Meal Prep 101: A Beginners Guide to Meal Prep

What is meal prepping? How does one start? Let’s begin with the basics. This meal prep guide for beginners will help you get a handle on how to begin, how to choose your meals, how to make a meal prep grocery list and much more.

Why Meal Prep?

Be prepared. It’s a slogan that’s stood the test of time because the relationship between looking ahead and successfully meeting one’s goals is undeniable. When it comes to what you eat and how you eat, preparedness matters if you want to reach your health and fitness goals. And, meal prepping helps you do just that!

What is Meal Prep?

Amy Shapiro, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. of realnutritionnyc defines meal prepping as preparing, cooking, or packaging food for three to four days in advance so you know exactly what and how much you are eating.
Having a healthy meal ready to enjoy can help you say no to unhealthy food choices. Tempted to go through the drive-thru on the way home to save time? No point when you’ve already got a delicious meal at home waiting for you! Taco truck pull up in front of the office again? No sweat — you’ve already packed a hearty lunch you’re looking forward to. Someone brought donuts to the office? Solve your snack craving with these meal prep snack ideas.
Research published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine saw a link between the amount of participants spent on home food preparation and the quality of their diet. What’s more, meal prepping can be a great time-saver. “I think of meal prepping as a way to put lunch, breakfast, or even dinner on autopilot for the week,” says Atlanta-based dietitian nutritionist Marisa Moore M.B.A., R.D.N., L.D. “You do all of the major chopping, cooking and cleaning on one day!”

How to Start Meal Prepping

Start SmallIf you not calculating calories yet, but just want to make more healthy food choices, start small by meal prepping a few of those!  Planning ahead and prepping your meals can be a great way to make more healthy choices and avoid temptation! If you’re not used to cooking, you might want to begin with just prepping one or two days at a time. “I recommend starting small with meal prep for a couple reasons,” says Moore. “It can take a couple hours to get through the chopping, cooking and cleaning [for a week’s worth of meals]. If you try to do too much too soon, you may be overwhelmed and not want to do it again.” Moore adds that starting small will allow you test one or two recipes to see how you like them and just how much you eat. “You wouldn’t want to make too much food and end up wasting it.”
Stock Up on Meal Prep EssentialsBefore we talk about a grocery list, you may need to dust off some other items to set yourself up for meal prep success. Here are some items you might find helpful to pick up if you don’t have them already:

• Meal Prep Containers
• Bento-Style Meal Prep Containers
• Pyrex Meal Prep Containers
• Mason Jars
• Chef’s Knife
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• Cutting Board
• Spatula
• Saute Pan, Small Saucepan, Baking Sheet
• Mixing Bowls
• Slow Cooker or Insta Pot (optional)
• Blender or Food Processor (optional)
• Portion Control Containers

Pick a Day to Meal PrepMoore recommends starting on a Sunday or Monday. Sundays often work well since most people have a little extra time. She adds that people also tend to be more motivated to engage in healthy behaviors at the beginning of the week. “Meal prep is a great way to carry that enthusiasm throughout the week with just a little effort upfront,” she says.

Come up with Easy Meals to PrepPlanning your meals for the week doesn’t have to be complicated. At first it might seem a little daunting, but it’s surprising how many different meals you can make with just a limited number of ingredients. Beachbody offers dozens of free meal preps that have already done all the heavy lifting for you! You can see all the different meal preps here. Most are five days long, there are vegetarian, vegan, grain-free options, and even no-cook options. The meal preps are divided by calorie level and most include step-by-step instructions and a grocery list.
If you’re not ready to commit to a full meal prep just yet, keep it simple. LA Life Chef Seth Santoro suggests no-fuss combinations like chicken, brown rice, and broccoli for dinner, and salmon, roasted carrots, and spinach for lunch. To add flavor without calories, stock up on herbs and spices.
Once you have your meal prep recipe list set, check your pantry and fridge for ingredients, make a list, and head to the store!

Prep Staples to Use LaterOnce you’re comfortable meal prepping, Seth Santoro recommends preparing staples — like rice, oats, lentils, and yams — in bulk. You’ll return to them again and again and they can take the longest to cook. “You can make a pot of rice, use some now for a meal, refrigerate a portion, and freeze a portion to be used later, he says.

