How to Become a Meal Prep Pro this Year | The Beginner's Guide to Meal Prep

[00:00] So you want to start meal prepping. In this video, I'm going to run you through some of the basics of what you need to know in order to start We're going to talk recipes, cookware, storage, containers, but first let's discuss why even meal prep in the first place I think there's five main categories for why somebody want a meal prep dieting to save time to save money to make eating well easier and for

[00:19] Convenience for me. That's a combination of all five. I think when most people think of meal prep they consider it as a tool for diet And it's great for that, but it can be so much more. So let's talk about dieting first Having prepared meals in your fridge will do wonders for your nutrition

[00:32] Us humans are creatures of convenience. We want to make things as easy as possible for us I think that many of us struggle to eat how we would consider healthy because a lot of nutritious foods take some effort and time to prepare People resort to quick fixes and snack foods because you can pull them right out of the pantry and eat in an instant

[00:47] Increasing the availability of nutritious ready to eat foods in your house will make the decision of what you should eat an easier choice If you keep good nutritious meals in your fridge you're probably going to eat them I think that reducing the amount of friction around eating better should be one of your primary goals when you're trying to diet

[01:01] This means that making smart choices should be easier for you to make and vice versa Prepping your meals in advance so they only take a quick trip in the microwave to heat up is much easier than having to cut some vegetables and meet every night and then do the dishes after you cook

[01:13] In addition, meal prep makes calorie counting exponentially easier Especially for weight loss, having a prepackaged meal in the fridge that you know how much food is in is going to help prevent you from overeating And when it comes to weight loss managing your calories is the most important factor

[01:27] The same can go for the other side of the coin if you're looking to gain weight Having those prepackaged meals in the fridge so that you know how much you need to be eating is going to help you stay on track towards your goals Now let's talk cheddar Mule prepping is a great way to save money We all know eating out is expensive

[01:40] Especially where I live here in Austin, Texas It feels like every restaurant meal I've had over the past year is at least $25 after tip Clearly eating at fast casual places like Chipotle would be a more economical option But even then it can still get expensive

[01:53] Back when I used to work at the railroad A lot of my co-workers would go out to eat for every single one of their work lunches And I could not believe it I was like what are you guys doing? How do you afford this? I worked the same job you do I don't want to pay for that I did the math back then

[02:05] If they went to the Chipotle by our office every day And just got a chicken burrito bowl for lunch It was $10.91 for that burrito bowl Multiply that by five days You're looking at $54.55 just for your work lunches that week

[02:17] If you did that every day for the entire year That's $2800 Now I'm sure many of you that's not a lot of money $2800 to me sounds like a lot of money I would say that with the recipes I'm ill prep I average between $3 and $4 per serving

[02:30] But to be conservative and to make the numbers easier Let's just round up the $5 $5 times 5 days in a work week $25 for your work lunches 52 weeks in a year That's $1300 Now compare that to eating out every day That $2800

[02:42] $2800 minus $1300 It's $1500 in savings Just if you meal prep your work lunch instead of eating out And again to some of you that might not seem like a lot of money $1500 is a lot of money to me so it makes it well worth it

[02:54] Next up let's talk saving time Cooking only once or twice a week will drastically cut down the amount of time that you spend in the kitchen With meal prep depending on how many meals you make You should only have to cook once or twice a week And that also cuts down on the time that you have to spend doing dishes as well

[03:07] Let's face it Many of us don't want to spend 30 minutes to an hour standing over a stove After we get home from work or school to provide ourselves a meal And that's where meal prep can save you A common complaint that I receive among non meal preppers is that it takes too long to complete

[03:20] And it's true it does require a bit of an upfront time investment Cooking your meals each night may take less time than what it would take to do a larger prep But eventually the amount of time that you spend cooking and cleaning from those meals Will catch up to and surpass the amount of time it took you to meal prep

[03:33] So as long as you're okay with eating the same thing Neal prep is going to save you time Next up my personal favorite tentative meal prep convenience Having meals in my fridge that I can pull out tossing the microwave And have a hot meal in two minutes makes my life so much easier

[03:46] I've got a busy life and you probably do too I've got to work, I've got to lift weights, I've got to play squash, I've got to climb I've got to watch the dolphins lose every week I don't want to stand over the stove, we have to cook a meal each night And meal prep allows me to put more time and doing things that I want to do

[04:00] Adding more free hours to my day to a degree and with some financial restrictions Is something that I'm always looking to do And meal prep helps me free up time so that I can pursue the things that I enjoy Like squash or climbing I already don't have enough hours in the day to do all the things I enjoy

