Do you cringe at the word meal prep?
The first thing I think about when I hear meal prep is glass Tupperware containers filled with the perfect portions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
That’s 21 Tupperware containers, with 3 different meals, spread across 7 full days.
It sounds exhausting.
And I’ve personally never been the person that could do it. It doesn’t work for me.
Over the past few years, I’ve created this meal prep spectrum for my 1:1 coaching clients.
Meal prep has so many benefits.
- Less stress
- Easy tracking
- Consistency
- Less temptation
- Increased motivation
But all meal prep doesn’t have to look the same.
You can meal prep on your level to fit your lifestyle and still get results.
Check out the breakdown of the spectrum.
No Prep
It means what it says, you don’t prep. You just figure it out every day. It’s a tough life to live when you need to hit 150 + grams of protein a day but heck, it’s possible. You also fall under this if you generally know what you eat every day, it’s basically the same thing, so the effort is minimal. This is a skill acquired over time.
Pre Prep
You spend an hour or so, once a week, chopping, marinating, getting your week ready. You don’t complete any meals, you just prep everything so when you do make meals, it takes less than 5 minutes to throw it all together, you just have to cook it.
Micro – Prep
You take pre-prep one step further and prep all your dinners. You may not separate them into cute little conatiners. You just have the food ready. For example, you cook rice in bulk, 3 blocks of tofu, or instant pot some shredded chicken.
Legit – Prep
You basically go all in. Your dinner is ready to roll in its own containers, your breakfast is prepped or fully ready in its own little places. You just figure out your snacks and lunches which usually are the same so the planning is minimal.
Full Prep
You’re that person. You have 21 Tupperware containers, labeled with what the food is, when you eat it, etc.
No judgment here. It’s impressive. And I bet you have zero stress about what to eat for the week.
Overachiever status.
