Meal Prep 101

The easiest way to nutritionally stay on track is to meal prep and plan ahead. If you don’t have healthy food already cooked, it’s much more likely you come home after a long day and eat the first thing you see or order takeout because you don’t have the energy to make a nice healthy meal. After a long day of practice, classes, and lab there’s no chance I would have the energy to make dinner. Instead, I make all of my food for the week on Sunday’s. I take the time to figure out what I want to cook for the week and it saves a lot of time in the long run.

When I first began meal prepping, it would stress me out. I would try to find all of these elaborate recipes, and I felt like I had to switch it up every week. Now, I just make it simple and typically make the same things each week. I never really get tired of eating the same things. I don’t plan out what I’m eating for each specific day. Instead, I just make a bunch of food on Sunday and whatever I’m in the mood for during the week, I’ll eat. Meal prep does not have to be time consuming or stressful. I’ve learned how to be an efficient meal prepper because who has the time to cook all day?!

So, what do I make? Chicken, ground turkey, veggies, sweet potatoes, and sometimes overnight oats. For the chicken, I buy boneless skinless chicken breast 97-99% fat free. I lightly coat each breast with olive oil, cover each side with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. I rub the seasonings in and throw them on my mini george foreman grill for about 7 minutes and they’re done. Easy. For the ground turkey, I buy 93-99% fat free. I brown the meat on the stove then add 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, a dash of cayenne pepper and a dash of salt. I add ⅓ cup of water along with the seasonings and let it cook for a little on low heat. (I don’t actually measure the seasonings out because I never have time, but that’s roughly what I add. I also sometimes add the taco seasoning mix instead of all the different spices if I really don’t have time). I try to buy two types of veggies. This week I bought brussel sprouts and asparagus. For both, I put them on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I put them in the oven at 425℉ for about 25 minutes or until they’re a little crispy. I do the same exact thing with sweet potatoes. Olive oil, salt, and pepper- easy and tasty. I’ve tried overnight oats here and there, but I just love my warm bowl of oats in the morning. I’ll usually just weigh out my oats the night before to save time and then add hot water and eat it before practice. I usually have about 50-55 g of old fashioned oats, 8 g of pbfit powdered peanut butter, and 60-70 g of banana for my pre-practice meal. So I’ll weigh out my oats and powdered pb the night before then just wake up, add hot water and my banana. (This meal is usually around 50 g carb, 5 g fat, 11 g protein- high carb&low fat before practice) I usually add about 30 g of Siggi's plain nonfat greek yogurt to get the protein a little higher.

During the week, I’ll use the chicken to throw in a huge salad or I’ll eat it with some sweet potatoes and veggies. I’ll use the ground turkey for homemade chipotle bowls- I put ground turkey, jasmine rice, avocado, and some black beans in a bowl and eat it for lunch or dinner. It’s my fav. I don’t meal prep everything because some things are just better cooked the same day. My eggs and egg whites I make whenever I want them because eggs aren’t time consuming to cook. Another tip that helps me stay on track is always being prepared with healthy snacks. If I know I have a super long day, I pack my prepped meals in tupperware but I also pack a crazy amount of snacks. I like to have extra healthy snacks in my backpack just in case I get hungry so I am not forced to make a bad food choice. I bring fuel for fire (https://www.fuelforfire.com), Rx bars- Pb chocolate is my fav (https://www.rxbar.com/shop/rxbar.html/), Perfect bars- I linked my fav flavor (https://shop.perfectbar.com/products/dark-chocolate-chip-peanut-butter-with-sea-salt), Siggi's nonfat greek yogurt (plain, mixed berry & acai, strawberry are go to’s), carrots and celery with hummus, FRUIT (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples), and beef jerky.

Since I eat roughly the same things during the week, I spice it up on weekends with my extra time. I’ll make shrimp, salmon, tilapia, or anything I normally don’t meal prep. I also am a little more lenient with my macros on weekends because I am pretty strict during the week. I let myself enjoy the weekends and not stress about hitting my numbers perfectly.

Here's a picture of the meal prep I did today. I had extra time so I made both sweet potatoes and russet potatoes. I also made some extra shrimp to throw in my egg whites or salads.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! I highly recommend giving meal prep a shot :)

- Just a Sprinkle of Jordan :)