[04:14] And spending an extra hour each day cooking and then cleaning Is something that I personally don't want to spend the time doing That's where meal prep comes into my life And lastly number five meal prep makes eating better and easier I had mentioned earlier that us humans are creatures of convenience

[04:28] We're going to take the shortcut every chance we get I've been no secret about my hatred for vegetables I can't stand them but I put them in my meals Because I know they're good for me and I should eat them So when I have it in front of me and a meal that has other things in it And I'm hungry, guess where they're going

[04:41] Down the hatch Putting nutritious meals in the fridge for you to eat Is going to increase the probability that you're going to eat them Now let's talk meal prep containers I think a good meal prep container should follow these guidelines Microwave safe, dishwasher safe, freezer friendly, and stackable

[04:55] A container that has all four of those characteristics is going to make your life a bit easier I'm still trying to make a TMPM branded perfect meal prep container But product development's hard I'm not making any progress So I will say that glasses preferred over plastic for a good meal prep container

[05:10] They're going to last longer and be more airtight to help keep your food fresher for longer Glass is more expensive and it does take up more space So you'll need the way the pros and cons of what works best for your personal situation Whatever container you choose to purchase, I would do a minimum of 10 of them

[05:23] So you have a container for lunch and dinner for every day of the work week A combination of glass and plastic probably isn't a bad idea either And the plastic ones are insanely cheap You can get 20 of them for probably about 20 bucks And having those extra ones on hand can help save you in case you ever run out of your glass ones

[05:36] Now here's what I've got for containers I've got these black plastic ones If you type in black plastic meal prep containers on Amazon You're going to get a bunch of results that look like this Some of these are going to be higher quality than others I've ordered some sets of Amazon that had quite sturdy plastic

[05:48] That lasted me a couple of years And I've ordered other ones that have the flimsiest plastic ever And when you put them in a dishwasher once They're going to be warped for the rest of time You really just have to shoot and hope you get one that's good I've tried just about every glass meal prep container you can find on the market

[06:01] I've got these three cup pyrex ones with the plastic lids Shit, I've got these six cup anchor hawking ones with the silicone lid that leaks Shit, I've got these glass ones from Amazon that are the wrong shape And they have the snap lid with the gasket that always comes off

[06:13] Extra extra extra shit And then I've got these 30 ounce ones from Ikea with the snap lid And you'll ring that actually stays in place And these are the best glass meal prep containers I've found But they're still not perfect in my eyes They're not stackable and they don't really fit well in the dishwasher

[06:27] And because they're not stackable They're prone to chipping Now for cookware So if I had to pick the absolute essentials for a meal prep kitchen A meal prep starter pack let's say Here's what would be in it One large skillet I prefer cast iron when I cook I think it provides better browning on your food

[06:40] And it's going to last you a lifetime if you take care of it My go-to skillet is this stove 13 inch enameled cast iron skillet And it's quite pricey but you buy once you cry once you know what I mean The enameled cast iron is going to be easier to take care of

[06:53] It doesn't require as much care as a regular cast iron skillet does And it's easier to clean which is why I prefer it If you're looking for a cheaper option Here is another generic cast iron skillet that I've used in the past This one's also 13 inches And you're going to have to season this one and maintain regular upkeep

[07:07] As you can see it doesn't have the high walls like the other one does So it's harder to keep things contained in this pan Next thing you'll need is a good high quality sharp chef's knife Having a nice sharp chef's knife in your kitchen Is going to help you move more quickly and efficiently when chopping vegetables

[07:20] It's also going to be safer to use I'm a Zwilling guy I've been using Zwilling knives for years Even before I started partnering with them I think they make the best stuff Many other brands make great knives But if there's one thing I would recommend It's trying to go into a store and actually feel the knives in your hand

[07:33] That way you can pick out one that works best for you Next up one giant cutting board I can almost go as far as saying the bigger the better When you're meal prepping you're preparing a lot of different ingredients at once And having a giant cutting board that can fit everything on it at once

[07:45] Is going to prevent you from having to clear the cutting board off After every time you cut something Just to open up more space for you to start chopping the next thing Having a plastic cutting board is also a good idea I don't like to cut meat on my wooden cutting board

[07:57] So I cut meat on my plastic That way I can just toss it in the dishwasher when I'm done And ensure that it's properly sanitized You'll also want one large heavy bottom stock pot This is an eight quart stock pot that I got off of Amazon Wasn't very expensive and it gets the job done perfect

[08:10] You'll need one big sheet pan or roasted pan Again the bigger the better here More space is always going to be preferred when meal prepping And then you've just got little stuff like big spoons and spatulas to stir And serve things within your dishes Ideally you'll have a collection of cookware of different sizes to meet all of your needs

