This is not your typical meal prepping guide.
I’m not going to tell you to sacrifice a few hours on your day off to prepare the same meal of chicken and broccoli everyday.
I’m also not going to tell you what to eat specifically either.
Instead, I’m going to dish out a few simple (and practical!) tips on how to plan ahead instead of meal prepping when you don’t have time or you hate doing it. Because that’s the boat I’m in and I’d imagine you might be too.
Meal Prepping for the Week is Not Realistic
See, most of us aren’t entering bikini contests on the reg so meal prepping for a week just becomes tiresome and boring, not to mention overwhelming. And the thought of having to meal prep just makes me hungry and exhausted at the same time.
In short, it’s just not realistic for everyone.
I’m busy, you’re busy, and we barely have enough time to work out, let alone meal prep.
So instead of thinking of the task in terms of the daunting weekly meal prep, I just want you to think in terms of 2-3 days in advance. This is planning ahead vs meal prepping.
Essentially, you’ll have your food for today already figured out by yesterday. And if you have enough left over, this same meal could be become a reinvented leftover the following day.
Ideally, you’ll have at least two meals (and sometimes 3) every time you cook one meal.
Start by Using the Weekly Sales Ad & Digital Coupons
Planning 2-3 days out works for two reasons:
- Coming up with the next three days worth of meals is less daunting than having to think of all seven while a blank piece of paper is staring back at you
- My local grocery store (shout out to Publix) changes its sales mid-week which means I have more options to choose from thanks to that fact. This keeps things interesting.
Speaking of the sales, this is where I start my meal prep plan ahead meals. So whatever is on sale is where I’ll focus my attention.
Photo courtesy of Publix
First, I browse the weekly sales flyer to see what my money saving options are. Publix offers this digitally and your grocery store might too. This means I can tackle this nagging task on my iPad while I loaf around on the couch and watch TV. And, by doing this every week, I save anywhere from $20-60 each time.
Back to the story. I’ll scan the flyer looking for BOGOs initially and then I’ll see if the other sales are worth my attention.
Photo courtesy of Publix
Next, I’ll focus my time on the proteins—unfortunately for my vegan friends, this means I scan the meats on sale—to see which meats are the leanest and give me the lowest hit to my wallet.
I also look for organic options first since they tend to have really good sales too making this worth it.
On top of that, I also consider how much I can get for the sale. Ideally, I’ll have enough to cover a few days plus the option to freeze a little extra.
After that, I’ll do a once over on the produce to see what would pair nicely with the meats on sale. And I don’t limit this to fresh produce only. In fact, for the majority of us, this is where most of our money goes down the drain since the fresh stuff can spoil so quickly.
Technically speaking, most produce should be consumed within 2-5 days of purchase since it’s already been through a long enough transit time. So stretching that 7 day old brown avocado may not be a good idea since the nutritional value can decrease significantly in some cases.
To combat this, I’ll check out the frozen food section too to see if the fruits or veggies are cheaper going this route and I make sure to avoid anything cheesy or sauced. Even the “lower fat” sauces can wreak havoc on your system so it’s best to avoid them all if you can.
Once the veggies and fruits are scanned, I’ll quickly glance over the rest of the flyer to see if anything else healthy is on sale. I’ll look for sales on things like:
- Nuts
- Greek yogurt (especially the individual ones)
- Organic eggs
- Almond butter
- Healthy oils such as olive
- Tuna packets and canned salmon (BOGOs make these even cheaper to buy)
- Anything else that’s healthy and sometimes expensive
This should take you less than 10 minutes to do so don’t be overwhelmed by this step.
As soon as I have an idea of what’s on sale, I’ll start plugging everything into my meal prep formula.
Use This Formula as Your Guide
For dinner, I try to go as close to carb-free as possible. Yes, there are times where I reach for the two for $7 ravioli sales, but, for the most part, I stick to carb free nights.
Carbs are responsible for those sweet cravings we all have after dinner. So the fewer carbs you eat at night, the more willpower you’ll have.
So for dinners, the formula is: salad + protein + (preferably non-starchy) vegetable
This means you only have to decide on 2-3 items for dinner each day.
Choose your protein and pair it with a veggie and you’re done.
If you’re feeling hungry, get creative and have a salad. You can mix it up by using this formula of: Mixing 2 crunchy items (think: cucumbers, pumpkin seeds, etc.) with 2 soft or creamy items (goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, olives, etc.) over a bed of lettuce.
You don’t need to complicate things here and you should certainly play around and experiment with this to find what you like. Get out of the tomato/onion/carrot routine for salads! Try adding grilled corn, roasted red peppers or even some black-eyed peas for a smoky flavor.
Keep in mind, your salad is definitely optional. I recommend it for those times you’re feeling extra ravenous. But if you’re too tired to eat, skip the salad and go protein + veggie only.
Whatever you make for this dinner is what will carry over for tomorrow’s lunch. And if you have even more food leftover, you can reinvent this into something completely new altogether for a third meal.
Here’s a Quick Cheat Sheet You Can Use:
As you plan ahead, use this handy table as your guide. I basically use this as scratch paper as I scan the weekly ad for deals.
To download this as a printable copy, click this link.
You can also sneak some veggies into breakfast so don’t feel like this chart is the end all be all and because I didn’t list it you can’t eat it. I also know that not everyone wants to eat veggies that early so I’m trying to be realistic.
As always, these recommendations should be taken as general tips. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. I’m just a busy lady tryin’ to live healthy. And I’m assuming you’re close to that boat too.
So this is really one student sharing her knowledge with another student on the path to a healthy and natural life that won’t break the bank.
Find what works for you and run with it. I’d love to hear some of your tips too. You can email me directly (devan@behappynothangry.com).
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