Dieting can be challenging if you don’t know your way around a kitchen. But don’t worry I am here to save the day. No more dry chicken, overcooked broccoli, and basic brown rice. This is the guide to Meal Prep Ideas and Essentials for an Absolute Beginner.
Meal prepping at least some items ahead of time can seriously help with diet adherence and overall enjoyment. If you are constantly in the kitchen every single day, you are going to get overwhelmed, that’s not what we want.
Here are some tips and tricks that have worked for me and my online coaching clients:
- Prep proteins ahead of time
- Make tasty low calorie sauces
- Find 3-5 go-to recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner that you actually enjoy. Variety is key.
- Instant pot is your friend.
- Air fryer is your buddy.
- Use high quality spices.
- Get a sharp ass knife.
- Get some high quality pans.
Let’s break it down:
Meal Prep Ideas and Essentials
Prep Proteins Ahead Of Time
This means doing things like grilling marinated chicken in batches, making high protein chili ahead of time, grilling/stir-frying tofu or tempeh ahead of time, etc..
Notice I said MARINADE.
You want to add flavor before you cook these proteins, and ideally, let them sit in the fridge in a ziplock or airtight container for 24-36 hours before cooking them for the upcoming week.
Here’s some marinade math, you can use this to create your own go-to marinade, using the flavors you enjoy the most. (you can use this with chicken, steak, shrimp, Mahi, tempeh, tofu, etc…)
Now, in order to use this marinade math effectively, you will want to use the right amount of marinade for however much protein you are cooking.
The General Rule of thumb is 1/2 C. Marinade per pound of protein.
The marinade example above makes about 4 Cups of the marinade (Spices and Aromatics don’t have much volume.)
Now that you’ve got your protein marinaded, how should you cook them?
If you’ve got a gas grill, I would highly recommend heating it up to 400-450 degrees and grilling your proteins. This will create the most flavor and allow for the marinade to really shine.
If you’d like to avoid the grill, or just don’t have access, feel free to bake in the oven or better yet, AIRFRYER, which I will get to a little later.
I recommend a meat thermometer here, to ensure that your proteins are cooked thoroughly, but not overdone and dry.
Here are some basic cook temps for proteins:
I usually pull my proteins off about 5-10 degrees under these recommendations, because as proteins rest, they will cook more. This will ensure your proteins aren’t dry and overcooked.
If you are prepping tofu or tempeh here, you can grill these as well, however they are perfectly safe to eat raw, so cook them to your desired preference, usually until golden brown or slightly charred.
PS: If you are worried about the fat/oil content of these marinades, you can always reduce it, swap it out with 2% greek yogurt, or just remove it completely. Your marinade and your finished product will not be nearly as delicious, but sometimes making sacrifices is important.
Meal Prep Ideas and Essentials
Tasty Low Calorie Sauces
A key to making your meal prep something that you actually look forward to is having a few sauces on deck.
You can always buy store-bought hot sauces, Bolthouse farms low-calorie dressing and low sugar bbq sauces, but making some staples at home is very quick and easy, and will save you a ton of money and macros.
A key ingredient here for a lot of my go-to sauces is greek yogurt. I use 2%, but if you have nonfat, that is perfectly fine as well.
Here are a couple low-calorie sauce ideas:
If you find that these sauces/dressings are too thick, add water to get them to the right consistency.
Also, you may want to add more salt and pepper to taste. I purposely made them light on salt, as I know many have different preferences when it comes to sodium.
As a frame of reference, you can make many different sauces low calorie by subbing out cream or sour cream for greek yogurt; such as a pesto cream sauce, marsala cream sauce, you can even use it in curries in place of full-fat coconut milk.
Don’t feel like making your own sauces? Check out Bolthouse Farms dressings at your grocery stores. They are made with yogurt, and typically 35-40 calories per serving. That’s saving you so many calories at the end of the day, not to mention sauces will help to keep your meals interesting and add more flavor.
FLAVOR = DIET ADHERENCE
Meal Prep Ideas and Essentials
Find 3-5 go-to recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner that you actually enjoy. Variety is key.
I personally am not a fan of generic meal plans. As a matter of fact, I usually give my clients sample meal plans in the beginning, just to give them some ideas, but then I slowly teach them to make their own recipes using their dedicated macros.
In order to find some recipes that you are going to enjoy, you first need to know your calories. If you haven’t checked it out yet, here is my free calorie calculator.
It will give you a good idea of where to start.
For breakfast, I recommend something like an egg-white frittata, a smoothie bowl, protein oats, a tofu scramble, or a protein shake.
The goal here is to find something you actually enjoy and switch it up with different veggies, seasonings, sauces, toppings, etc…
Get in your protein early in the day, that way you are not scrambling (no pun intended) to get it in later, and you can save room for things you enjoy like ice cream or cookies (I’ll get to these later).
For Lunch, I usually recommend my clients eat a BIG ASS SALAD every day.
I mix the seasonings from the chipotle crema and the ranch to make a chipotle ranch dressing that is AMAZING and add it to a big bowl with cabbage, peppers, onions, broccoli slaw, barbecued chicken/tofu, some avocado, and tortilla chips.
I try to switch up my salads every couple days, but using a rotating variety of greens, veggies, and dressings, will help you adhere to your diet and it won’t ever get boring.
For Dinner, you can be a lot more FLEXIBLE.