[08:25] But if you're looking for a barebone setup The equipment that I previously mentioned will suffice It's nice to have an extra skillet or pot so that you can double up on cooking time when you're doing things on the stove That way you can move more efficiently with your time in the kitchen Another nice to have would be a digital kitchen scale

[08:38] I do metric weights for all of my measurements It's more accurate than volumetric imperial measurements are And now that you've got your containers in your cookware It's time to actually start the preparation of your meals Getting in a routine will help you stick to your nutritional goals And make things one more smoothly

[08:51] I'd recommend picking a day of the week that you designate as your meal prep day Most people myself included choose Sunday because it's a day off It's right before the work week so foods are going to be fresh on Monday Ready to go for the rest of the week You'll want to come up with a plan of all the recipes that you're going to be meal prepping that week

[09:05] I usually only do one meal at a time most of the time that's lunch So that I can eat it during the work day But occasionally I will do a lunch in the dinner or a breakfast and lunch And rarely maybe three times in the history of my meal prepping career Have I ever prepped breakfast lunch and dinner at the same time

[09:19] For me I personally don't think it's worth it I like to have some flexibility in case I decide I don't want to eat something And that way I leave things open I don't have to worry about wasting food Some recipes will meal prep better than others Soup surprisingly is one of the better meal prep recipes

[09:32] It stores well in the fridge, it frees as well It reheats perfectly in the microwave The only downside of meal prepping soup is if you have to travel with it And you have to deal with the liquid in your containers My personal favorite kind of meal prep recipe is the rice bowl template recipes

[09:45] Where you take rice, it proteins, some vegetables and a sauce And you just mix it all together in one big giant dish Recipes that aren't great for meal prep include ingredients that could get soggy Or will wilt, such as salads or a lot of breads Those are probably best to be made on the spot

[09:59] Before you start any kind of preparation Make sure you read down through the entire recipe before you start any cooking That will show you exactly what needs to happen as you cook through this food And it will allow you to double up on cooking things to save time in the kitchen For example, if you have a recipe that includes rice

[10:13] You can start that rice early that way you're not waiting for the rice at the end If you didn't start it until midway through your cooking session It will also get you to have your ingredients prepped and ready for when they need to be cooked If you've got some onion going in the pan and next you need to add in some garlic

[10:26] You don't want to be messing around missing garlic when it needs to be in the pan over the heat Over cooking foods, especially lean meats like chicken breast Will make them dry and almost inedible to eat upon reheating You obviously don't want to under cook food so there's a fine line that you have to walk

[10:39] But part of being a good cook is learning where that line is And if you need help getting there, get a meat thermometer Storage in food safety Once all your foods cooked, you can evenly portion it out into your meal prep containers For the vast majority of you, simply eyeballing the portions that go into each container is going to be sufficient

[10:54] I often get messages from people asking how I know what the nutrition is of each dish If I don't put the exact amount of the same ingredient into every dish And the answer is, as long as you eat all five dishes by the end of the week The total nutrition of those five dishes is going to be the same whether one has slightly more or less than the other

[11:11] If you wanted to get out of the digital scale and weigh and measure everything to make sure that it was the same in every dish You could do that but for most people, I think that's overkill and it's a waste of time Now once you've got the meals in their dishes, you're going to want to let them cool down close to room temperature

[11:23] Before you toss on the lids because if you put the lids on while they're still hot It's going to create steam and moisture on the inside of those containers That moisture on the inside of the container will lead to soggy food that's not as pleasant to eat But it could also lead to faster spoilage

[11:35] So to prevent that, just wait a little bit and allow the meals to cool down Closer to room temperature before you toss on the lids When I meal prep, I meal prep for five days at a time And I don't recommend going any farther unless you plan on putting meals in the freezer For optimal freshness and quality, three days is probably a better target to shoot for

[11:50] But I go for five days because that's the full work week And I'm still okay with the food on day four and day five With the time I save by not having to do an extra prep during the week For the best information on food safety, I would refer you over to foodsafety.gov's guidelines

[12:02] I'm not a food safety expert Sometimes I'll get comments from people saying I thought you were only supposed to keep chicken in the fridge for two days Or you're not supposed to eat leftover rice If you want to be as safe as possible, refer back to the foodsafety.gov guidelines

[12:14] I can only tell you as far as my experience goes, I've never had an issue Another thing to note is that I think food is just different here in the United States I lived in Brazil for a bit in college and bred with lasts for two or three days there Whereas here, you can leave a loaf of bread in the pantry for two weeks and it will still be just fine

