There are two kinds of people in this world: those who find peace in cooking and those who…don’t cook. Alright, maybe that isn’t a comprehensive list of people, am I wrong?

When we talk about “food prep” or “meal prep,” we are referring to preparing your meals in batches to save time throughout the week. It also allows you to plan your days/meals and avoid going astray in terms of your nutrition routine and fitness goals.

There’s more than one way to get this task done, but here is what Team Elevate does step-by-step and how we recommend our members do it. If you’ve ever been to a restaurant that pieces your meal together as you go down an assembly line, think of your meal prep like that. One ingredient at a time that adds up to a delicious combo!

1. Make a plan for what you want to eat this week. As we will discuss, you don’t need to pick complicated recipes. Think of single ingredient foods (meat, vegetables, rice, etc) and different ways you’d like to combine them.
2. Choose two days per week that you want to do your cooking. For us, it’s usually something like Sunday and Thursday. You can either shop on those days too or do one big trip over the weekend (it can be hard to shop just once per week with all fresh ingredients).
3. Get to cooking! We prefer just cooking each item separately. Eating chicken? Great! Grill or bake 2-3 pounds of chicken with your favorite seasoning. Veggies? Make enough for a few days at a time in your favorite, tasty variety. Carbs? Make I nice big batch of rice, potatoes or whatever you prefer.
4. Let your food cool down and divide it up into your meals/servings so you can take it on the go.

That’s really all there is to it. And if you are reading this saying you don’t know how to cook…it’s an invaluable skill to develop. Honestly, it’s really easy. Follow the steps on just about any internet recipe or just Google “how to bake chicken.” Anybody can do it 😉

If you are becoming a meal prep master but just don’t stick to your plan for long enough to see results, hit us up about the Elevate Nutrition Coaching program! Because we know progress is often much more about habits and accountability than the knowledge of HOW to do something.