This is usually where I will go out with friends, have a taco party, make a big feast with some friends, etc…You got in lots of veggies and protein already, so if you want to have something more satisfying to your palate, go for it!
Diets should not be about restricting and eating bland foods. It should be about being more mindful about our habits. You can still have some less nutritious foods, but make most of your day surrounding a lot of fruits, veggies, and lean proteins.
It is not uncommon for me to make a protein brownie with a scoop of halo-top ice cream. This dessert usually costs me about 300-500 calories, but it is well worth it, because it keeps me from feeling deprived while dieting.
You might be surprised to find that my clients and I regularly eat pizza, ice cream, and foods that are not “diet-friendly”.
The reason for this is that I promote a flexible dieting lifestyle. This is a way of eating that accounts for the right amount of calories and protein and allows you to not restrict certain foods or label anything as good or bad.
If I want to have pizza, I usually use low-fat cheese, or sub out pepperoni for chicken sausage. If I want to have ice cream, I usually sub out Ben and Jerry’s for halo top.
The key here is that I can enjoy a lot more food when I make a few very simple swaps.
Is this making sense yet? It all should be clicking right about now….
When meal prepping, it is not always important to prep every single meal. Just prepping your proteins, or just chopping your veggies, and making sauces will allow for some more creativity and flexibility in your meals.
For example: If you prep grilled chicken, you can make chicken tacos with chipotle cream one day, chicken curry with greek yogurt over rice, chicken shawarma with tzatziki sauce, chicken pasta with marsala cream sauce etc…you get the point. You don’t have to use chicken, but it is extremely versatile.
Instant pot is your friend.
The instant pot has really taken the stage in the last couple of years and having owned one for a while now, I can safely say I see why.
You can literally do damn near anything that an air fryer can’t do in an Instant Pot.
I am actually looking into getting a second one so that I can make rice at the same time I am slow cooking a whole chicken.
This thing is great for meal prepping on so many levels, and I will make a meal prepper’s guide to the instant pot at some point. (Stay tuned.)
I mainly use the instant pot as a way to prep proteins so they do not dry out. This is a good option during the colder months when grilling my proteins may not seem as feasible.
All you need to do is throw your proteins in the pot with some high-quality seasonings, and in 10-20 minutes they will be cooked perfectly. Once cooled, you can store in airtight containers and have easy, quick, high protein meals in no time.
Air Fryer is your buddy.
If you enjoy the convenience of home cooked meals without long prep times, GET AN AIR FRYER.
Trust me, you won’t regret it. They require no skills in the kitchen, and they are the ultimate diet hack.
Some nights after a long day of work, you just don’t feel like cooking. Throw in some prepped chicken, a couple handfuls of frozen veggies, and some sweet potatoes, and in 10 minutes you’ve got dinner.
Top that with some sauces, hot sauce, maybe some avocado, and you’ve got an amazing meal that you can bust out without even thinking about it.
Air fryers are 1,0000000X better than the microwave, because they keep your food crispy and bring it back to life.
Don’t think twice about it, just get one!
Use high quality spices.
Not only will upping your spice game seriously impress some company, it gives the flexibility of new tastes and flavors to keep your meals interesting.
Interesting meals = diet adherence
If you can adhere to a diet, you will make PROGRESS. Not only will it not even seem like you are in a deficit because your food will be so flavorful, but you will actually look forward to your meals!
I always recommend you buy spices in bulk. Those little jars at the grocery store are a rip-off, and once you spend $50-100 on some good quality organic spices on amazon, you will be set up for quite some time. Once you buy high quality spices, you will never go back to using those little jars again.
You can store these spices in mason jars, or BPA free togo containers for a very reasonable price.
Some of my favorite herbs/spices:
- Smoked paprika
- Coriander
- Cayenne pepper
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Chili powder
- Curry powder
- Garam masala
- Tandoori mix
- Seasoning salt
- Celery salt
- Cumin
- Sage
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Basil
- Oregano
- Italian blends
Find ones that you enjoy, and make your own seasoning blends. It is surprisingly easy, and there are tons of seasoning blend recipes online. I have an all purpose blend with garlic, onion, sea salt, smoked paprika, cayenne, curry powder, celery salt, and sage. I use it on everything, even air-fried potatoes!
Get a sharp ass knife!
This one is CRUCIAL. If you are going to be prepping in the kitchen, having a nice German or Japanese blade will not only save you time, but it is also much SAFER.
Make sure your knife is very sharp, as you will have more control over where the blade goes. The duller your knife, the more risk of cutting yourself, and the longer your prep will take.
Some knives that i personally own:
Keep your knives sharp by taking them into a specialist once every 3 months at least. It will really make a HUGE difference in your prep time.
Get some high quality pans.
Having good quality cookware is so important. Not only will it make your food taste better and give you more consistent browning, but better nonstick coating means you don’t have to use as much oil. This will cut down on your calories, and make clean-up a lot easier.
What’s the worst part about cooking? The clean-up. Doing dishes sucks. Make your life easier by buying some awesome nonstick cookware.
My favorites are from Calphalon.
Here’s a classic 2 piece for under $50
If you are looking for a budget full set, check out T-fal.
Here’s a full set for less than $100
Having high-quality pans will make your life so much easier, and make your food taste better. No more letting your dishes soak for hours, just rinse em, and wipe em out and you are DONE.
Easy money.
Like these meal prep tips? Leave me a comment down below if you had to learn these the hard way, I know I did!