Food Prep Steps 1, 2

I am too busy to eat well. I don’t have time to cook. Sound familiar? Well, let’s work around these issues together. 

I work 60-80 hours a week and I food prep every week. It is hard to find the time, but just like investing for retirement, if you devote a few hours every week toward making your meals, the pay-off is exponential!

Pick a weekend day, or off day to do the physical preparation. This usually takes an average of 2 hours of active time. Prior to this time plan your meals out and write a shopping grocery list. 

Step 1 Don’t Shop Hungry

We all have been there, you go to the store hungry, blackout, and wake up in your car with mozzarella sticks, pizza, and ice cream. 

When your body is in a fasting state, it tells you to GET CALORIES! What are the most calorie-dense foods (see Macros)? Yup, FAT! So that is why when you shop hungry you buy the stuff that is bad for you. 

 Prior to going to the store, eat something and go in with a list. 

 Step 2 Shop with a list

Get a game plan together. Your weekly plan will allow you to avoid the impulse buy and to make 1 trip only to the store. See you week in terms of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. We typically make the same thing for breakfast all week and lunch with 2-3 dinner options.

Handle your workweek and weekend separately. 

For the workweek, do you have meetings? Dinner meetings? Will you be home all week? Plan accordingly. 

Typically, I buy mostly veggies, (you can buy little grains), 1 protein for lunch (5 days), 1 protein for breakfast (usually eggs, 5 days), 2-3 dinner protein options (1-2 days apiece).

During the weekend do you go out to dinner? Do you go out for brunch? Do you have a cheat day or cheat meal? If so, your weekend plan will be variable. You may find you have extra from the prior week. You can always place this in a weekend prep slot. 

Make sure you buy cooking fats (olive oil, coconut oil, etc), spices, salt, and pepper. Eating snacks? Well, make sure you have the number of snacks/day x 5 work weekdays and 2 weekend days. 

Don’t forget your beverages, and liquid additives (creamer, milk, etc).

After figuring your day-to-day servings, let’s get to the details…the Macros.