In a world where people are busier than ever, the last thing you likely want to do after a long day of working, possibly driving the kids all over the place, and hopefully hitting the gym is come home to cook a healthy meal from scratch. These days, it’s way too easy to stop and get fast food for dinner on the way home which is likely less than optimal for your health. Even if you can find a healthy fast food option (which is thankfully becoming more popular nowadays), it certainly won’t be cheap. This is where meal prepping can be a game changer if it’s not already part of your routine! And thankfully, you don’t need to be a world class chef; with these simple tips we’re about to share, you’ll be able to set your week up for nutritional success in no time.
Meal prepping can be super intimidating to begin with. Do a quick “Meal Prep” search on Instagram and you’ll become inundated with what looks like 5-Star Michelin meals, perfectly weighed and portioned, packed away in fancy, colour-coordinated Tupperware containers. Thankfully, it doesn’t need to be nearly this complicated. We all have busy lives; meal prepping is supposed to reduce stress, not increase it! We have to remember that at its core, meal prepping is simply planned, structured leftovers with a fancy name; people have been eating leftovers forever! We also don’t need to spend 5 hours on a Sunday prepping every single meal we’re going to eat for the entire week. Food will typically last safely in the fridge for up to four days, so to start, if on a Sunday we can pick ONE meal for the week (likely lunch OR dinner) and prep that, we’ll be good for Monday through Thursday and can then repeat the process. As with training, start small and simple and build from there.
A Typical, Balanced Meal:
When looking to build a quality meal, we can simply include a protein source, carbohydrate source, fat source, and a vegetable and be well on our way to improved health and performance. What we choose for each of these should vary so that we feed our body a variety of different micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and avoid boredom and staleness in our eating.
How to Portion
As mentioned above, if we can add a protein, carbohydrate, fat, and vegetable to each meal, we’ll be off to a great start: but how much of each should we add? At IPC, for both ourselves as coaches and for our clients, we tend to recommend the Precision Nutrition Hand Portion Guide as a great starting point that we can adjust from if need be.
Proteins: We should look to build all of our meals around protein. As mentioned above, rotating which protein source we eat (chicken, beef, pork, fish etc.) will help ensure we consume a wide variety of micronutrients and also avoid boredom. Another simple tip is to see what meats are on sale each week and base your meals around that.
Carbohydrates: Contrary to popular belief, carbs are certainly not evil; in fact, they are necessary! The typical problem is not carbohydrate consumption, but rather carbohydrate OVERconsumption. Carbs are necessary for both energy and recovery. The issue is that they taste great and relatively aren’t very filling, so people tend to overeat them. This is where the hand portions can come in and save the day! Feel free to vary between rices, potatoes (white or sweet), or different pastas.
Fats: Fats may be something like avocado, a thumb-size serving of nuts or seeds, or simply the olive oil you cook your food in.
Vegetables: Varying the vegetables you’re eating can also ensure you’re consuming a variety of micronutrients. You can eat what’s in season at the time to add variety and save money, or you can even buy your vegetables frozen. They have the same nutritional value when frozen but of course last much longer; there’s nothing worse than going to cook your vegetables at the end of the week and looking in the fridge to see that they’ve gone rotten!
Appliances That May Help
Some all-star appliances you should add to your kitchen that will help transform your meal-prepping endeavours include a rice cooker, a slow cooker, and an air fryer. The beauty of these appliances is that you’re able to simply “set it and forget it” and can cook tasty, healthy foods in bulk. Meal prepping things like stir fries are great as well but of course require attention during cooking. The options below allow you to cook your meals while you’re busy with the rest of life’s responsibilities.
My non-negotiable would be a rice cooker if I had to just pick one, simply because they’re inexpensive (you can get a rice cooker at Canadian Tire for $20) and can cook plenty of great-tasting rice and vegetables; perfect for meal prepping in bulk!
A bit more expensive but equally useful if possible is an air fryer. You can essentially cook anything you already cook in your oven in half the time and with double the flavour. Bonus points: if you invest in a two-drawer air fryer, you can now cook your protein in one drawer and carbohydrates in the other drawer. Now you’re really cooking with gas!
Finally, another more expensive but incredibly useful appliance you can use as part of your meal prepping endeavours is a slow cooker. You can cook tender and flavourful meals in your slow cooker with minimal effort; as mentioned above, just set it and forget it!
Cost-Effective:
While meal prepping may cost you a bit of your time, it’s worth it for the money you can save and the insurance that you’ll always have something healthy to eat when you need to. Just this past week I bought a pack of 12 chicken thighs for $10 and barbecued them, paired them with steamed white rice and frozen vegetables, and boom: three tasty and healthy meals for <$5 apiece. You’d be lucky to buy one healthy meal like that from a fast food restaurant for $15 nowadays! Buying your meats in bulk and your vegetables frozen can certainly help cut costs of meal prepping as well.
If Nothing Else:
Some people don’t love the idea of eating leftovers, and that’s okay too. Our simplest advice would be to at least cut up your produce and meat the same day you buy your groceries when possible so that when you do go to cook, you have one less step to perform in creating that healthy meal.
P.S. If you’re looking for any further advice on how to adjust your nutrition to fit your needs, just hit us up below; we’d love to help!