[12:29] So if you're outside of the US and you find yourself not having food lasts as long When you meal prep, there might be something to the ingredients that you use And they're just different than what we have here in the United States Yours are probably better Some quick tips and tricks to help your food last longer

[12:41] Try to buy meat and dairy with a sell-by date as far in the future as possible Just to ensure you get the freshest stuff that you can Ensure that your refrigerator is set below 40 degrees Fahrenheit or four degrees Celsius Keep your refrigerator clean As a meal prep, you're going to have a lot of raw vegetables and meat in the fridge at the same time

[12:57] Chicken is especially notorious for having leaky packaging And if you've got chicken juice on the bottom of your fridge You're going to increase your chance at cross contamination with the other ingredients in there So make sure you clean it up right away Freezing is another popular topic among meal prepers

[13:09] When done correctly and with enough space, you can cook as little as one time a month Freezing your meals is undoubtedly convenient But it can change the composition of some of your foods I personally don't freeze any of my actual meal prep dishes but I freeze all of my snacks

[13:22] If you're new to this channel, welcome to Snack City Snack City is the name that I have given to the space in my freezer Where I keep all of my meal prep snacks It's magical, it's wonderful, and it keeps you well fed whenever I need a quick bite to eat

[13:34] Some foods freeze better than others And the quality of that food doesn't diminish by a measurable amount after coming out of the freezer Soups, stews, and sauce-covered foods are a great example of this Things that don't store well in the freezer are things like lettuce, tomatoes, and plain cooked lean meats

[13:48] If you do decide to freeze your meals or snacks, there are some guidelines you can follow To preserve as much freshness as possible Number one, use high-quality airtight containers Freezerburn will be your number one enemy when you put stuff in the freezer You want to prevent that at all costs

[14:01] The best way to do that is to vacuum seal your food Number two, don't block the cooling source in your freezer If you're prepping a lot of meals, there's a good chance your freezer is going to be pretty full It's very important that you don't block that cold air source that's providing the cooling to your freezer

[14:14] So figure out where that is in your freezer and make sure you don't put too many meals right up next against it And number three, keep your freezer at 0 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 18 Celsius If the freezer's not cold enough, that food's not going to freeze all the way through

[14:26] And you want this stuff frozen solid When it comes to reheating your meals, the microwave is the clear favorite for me You can also use the oven, a toaster oven, an air fryer, a tea kettle, the stove There's really endless possibilities of how you can heat your food

[14:38] The microwave is just the easiest As mentioned before, when you reheat the meals, you're essentially cooking them again So I recommend microwaving your stuff in one minute intervals and stirring until the food is hot And not just tossing it in there for four minutes and then walking away

[14:51] If you find your food always has poor taste after microwaving Try experimenting with the power levels on your microwave and decreasing them to 60 to 80 percent It will take longer to reheat your food but you may find it more enjoyable If you have meals in the freezer that you want to reheat, it's best to move them from the freezer

[15:05] Into the fridge one to two days before to allow them to defrost Then before putting in the microwave, drain away any water that may have accumulated during the thawing process One way you can assist your microwave in the heating process when your meal prepping Is to cut your vegetables in your meat to have similar sizes

[15:19] Because microwaves heat things from the inside out by vibrating the water molecules in the food Cutting things to have similar size will help them reheat more evenly That way one thing is not heated and overcooking before another thing is even starting to get warm Another complaint I hear from people quite often is that their rice is hard and dry after coming out of the microwave

[15:35] If you're using frozen rice or some of the pre-cooked stuff in the bag that could be some of your issues But sprinkling some water over the top before you put it in the microwave could help bring some life back into that rice Meal perhaps not for everybody, some of you might not be able to handle eating the same thing every day

[15:48] I personally enjoy the patterns and the consistency that meal prep brings to my life And as with everything, practice makes perfect, the more your meal prep, the more you're going to fine tune your skills and get better at preparing your meals A lot of meal prepping at the beginning is trial and error, I wouldn't suggest doing any large preps until you start getting your systems down

[16:03] And that you are confident in what you are cooking Remember that for many of us, meal prepping is about saving time, saving money, making eating better easier Or some kind of diet nutritional goal So while your meal prepping, keep that bigger goal in mind so that whatever you're doing is building to achieving that big goal

[16:18] Having a goal or a reason the meal prep is going to help you stay consistent and on the path to success 2023 is here, if this is the year that you decide you want to start meal prepping, I hope this video helped you If you have any other questions for me, leave them in the comments below and I'll try to get to them

[16:30] See you guys next week