Meal prepping often evokes images of a fridge stocked with identical plastic containers filled with chicken, broccoli and rice. For some, this can be a pretty bleak sight. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The truth is, there’s no “right” way to meal prep; the best strategy is the one that actually fits your schedule, your taste buds and how much effort you want to put in.
1. Choose Your Method
In the simplest of terms, meal prep is the act of preparing a meal or recipe and portioning it out to eat at a later time. You can pick the prep method that works best for you:
The Batch Cooker: Perfect if you don’t mind eating the same thing four times a week. You spend a few hours cooking a large recipe and portion it out for each day of the week. This way, you have grab-and-go meals at your disposal.
The “Line Cook”: If you hate leftovers, this is for you. Instead of cooking full meals, you wash, chop and season your ingredients in one go. When it’s time to eat, you cook a fresh meal in minutes because the hard work is already done; it’s just a matter of putting it in a pan. This works best for dinner.
The Buffet Style: Think of this as the middle ground between the first two options. Here, you pre-cook the building blocks of your meal, then you can mix and match them throughout the week.
The Busy Bee: While home cooking gives you the most control over your food and nutrition, some people just don’t have the time. Luckily, there are a ton of grab-and-go options that are still healthier (and often cheaper) than takeout or fast food. A B4B favorite is pairing a salad kit with a pouch of tuna salad or other ready-to-eat protein.
2. Plan Your Meals
Meal planning is the act of sitting down and figuring out what you’re going to eat for the week and what ingredients you need to make it. Consider things like your food needs, whether you’ll have access to a fridge or microwave at work or how many people you need to feed each day.
Coordinate Ingredients: Choose recipes that use similar base ingredients to save money and avoid wasting food.
Switch Up Flavors: Use the same base ingredients but vary the sauces and herbs to prevent boredom.
Portion Control: Decide how many days you are willing to eat the same thing. Most people prepare for three to five days at a time.
Freeze for Later: Freeze one or two portions to use as back-up meals on days you don’t feel like cooking.
Once you have your recipes locked in, decide how many meals you want to make out of your recipe, keeping in mind how long that food will keep in your fridge. From there, it’s a simple calculation to figure out how much to buy.
Tip: Most recipes you find online include a tool to scale the recipe to how many servings you’d like. If not, you can use the chart below to aid your calculations.
The Formula
The basic formula is usually a protein + a vegetable + a starch or grain, but you can play around with this based on your preferences and needs.
Ingredient
Raw Serving Size
Cooked Serving Size
Target servings (per meal)
Protein
4 oz
3 oz
1
Vegetable
2 cups leafy greens, 1 cup hard vegetable
1 cup leafy greens, 1 cup hard vegetable
1-2
Grain
¼ cup or 1 oz
½ cup
1
Packaged or pre-cut vegetables make it easier to estimate how many servings are in a unit, but can be pricier than veggies in their whole form. For more guidance on how many servings you can expect from vegetables as they’re sold in stores, you can use this guide. For more detailed information on serving sizes for each vegetable, click here.
3. Time-Saving Kitchen Tools
Now that you’ve chosen your recipe and method, time for the straightforward part: putting it all together! Use these tools and tricks to simplify the process:
Frozen Staples: Frozen fruits and pre-cut vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh and require zero chopping. They’re often cheaper, too.
Set it and Forget it: Use a slow cooker for roasts or stews, and a rice or pressure cooker for grains and legumes.
Prep Gear: Invest in a vegetable chopper, food processor or a high-quality chef’s knife to make your life easier.
Storage: Use dishwasher and freezer-safe containers. Glass is preferred as it doesn’t hold onto smells or stains, but plastic works just as well. When using “line cook” or “buffet” methods, try using deli containers to store prepped ingredients.
Tip: A vegetable chopper doesn’t have to break the bank. For $25-$30, you can get a decent quality chopper that turns 20 minutes of cutting into 60 seconds, and gives you uniform cuts you just don’t get with a knife.
Solving Common Meal Prep “Fails”
If you’ve tried prepping before and hated it, you probably just ran into one of these common hurdles. Here’s how to fix them:
“My salad is a soggy mess.”
The Fix: Layer your container. Put hard veggies at the bottom, proteins in the middle and leafy greens at the top.
Tip: Keep dressing separate and tuck a paper towel at the top to absorb moisture.
“I have no way to heat food at work.”
The Fix: Focus on sandwiches and wraps, pasta salads or grain bowls that taste good cold or at room temperature.
Tip: If you just really want a hot meal, try a heated lunch box that either runs on batteries or can be plugged into your car port. Or you can go the more old-fashioned route and use an insulated container (like a Thermos) to keep food hot or cold for hours.
“I work weekends and can’t meal prep then.”
The Fix: Break the rules. There is no law saying your prep must happen on a Sunday. Use whatever day off you have.
Meal prepping doesn’t have to be hard; you can adapt it to your lifestyle and make it work for you. Once you’ve mastered your own style of meal prep, you can enjoy increased savings, more free time and a healthier diet.
