choice for the week.

Out of the 3 ways to meal prep like a pro, this is the method I use most often for prepping our lunches and dinner during the work week. It’s quick, tasty and super time effective.

We will often pick one or two lean proteins for the week (like chicken and ground turkey) and use one for lunches and one for dinners.

And little seasoning goes a lot way for variety in your protein. Even in one batch of chicken, we may use several different seasoning blends on different pieces to add a range of flavors throughout the week.

We also cook a couple big batches of complex carbs (rice, quinoa, baked potatoes, etc.), which are easy to do in a one pot/pan batch.

Once everything is cooked, it’s as simple as measuring out the food into our meal containers and popping them in the refrigerator. I love being able to open up the fridge and have full, healthy meals ready to grab at a moments notice.

On the weekends where I have time to do a big prep like this, it’s amazing how much time, effort and clean up it saves me throughout the rest of the week. It also helps keep us on track on busy days when it would be easier to pick up fast food than come home late and cook a full meal.

3 Compartment Meal Prep Containers [21 Pack]

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One big must-have item to meal prep like a pro (especially a full week meal prep) are some solid reusable lunch containers. These do not have to be expensive.

A solid set of meal prep containers will last for years and stack together well for more compact storage in the fridge and the Tupperware drawer. Look for a set that are microwave and dishwasher safe (like these sets linked in the post).

2 Container Meal Prep Containers [15 Pack]
Click here to see on Amazon

Personally, I really prefer ones that have multiple compartments, especially if you are doing a full prep at the beginning of the week. I just find that fruits, veggies and proteins tend to do better when housed in different compartments if they are going to be prepped a few days in advance (and nothing gets soggy).

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2. The Pre-Chop Prep

The next way to meal prep like a pro is the chop prep. Some people prefer the chop prep meal prep method. This method involves preparing your individual ingredients so they are ready to quickly cook and throw together.

This is a great option for people who enjoy cooking as a way to relax and unwind or just want to be a little more spontaneous in their meals day to day. You can still cook fresh meals on a daily basis, but it can help cut down your preparation time in the kitchen.

One your individual components (like fresh fruits and vegetables) and diced, chopped and prepped, store them in airtight containers in the refrigerator.

BPA-Free Container Set (20 Pack)
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Once again, you’ll want to invest in a sturdy set of containers for this. I cleared out out Tupperware drawer a few years ago of the random assortment of containers we’d accumulated over the years and invested in a couple new sets of meal prep and food storage containers (I feel like it just makes them easier to store and organize).

Having all of my fruits and veggies pre-prepped makes cooking a fast, enjoyable process that takes about half the time and clean up. It also helps add variety to be able to mix and match different ingredients and seasonings and keep me from getting bored with meals.

And having everything chopped and ready to go makes it simple to weigh and measure out consistent portions so I can keep track of counting my macros consistently.

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3. The Leftover Prep

The third way to meal prep like a pro is the leftover prep.

Let’s be real. Life happens. Some weeks we just end up having a busier schedule that doesn’t allow a full afternoon to sit down and do a full week’s meal prep for three or more hours in a row.

For some people, one big meal prep is just difficult to make happen any week. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t find a way to sneak in some mini prep work in a way that works to help keep you on track.

One very simple and effective way to get some meal prep in is by making a larger quantity of food at dinner time and letting the extra carry over into the next couple of days meals. It can be easier to break your prep work up this way, were maybe 2-3 nights a week you are making a big meal that you can portion into lunches and dinners you can enjoy over the next couple days.

This will start giving you some convenient meal options and even save you some time and effort from having to cook every night (which is sometimes the difference in resisting the temptation to hit up a fast food joint).

Weekly Dry Erase Meal Planner Fridge Magnet

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For a weekly leftover meal prep, planning out your menu ahead of time can really help keep your organized on which groceries and ingredients you need for the week.

If you’re a visual planner (or just get tired of your family continuously asking “what are we having for dinner?”), a magnetic meal planner for your fridge is the way to go for a weekly menu planner.

You can plan out your meals, have a place to write down grocery needs as they arise to keep an accurate list and stay visually motivated to hit your goals.

Paper Meal Planner with Tear Off Shopping List

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If you don’t have space for a fridge or wall planner, or prefer a more compact, hands-on approach, try opting for a notepad instead. You can still plan out your meals for the week and easily carry the whole thing along with your grocery list with you when you go to the supermarket.

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Choosing What Works for You

Those are my 3 ways to meal prep like a pro!

Meal prepping strategies can look different for different people or even change throughout different seasons of life. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works best for you.

My husband and I alternate between all three types of meal prep for whichever best fits our schedule that month. Some weekends I do a big, full meal prep that we munch on all week. But some weekends are just too busy for such an undertaking, so I do a couple smaller meal or chop preps during the week when it’s more realistic.

You do still have to be intentional, and take the time to prioritize a meal prep of any kind in your schedule.

That might mean skipping out on a social outing one afternoon to stay home and prep one afternoon to set yourself up for the week ahead. It might mean staying up a little later one night to do a mini meal prep that will provide healthy lunches and dinners the next couple days to help you avoid caving to a last minute fast food craving.

But meal prepping is absolutely, 100% worth the effort.

It will also start helping you make the change from a broken cycle of dieting (that can often be riddled with guilt and self-disappointment) to real, tangible lifestyle change. It takes a few months of getting a knack for it and finding what method works best for you, so don’t be discouraged if you feel like a hot mess when you are first getting into the process (because that’s how I felt at first).

Just keep at it and you will find your own rhythm for success and get better and faster at it every time you do it.

How to Incorporate Variety into Your Meal Prep

Ready for the next step in your meal prepping journey? Check out my post How to Incorporate Variety in Your Meal Prep and learn how to keep your meal prep fresh and interesting each week!

I address some of the FAQs of meal prep variety (“how do I keep from getting bored in my meal prep?”) and include three easy recipes to get started.

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All writing and images copyright © 2018 Rachel Elise Weems Woods