Three More Tips to Make Meal Prep Easy:

• Include some no-cook recipes in your meal prep. Snacks like Shakeology and foods that don’t require cooking (like salads and overnight oats) can help save time in the prep process. Here’s a popular no-cook meal prep to get you started.
• When prepping, use the oven to cook several things at once. Veggies can generally roast together, and there’s a reason that sheet pan dinners are becoming so popular.
• Don’t shy away from the Crockpot or the Insta Pot. The former has long been a meal prep maven’s kitchen staple and the latter is quickly becoming one. They’re time savers – just add ingredients, set, and forget. While it’s doing the work on one recipe, you have time to focus on another.

21 Day Fix Portion Containers

One of the more difficult parts of starting any new diet or nutrition program is figuring out portion control. The color-coded 21 Day Fix containers were created to help solve this problem and make portion control easy and intuitive and get you away from the hassle of calorie counting. If it fits and it’s on the approved food list, you can eat it!

How the 21 Day Fix Containers Work

There are six colors corresponding to six different types of foods:

The green container is for vegetables. These can be cooked or raw, sliced or chopped. Some examples include lettuces, kale, squash, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Go ahead and really squish the lettuce into there to create a voluminous salad!

The purple container is for fruits. Berries can easily fit into this container as can grapes and cherries, but you’ll want to cut larger fruits like watermelon, or fruits with pits, like peaches.

The red container is for protein. Fill it with chicken breast, yogurt, eggs, tofu, or shellfish. For some of the other protein, consult the food list in your guide.

The yellow container is for more caloric carbs, as well as starches. This is where you’ll fit in foods like rice, beans, sweet potatoes, and whole-grain pasta into your diet. For foods that don’t easily fit into your container such as waffles and tortillas, the portion amounts are in your 21 Day Fix guide.

The blue container is for healthy fats. Mashed avocado, nuts, cheese, and hummus are just a few of the things you can put in this container.

The orange container is for seeds and dressings. It is the smallest and is used for calorie-dense foods like seeds, olives, coconut, and 21 Day Fix-approved dressings.

There is also a teaspoon measurement included in the 21 Day Fix program, and this is for oils and butters, such as olive oil and peanut butter. A teaspoon is not provided with the containers, so you’ll need to use your own. (And who doesn’t have a teaspoon in their kitchen?)

How To Use Them

Now that you know what goes in the containers, it’s time to use them. Although you don’t have to count your calories each day, you should use page 4 of your guide to figure out approximately how many calories you need in a day. Once you do, take a look at the 21 chart on page 19 that will let you how many containers of each color you should eat each day for your calorie range. If you’re paying attention to macronutrient percentages, you’ll notice that the plan is roughly 40% carbohydrates, 30%protein, and 30% fat.

Although the guide contains recommendations for how much of one type of food can fit into a container, you can mix and match foods of the same category to fill a single container. For example, if you don’t want to use a whole green container for spinach, then you can fill one half full of spinach and the other half full of carrots, and it will still equal one green container.

As convenient and transportable as the containers are, you don’t have to eat out of them. You can measure out the portions in the containers and then empty the container out onto a plate or into a bowl.

Why the 21 Day Fix Container System Works

You don’t have to count calories. You only count containers. And it’s a lot easier to keep track of three green containers than x number of calories.

It’s definitely enough food. Often when people begin this program, they find that they’re full even before they’ve finished all their container portions for the day. That’s because healthy food has more volume than junk food. If you find you find this is the case for you, only eat what you can, but make sure to eat a little from all the containers instead of just filling up on your favorite kind and avoiding what you like the least.

It’s practical. Portion control is about moderation and being aware of what you’re eating. The containers help you do this. After you’ve completed your first 21 days, you’ll have a good idea of how many fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats you should be eating every day.

Need some ideas on how to use yours containers? The creator of the 21 Day Fix, Autumn Calabrese, created the FIXATE cookbook for you. And, here are some sample meal plans you can use too!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions! No pressure and I will not try to sell you anything!! I am here to help.