How To Meal Prep Like A Pro Even If You Hate Cooking

“Being able to feed yourself is a basic human function, and everyone needs to be able to do it. I don’t mean that everyone knows need to know how to cook exceptionally well or be able to whip up a gourmet meal on the spot. I simply mean that you should have a baseline ability to prepare food.” – John Romaniello

If you’ve ever flipped through a fitness magazine, worked with a trainer, gone to a boot-camp, or even thought about dieting…

Without a doubt, you’ve heard of “meal prepping.”

Meal prepping or “meal prep” as it’s often called by the cool kids, is seen as the holy grail of dieting success by those in the fitness industry. Scroll through your Instagram feed and you’ll see plenty of pretty people with their tan, ripped bodies eating out of plastic containers.

They make it look so easy. Just meal prep and you too can be ripped, jacked, or have six-pack abs…

But it’s not that easy. In fact, it’s plenty hard and borderline impossible for most people… which is why only ONE out of every 20,000 – 25,000 people have six-pack abs.

Meal prepping seems like a necessary evil. But for most people doing it on your own is an overly complex, detailed, and time-consuming task that never seems to get done…

And hiring a chef or using a meal prep delivery service like Fuel Meals is simply too expensive. Many of these services can cost upwards of $1,000/month and that doesn’t include food on weekends.

Not to mention it seems so rigid, strict, and boring. What are you supposed to do when you want to go out to eat with co-workers or when you need to travel?

At best, meal prepping is a Faustian bargain giving you the body you so badly desire but at a price that’s just too great to bear. At worst, meal prepping is hellish nightmare that’s reserved for bodybuilding meatheads and the  “pretty people” on Instagram.

The kind of people don’t mind killing an entire Sunday afternoon cooking or eating the same bland, boring food everyday.

So, what are you to do?

You could keep scrolling through your Instagram feed, wishing you looked better. Instead of wishing, you could also use one of those new, ridiculous apps that Photoshop’s your otherwise unflattering body…

Or, you know – you could finally figure out this whole “meal prep” thing. Henry Ford said, “The only history that matters is the history we make today.”

With that in mind, today I’m going to teach you the exact real-world meal prep strategy I teach to my male and female online coaching clients. It’s the same strategy my dozens of Success Stories have used to get incredible results without having to spend insane hours in the kitchen or learn how to cook.

From Michael who lost 25 pounds, cut 11% body fat, and went from no-pack to six-pack… to Amanda who lost 27 pounds, cut 13% body fat, and dropped 35-total inches – this strategy works works regardless age or gender.

michael-amanda-before-after

But initially, I didn’t create it because I wanted to be some super successful personal trainer. I created it for myself when I still working as a traveling technology consultant. Not because I’m so brilliant, but out of necessity.

It allowed me to take advantage of 80% of the benefits of meal prepping including planning at my best, saving time, saving money, and getting lean… while still working in an office, eating my favorite foods, traveling for work, and occasionally eating out with co-workers.

Meal Prepping is kind of like a nutritional nuclear bomb when it comes to conquering your health and fitness goals. It allows you to save money, save time, and lose body fat (or gain muscle mass) with ninja-like accuracy while eating the foods you love.

Meal prepping allows you to plan and set yourself up for success when you’re at your best, so you can effortlessly execute when you’re at your worst.

The 80/20 Approach To Meal Prepping

An 80/20 analysis allows you to gain leverage by focusing on the vital few (the 20%) that produce roughly 80% of the desired results. Taking it a step further, I like to focus on the lead domino or ONE thing that when completed will make everything else easier or unnecessary.

When it comes to meal prepping, the lead domino is protein. Not because we fitness professionals love it so much, but because it provides the greatest amount of leverage when compared to carbs and fats.

You can easily buy an avocado from the grocery store and bring it with you to work providing a healthy fat. You can do the same with carbs and buy a bag of organic brown rice and have it ready in 90s.

