Simple Meal prepping 101 Beginners guide
Easy & effective guide to Meal prepping: the key to healthy living
For most of us life can get pretty hectic and cooking healthy food is one of those things that is, sadly, often sacrificed for more time. Failing to prep your meals and manage your time effectively will mean that there’s an increased chance of you eating unhealthy food.
Make meal prep your new best friend, and you’ll soon stop reaching for the JustEat app on your phone!
Kaila Itsines, founder of www.kailaitsines.com, is responsible for transforming millions of female bodies around the world through the help of her great online fitness app.
She explains what a meal prep is all about:
“Meal prep can mean different things to each person, so it is important you find a routine that works for you. Essentially, it should save you time in the kitchen and make it easier for you to eat healthier during the week. You may choose to prepare only breakfasts, dinners or even all of your meals, including your snacks.” “You may need to use a little bit of trial and error to get settled into a routine that suits your lifestyle and preferences. If you always find yourself in a hurry to get out of the door in the morning and your breakfast consists of a takeaway croissant, then preparing breakfast will help you. Likewise, if you struggle to get dinner together because you work late, you should focus on preparing dinners”. |
Simple & practical meal prep tips
These prep tips worked for me and they’ll work for you too
- Invest in good quality containers. Chemicals from cheap plastic containers can get into your food over time, so I always use one made from glass.
- If you’ve just started meal prepping, don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to plan an entire week’s worth of meals in a day! Keep it simple and start small – you could begin by only prepping your breakfast for a week.
- Multitask your meal I like to prepare my meals while I’m waiting for my henna hair dye to work. Doing both of these tasks at the same time saves me SO much time.
- Begin every meal prep by writing a list of all the ingredients you need to buy and what you already have in the This will give you an idea of what to make for the week ahead.
- Don’t over-prep. Sticking rigidly to a weekly meal plan might not be for everyone. What if plans change or you don’t fancy salmon come Tuesday? Allow space for manoeuvre by prepping for just 3-4 days at a time
- Make use of your I have a big deep freezer which allows me to store large batches of soup, bones to make bouillon and extra meals. This has really helped me to prep ahead.
- One of my favourite prep-ahead meals is soup. It’s so simple to and easy to make and can be frozen to eat another day
- Preparing and cutting onions or vegetables take up a lot of my time so I do this all in one go and then use them throughout the week to cook me. This way the only thing I need to cook from scratch each day is my meat or fish. That literally takes me a few minutes of my time.
- Keep healthy snacks around so you can grab it when you’re peckish, but don’t over-snack. It is good to give your body some rest in between
- If you’re going on a long journey, take some healthy snacks with you, or look up any healthy eating spots that are on your route. This way you avoid a fast-food. The amount of time you spend on meal-prepping entirely depends on you. You can spend 1-3 hours a week, or even a whole day. The main thing is that you do it all in one go and get it out of the way, so you have more time during the week.
- Ensure to keep soups or bouillon stocked to your freezer or It’s nutritious and soothing hunger immediately, leaving you to feel relaxed and less stressed when you get an instant craving or desire.
I like to keep cooking simple, effective and NOT time-consuming
I don’t have time to spend making elaborate meals in the kitchen every day. This is something I only do on occasions when I have friends or family visit. The most important thing for me is that I eat nutritious food to stay healthy, slim, glowing and energetic. So simple, effective, delicious, nutritious and quick meals are best.
I’m not the type to stick rigidly to a recipe – I love experimenting with flavours, especially spices, homemade marinades, curry, curcumin, garam masala, cumin, ginger, coconut, mint, thyme and nutmeg. I like to marinade my meat and fish in herbs, lemon, garlic, salt and pepper. I also use olive oil to jazz up my veggies.
My breakfasts during the summer consist of homemade protein shakes, which keep me going for a few hours. They’re super tasty, nutritious and contain everything you need. Sometimes I’ll have another for lunch (especially on hot days). In winter-time, I’ll only have one shake in the morning, as my cravings are more for soups and warm things.
I also sip a lot of homemade bouillon (bone broth) to lower my appetite between meals and keep blood sugars stable.
There are a lot of great websites and Instagram accounts as great sources of information.
Some great Instagram accounts for meal prep inspiration are:
@mealpreponfleek
@fitfundaniya
@hooper.fit
@food_prepping
@fitchickscook
@meowmix
@kayla_itsines
Portion control and smart shopping
For easy tips on Portion Control, you can read on Dr Kellyan’s website: https://www.drkellyann. com/2013/12/07/can-paleo-make-you-fat/
For Smart shopping, advice explore the website of Vari Hari: www.foodbabe.com. Vari Hari is the creator of Foodbabe.com and New York bestselling author of the Food Babe Way.
My favourite readings about meal prepping
- Smart meal prep for beginners
- Keto meal prep
- Healthy mealprep
- Dr. Kellyan
- Meal prep your way to weight loss
Good luck!
Empowering others via my anti-ageing wellness platform and holistic health books
I hope you liked this Simple Meal prepping 101 Beginners guide.
I changed the way I eat in 2011 when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue and adrenal fatigue, conditions where the thyroid is affected. I had no energy, was exhausted, desperate, and my weight had sky-rocketed.
Because of that, I decided to ditch sugars, processed foods, grains, dairy and toxic chemicals. And step-by-step, I introduced a whole-foods-based (first Paleo) and later an AIP (autoimmune protocol) friendly ketogenic approach to food which gave me my life, vitality, happiness and energy back!
Now, through my holistic wellness books and anti-ageing health platform, I want to empower people around the world do the same and regain their health, hair, life, vitality and beauty!
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