5 Simple Meal Prep Strategies
Meal prepping is a powerful tool for achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and also drive maximal physique outcomes. By preparing meals in advance, you can take control of your nutrition, save time, and ensure that you're hitting your macros. Follow these five simple strategies below to make meal prepping for the week a breeze!
1. Calculate Your Calorie & Macro Targets
Determine your daily caloric needs based on your goals, such as weight loss, maintenance, or muscle gain. If you’re just getting started and you’re not working with anyone, using an online BMR calculator to establish your daily caloric requirements is a fine place to start.
Once you know your BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) you’ll need to adjust your calories to your activity levels to get your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). To do this, take your calorie requirements and multiply by 1.2 -1.4 if you’re mostly sedentary, multiply by 1.4 - 1.6 if you’re moderately active, multiply by 1.6 - 1.8 if you’re highly active.
After you calculate your TDEE you need to adjust for your goals. For instance, if you want to put on mass, adding 500 calories a day to TDEE would be your starting point. If you want to lose weight, you subtract 500 calories per day.
Note that the estimates that calculators are just that—estimates. Your requirements may have to be adjusted based on your genetics and individual needs.
Now that you know your caloric requirements, you can divide it up into protein, carbs, and fats to get your macro targets (or you can just hire a coach to figure it out for you).
2. Plan Your Meals
Now that you have your daily macros calculated you can start meal planning. Use a macro tracking app like MacrosFirst or MyFitnessPal and fill in your meals for the week to make sure you have a plan to hit your macros.
3. Whole, Unprocessed Foods
Opt for whole, unprocessed foods that are rich in nutrients as the base of your diet. Include plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats in your meal prep. Fruits and veggies are your friend and you requires little to no time to prep.
3. Batch Cook
Prepare several portions at once, store them in individual containers, and grab them on the go during the week. Lean towards simple meals that you can cook in large batches. Preparing larger quantities of key ingredients like grains, proteins, and roasted vegetables that can be mixed and matched throughout the week saves time and allows for a variety of meal options.
Throw a few pounds of chicken breast or sirloin steaks on the grill. Try cooking large batches of rice in a rice cooker. Throw a bunch of potatoes in the oven and bake them. Make sure you cook more than you normally do.
4. Portion Control
Invest in a good quality digital food scale to ensure your portions line up with your macro targets. You can also invest in a set of meal prep containers for easy storage.
Divide your meals into appropriate serving sizes, and label them with the date to maintain freshness.
5. Freezing for Convenience
Freeze what you’re not going to eat within three days. Certain meals, such as soups, stews, and casseroles, can be prepared in larger batches and frozen in individual portions. This way, you'll have ready-to-eat meals for a busy week.
