Sometimes the day can pass by so quickly, and in the evening, you don’t always have time to whip up a dinner that’s worthy of the chef’s kiss. You think about just ordering out again tonight, but you’ve done that a few times this week already, and the cost is starting to add up. Nothing quick and easy to make is coming to your head, and you feel stuck. I was tired of ending up in situations like this, so I started adding a meal prep day into my weekly routine.

With the right meal prep strategy, you can be a ninja in your kitchen, creating quick and nutritious meals without hours in the kitchen. Here, I will show you how to stop feeling overwhelmed with cooking and start meal prepping in just 5 easy steps!

What is meal prep?

Meal prepping is a simple approach to making nutritious and delicious meals by taking out the guesswork of what to eat. It’s effective, reduces waste, saves time, is budget-friendly, and doesn’t have to be complicated.

This method gives you control over what goes in your food and how you prepare it; perfect for anyone who wants to stay on track with their health goals. Meal prepping makes it easier to control your portions, focus on healthy recipes, and avoid processed foods. In addition, planning can help you stop yourself from ordering greasy fast food just because it’s fast and easy!

Is meal prep for everyone?

Making meals ahead of time can be a great idea whether you are feeding a family or just yourself! For instance, some people might make individual portions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Others cook enough food for 2 or 3 lunch meals and nothing else. Try different things out and see what fits best into your life.

5 Easy Meal Prep Ideas For Beginners

1. Gather Kitchen Utensils

You’ll want to start by ensuring you have all the proper utensils you need to prep and cook a homemade meal. Here are the supplies I recommend:

• Small, medium, and large storage containers, Snapware 2 cup glass storage containers– durable, freezer, microwave, and dishwasher friendly, and are great for pre-cooked meals
• 6 cup glass storage containers – great for chopped veggies
• Sandwich Stasher bags – great for chicken marinades, energy bites, smaller freezer meals, and more.
• Reusable sandwich bags  – great for freezer meals
• Make enough room in your fridge and freezer to store those containers
• A good set of pots and pants
• A blender
• Shaker bottles for drinks on the go
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Food labels and a marker

Avoid storing food in plastic whenever you can, and keep plastic out of the microwave whenever possible. Glass or stainless storage containers would be the optimal choice.

2. Easy Meal Prepping Ideas

A few common strategies I use when meal prepping include:

• Batch cooking – Make a large batch of one specific recipe, split it into several portion-size containers and freeze for future use.
• Reheating leftovers – as part of a meal you cooked already, all you do is heat it.
• Cut up vegetables/fruits – You can use these for several different meals ahead of time to cut down on prepping time.
• Making one large meal – Just add different vegetables or sides each time for the next time you eat it and freeze the rest.

Try these out to figure out what works for you. Start by choosing the most appealing method, then slowly experiment with the others to determine what suits your lifestyle and taste best.

We discuss different meal prep strategies in the Pursue Your Spark Blueprint, including the Sunday ritual. For this one, I suggest planning on 2 – 3 hours of chopping and cooking your meals for the week on Sunday. This may seem like a lot of time, but you will prepare ALL of your meals for the week. Cooking on Sunday will ensure that you use most of the groceries you bought for the week, and nothing will spoil. Then you save one meal for Sunday night’s dinner.

This approach takes a bit more planning and organization when starting to meal plan and prep. The Pursue Your Spark Blueprint is based on Intermittent Fasting strategies. Following this lifestyle makes meal prepping even easier, as you have fewer meals to prepare. You can plan and prep healthy and nutritious meals ahead of time so that you will reach your Intermittent Fasting goals of fat and weight loss.

3. What foods can I use when meal prepping?

When meal prepping, you must consider how the ingredients may hold up after being thawed out and reheated.

Foods that meal prep well:

• grains & pasta (cooked)
• cooked beans
• cooked meat
• roasted vegetables
• hearty fresh vegetables (think celery, carrots, peas, bell peppers, kale, cabbage, radishes, etc.)
• nuts & seeds
• cheese

Foods that DON’T meal prep well:

• softer fruits and vegetables (lettuce, berries, and cut fruit)
• crunchy items like fried food, crackers, or chips

Think about how you’ll reheat your meals. Do you have access to a microwave, or do you rely on your stovetop or oven? Consider recipes that you can eat cold or at room temperature. Start with leftovers from the night before and enjoy them as lunch. You can also throw together a Buddha Bowl with the leftovers.

Remember, keep it simple to start. Then, once you get the hang of meal prepping, experiment with new recipes and new ingredients.

4. Meal Prep Mistakes to Avoid

• Make meal prep simple and start with one-pot meals or sheet pan meals. Focus only on one meal, to begin with, instead of preplanning all meals for the week. Make the first meal a little larger to have leftovers that you can combine with a different protein or vegetable for another meal. For example, grill some chicken and bake sweet potatoes, carrots, and broccoli on a one-pan sheet for a meal. The next day, slice the chicken over pasta and a side of the vegetables. Keep it simple so that you don’t feel overwhelmed.

• Cook meals you actually eat. Keep your meals balanced depending on your nutrition preference. Here are some examples of how you can combine them:
  • Complete: Protein + Grain + Vegetable (chicken, sweet potatoes, broccoli)
  • Lower Carb: Protein + Vegetable + Vegetable (salmon, broccoli, red peppers)
  • Vegetarian: Legume + Grain + Vegetable (black beans, quinoa, corn)

Bottom line: Make recipes and meals you love already not to waste time or food.

• Make enough food. That sounds silly, but if you only make enough for dinner and forget that you want to eat the leftovers for lunch, that leaves you without dinner for the following evening. Fit your meal prep into your lifestyle.

Meal prep may sound complicated at first, but once you have a stable recipe, you’ll love to make a folder (I use a Google doc with links to save my favorite recipes). This makes it easy to keep and find your favorites for easy meal prep planning.

5. Ready to get started?

1. Make sure your kitchen is set up (it doesn’t have to be perfect, but you need containers)
2. Pick 1 or two recipes for the week
3. Check for items you may already have in your pantry
4. Create your shopping list
5. Plan on how you are going to food prep based on the examples above
6. Only buy what’s on the list to avoid food waste

Are you stumped for recipes? Check out our collection of anytime meals.

Meal prep helps you stay focused on your nutrition goals and takes the stress from planning and preparing meals.

My ninja tip: When choosing a recipe, check if the portions are for 2, 4, or 6 people and adjust the amount for how many people you’re cooking. I made that mistake initially, and we ended with way too many leftovers for two people.

The Pursue Your Spark Blueprint has an entire section on food prep, cooking strategies, and easy recipes that you can choose from while practicing Intermittent Fasting. I invite you to take a look and see if you’re interested in joining us, as the program is opening up again soon.