You can’t just carry a raw chicken breast in your pocket and pull it out and eat it anytime you’re hungry. Here are a few benefits of this protein first approach:

  • Save money. The protein portion is by far the most expensive portion of the meal. Purchasing in bulk at Costco it allows you to save the most amount of money. Organic chicken can be bought for $4.99/lb. and regular for as low as $2.99/lb.
  • Save time. The protein portion takes the most time to prepare. Preparing in bulk allows you to best leverage your time. This will also reduce your meal prep time from an entire afternoon down to 60 – 90 minutes max. In fact, I often finish in about 50-minutes unless I’m behind on my Chicago Fire/Med/PD. Then it might take a bit longer 😉
  • Flexibility. One of the biggest complaints about meal prep is that it’s rigid, boring, and strict because every meal is the same. Preparing only the protein portion provides the flexibility to piece together different carbs, fats, and fresh vegetables later.
  • Be accurate. Most restaurants, cafeterias, and kitchens douse your protein in fat or grease when preparing it. This will screw up your macros and can cause you to unintentionally overeat. Preparing it on your own avoids this problem.
“When life gives you lemons, ask for something higher in protein.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

Most people can stop there, focus on the protein portion, and have a HUGE win. But I’m a maximizer so I like to go a bit further. If you want to take your 80/20 meal prep to the next level… you can also prepare some fresh, organic, and ridiculously nutritious vegetables.

Why vegetables?

First, research shows eating large quantities of vegetables leads to a longer, disease free life yet research and my experience working with 1,000+ clients confirms adults simply do not eat enough.

Second, veggies make you feel more satiated despite eating fewer calories. They are also incredibly low in carbohydrates, which is beneficial for anyone trying to reduce body fat.

Third, unless you’re at a some organic cafe, quality vegetables are hard to come by. Most cafeterias and lunch spots don’t have them… and if they do — they’ll be doused in oil and fat.

Lastly, unlike an avocado or packet of microwavable rice… carrying a crown of broccoli in your laptop bag is a massive pain in the ass. So, instead of meticulously packing neat little containers of perfectly portioned meals… you’re only going to cook large batches of protein and vegetables.

You can piece the different parts into a healthy nutritious meal that fits your macros later… kind of like an on-demand meal.

Pretty cool, huh?

Step-by-Step Meal Prepping: Your Meal Prep System

Step #1: Get the Right Resources:
  • Digital food scale. A food scale is kind of like Batman’s grappling hook, a go-to must have tool that saves your ass on a regular basis.
  • Meat thermometer. Cooking and reheating your protein will dry it out. A meat thermometer will prevent your protein from losing too much water. One of these is essential unless you like chewing on leather.
  • Several pounds of protein. You’ll need a lot of protein, Arnold would be proud. Chicken is the typical go-to here but you can also use 85-90% lean ground beef, steak, fish, or even ground turkey. Low fat proteins will give you the most flexibility later to add avocado, butter, or oils. Depending on your macros, going with a high fat protein like 80% lean ground beef can make it difficult to hit your numbers later. This comes with experience.
  • Several pounds of any non-starchy vegetable. I usually buy the 3-pound bag of broccoli florets at Costco, but you can also buy several crowns at Whole Foods. Use cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, spinach, kale, or any other non-starchy vegetables.

If you prefer raw veggies, you can skip the vegetables for now. Add spinach, kale, arugula, or any other non-starchy vegetable salad ingredients later. But this does make it a bit harder to get fresh, organic vegetables when you’re ready to eat.

Step #2: Weigh Everything Raw:

Start by weighing your chicken raw. The nutrition information on the package is based on raw chicken and NOT cooked chicken. Chicken loses water when cooked and will weigh significantly less after cooking.

For example, in an experiment I did, 16 oz. of raw chicken was equal to 12.3 oz. of cooked chicken due to water loss. If you forget to weigh your chicken raw or only have access to cooked chicken… use a multiplier of 1.3 to estimate the raw weight. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than not tracking at all.

In another experiment, my Trader Joe’s Quick Cook Steel Cut Oatmeal says ¼ cup is approximately equal to 40g of oats. However, when measuring out a strict ¼ cup of oats, it actually weighed 46g — a difference of 15%.

The conclusion is simple, always weigh your food in the raw.

