Meal Prep for Beginners: How to Meal plan for meal prep

Meal Prep for Beginners was and STILL is my most popular post on the blog, so I decided to delve further into more Meal Prep tips.

​The art of meal prep requires a necessary skill: Meal Planning.
As a Type A individual and teacher, I LOVE to plan.  It makes me happy to have an outline of expectations of when/what I will cook/prep and what meals we will be eating through out the week.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail

Before beginning ANY type of Meal Prep, you need to MEAL PLAN.  
Planning out your meals for the week enables you to:
- Make sure you have enough prepped food in the house
- Create a Meal Prep Schedule
- Decreases the likelihood of wasting/throwing out food 
- Increases your chances of making healthy choices to nourish your body
AND it also eliminates the stress of the age old question "what to eat for ______?"

Meal   prep   for   beginners:   How   to   meal   plan   for   meal   prep  ---> 3   simple   steps

1. Determine if you will plan and prep ALL meals or just dinners.  I plan and prep for all three

• I plan and prep for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day so it's not hard for me to plan or prep these. You could plan and prep alternating breakfast and lunches just as you would with dinners, by using your plan to create your schedule.  Here's a sample of what I plan/prep for, for my other meals:
   --> Breakfast: Overnight Oats          --> Lunch: A GF Toufayan Wrap with veggies and a snack

2. Check your social/work calendar for the week - count up how many meals you will need

• If you have date night or work dinners or other times during the week where you do not need to prepare food, this will factor in to how much you have to prep. For example, some Sundays we have family dinner with my fiancé's parents, so I adjust the day I prep for the week when this happens and remove one dinner from the equation.
• IF you have to work late certain days/have appointments/or plan on going to the gym, make sure you have already cooked meals for these nights so you can simply come home, re-heat and eat! 

3. Make a Meal Schedule for the week based on your calendar(s)

• After checking the calendar - designate days to eat left overs or cook.  For example, I typically prep 2 meals to alternate with through out the week, making both on Sunday OR I will break it into Sunday and Monday Prep and if need be, have one night something easier such as breakfast for dinner

Having a meal plan saves you time, effort, and money.  
You buy groceries only for the food you plan on eating, and minimize your time in the kitchen by ensuring you have leftovers on your busiest days!  Review what works for you and develop your OWN plan based on your needs :)
BELOW, I have shared a sample meal plan for myself and my fiancé​ for a week.  Obviously life happens, and sometimes things get switched around based on what we're in the mood for or last minute obligations BUT planning out our meals takes a lot of stress off of my plate because I know I have delicious and nutritious food prepared for when we go home after a long day.

• Do you MEAL PLAN?
• IF so, share what your meal plan looks like
• White Board - Yay or Nay?