Meal prep sounds very ‘bodybuilder’ to most people. Taking the time to cook each component and separate them into individual tupperware dishes to make perfect transportable meals that are all exactly the same. When I think of doing that, it reminds me of a Vine where a guy is talking to his dog and says “Hey boy, what do you want for dinner today? The usual? That’s show biz!” – that’s exactly what eating that way is, show biz. Perfect little meals that you take with you everywhere, that have specific macro nutrient make ups, are excellent and efficient for bodybuilders looking to step on stage and put on a show. However, 99% of us aren’t looking to step onto a bodybuilding stage; we just want to look good and feel good. Eating the same meal for every meal, day after day isn’t necessary.
While bodybuilders worldwide have adopted meal prep, that doesn’t mean it’s not useful for the rest of us. When it comes to weight loss or muscle growth, your diet plan is going to make a huge impact, and as the saying goes “be prepared or prepare to fail.”
What might brighten your day is the fact that you only need to prep a few things to get you through the week and stay on track with your plans. This works because while we don’t tend to eat the same meal every time, most of us eat similar foods every day, maybe just combined or seasoned differently.
To lock down the flexible diet meal prep you start before you even buy the food – by taking a few minutes and making your grocery list. Think about what meals you might like to eat during the week and what foods they have in common. You’ll probably notice there are some foods that come up often. For me, it’s lean ground beef, chicken breast, broccoli, and carrots. This obviously isn’t all that I eat but it lets me know what I should have on hand.
Now that you have your groceries, here comes the actual meal prep bit. You want to keep things open and flexible so you only want to prep the bare essentials. Hint: it’s the foods that come up most often when you made a rough plan of what you’d like to eat during the week. I prep only my main protein sources like chicken and beef. I’ll also prep some veggies by either just pre-cutting them or cooking enough for a couple days. You may also want to pre-make some carb source but you don’t need to as they cook fairly quickly.
Now I have three Tupperware dishes in my fridge, beef, chicken, and vegetables. With these main food staples I can make many quick and easy dishes like; salads, wraps, bowls, and sandwiches. By using different seasonings or sauces, I can have many different flavours that all fit within my diet plan.
You can plan your diet and still eat many different things. By having your staples ready, you eliminate the stress of having to make last minute decisions, and when you have some extra time, you can cook other things. Never get bored of your diet again!