How to Meal Prep

I have been doing meal prepping since October 5^th, 2014 until now. I actually don’t know how I started meal prepping but all I can remember is when I was not working, I started cooking a lot and I saw one of my friends Instagram pictures, she had all these amazing food in tupper wares. Then when I got back to work that year, I realized I won’t have time to cook every day and I can’t buy my lunch all the time. Also, I wanted to eat healthy. I think I did meal prepping on my own and I just choose dishes I wanted to cook and put them in tupper wares. All I know for me to eat healthy, I needed to have a variety of vegetables in my dishes and eat more fruits too.  Through the three years I have been doing it, I have learned the steps in meal prep and how much to cook. Do what works for you when learning how to meal prep because everybody have different ways in having a system.  Here are the steps: planning, grocery shopping, cooking, and prepping.

1.      Planning – When it comes to planning, look at recipes online, your cookbooks, or health magazines of what you want to cook and choose 2-3 dishes. Choose meals that are simple and easy to make. Then write your grocery list in a notepad, type it on your phone in your notes etc. or take a picture of the ingredients on your phone from the website or magazine you got your recipe from. Also you can look online a list that is  organized already  of what you are going to buy and then pick from that list. Then find a dish of what you can cook from that list.
Here’s an example:
Categories:
1. Fruits: strawberries blueberries raspberries apples pears watermelon      

2. Vegetables: spinach  cauliflower cauliflower brussel sprouts mushrooms kale       
3. Protein:  chicken breast, ground turkey, salmon, grassfed beef, eggs, shrimp              
4. Healthy Fats: nuts, olive oil, avocado, almond butter      
5. Carbohydrates: quinoa, steel cut oats, brown rice, and wheat bread 

It's good to plan 1-2 days before you go grocery shopping. But you can also plan the day you are going to go grocery shopping if you are going to use recipes you have cooked before and it depends on your schedule too.  Pick a day when you will plan every week.

2.      Grocery shopping - Before going grocery shopping, check what things you already have in your kitchen from the recipe you chose to make. You can go grocery shopping to any grocery store that you prefer. Personally I love Trader's Joe because they are affordable, they have healthy choices, and they have a lot of organic items. If you are cooking for a group of 4 or more, it's good to go to Costco since they have things in bulks. Go grocery shopping 1-2 days before you cook and prep or the day you will cook. Bring your grocery list with you and stick to your list to save money.

3.      Cooking and Prepping – Divide the ingredients by the recipes you are going to make. Take out the cutting boards, pots, pans, and knives you are going to need and use. Do all the chopping of the vegetables for each meal and fruits you are going to freeze for the week. Make the meal first that takes the longest to cook and do the meals one at a time but try to wash your dishes while you are waiting for each dish to cook, so you don't have a lot of dishes to wash after you are done cooking. When all your cooking is done then that's when you start dividing and portioning your meals in each tupper ware you are going to use. You have food to eat for at least 3 days.

http://mealpreponfleek.com/meal-prep-101-for-beginners/

https://bellaforzafitness.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/tips-on-how-to-meal-prep/