Step #3: Partition Into Portions:

The “water loss effect” is why you cannot simply throw all your protein together on one giant baking sheet. Partitioning it into portions later will result in inaccurate macros. THIS IS A VERY COMMON MISTAKE THAT WILL CAUSE YOU TO OVEREAT BY ABOUT 15-30%.

I often partition my chicken in 8 oz. increments but depending on my goals (bulking, maintaining, cutting) I may change that. In this example and the video above, I’m using 8 oz. increments and I’ll typically eat 2-3 of these “meals” per day.

One word of caution: if you add oil or anything else that has calories you’ll have to account for that. For this reason, I only add zero calorie seasonings like salt, pepper, and garlic to my chicken.

Pro Tip: For additional flavor and juiciness, bake your chicken with a cup of chopped onions. Thanks to my client Michael for this Pro Tip. An entire cup of chopped onion is only 64 calories. Spread over a few pounds of chicken, it isn’t even worth counting.

 

Step #4: Cook In Large Batches:

Once you have your raw chicken ready, place it on a baking sheet partitioned into groups. You can push it into small piles on separate ends of the sheet or use aluminum foil like I did in this example. Let’s avoid the obvious debate about aluminum foil.

This will allow you to cook several days of chicken on the same baking sheet without getting your portions mixed up. I like to cook my chicken in batches of 9 meals and I typically partition them into 8 oz. portions like in the photo above. If you need to, you can always make more and store a few meals in the freezer.

Preparing each meal with the same amount protein will make logging your food much easier. For example, I don’t need to mark anything on each container because I already know each one will have exactly 8 oz. of chicken. The simpler the better.

Next, I pour a 3-pound bag of broccoli on a baking sheet. Again, I only add zero calorie seasonings like salt, pepper, and garlic — but you can use the onion trick here too.

meal_prep_broccoli

I classify non-starchy vegetables like broccoli as a “free food” and I don’t require my clients to track them as part of their daily macros. They are incredibly low in calories and awesome for your body. Plus I’ve never had a client gain weight due to too many vegetables.

Non-starchy vegetables include lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, spinach, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and tomatoes. These are all considered free foods.

Corn, peas, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, squash, zucchini and yams are all examples of starchy vegetables… which MUST be weighed and logged.

If you don’t like roasted broccoli, you can try just-in-time cooking and heat it for 1-2 minutes in the microwave when ready to eat. I’ve used both approaches with great success.

Ideally, use a meat thermometer and cook the chicken to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t have a meat thermometer or don’t mind your chicken being a little dry, try this:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees while you weigh and partition chicken on a baking sheet.
  2. Place partitioned chicken in oven.
  3. Cook for 16 – 20 minutes.
  4. Place in glass meal prep trays.

I’ll place the chicken and the broccoli in the oven at the same time on seperate racks. I’ll roast the broccoli for roughly 30-min or until I see the edges crisp.

Step #5: Store Meals For Later:

Once the protein is ready, take it out of the oven and begin placing portions into your meal prep containers. Just as an FYI, the photos and video are old and I switched to glass containers shortly after I created them.

Once the broccoli or other non-starchy vegetables are ready, take them out and add a portion to each meal prep container. Each meal is now roughly 80% complete, only lacking a healthy carb and fat portion to round out your daily macros.

If I make 9 meals or less I’ll put them in the fridge and eat them over the next 3 days. If I’m feeling ambitious and make more than 9 meals, I’ll throw a few in the freezer for later.

Freezing a few meals for later is always a good idea. If your week gets crazy, you’ll have a contingency plan in case you come home and have nothing to eat. This can be the difference between binging on your kids cereal or eating a healthy, nutritious meal that fits your macros… and gets you one step closer to your dream body.

How To Combine Ingredients Into a Healthy Meal

Since the meals you created are low calorie, high protein, low fat, and low carb… you have a tremendous amount of flexibility with each meal. You can now mix-and-match your carbs and fats to create the perfect meal that fits your macros.

Trying to bulk up? Do a full serving of rice and cut back on the fats.

Want to get super shredded for summer? Do a small serving of rice or omit it altogether and opt for more healthy fat.

The key to doing this right is always making sure you have the right resources on hand. Below is a list of things you should have in your kitchen, at your office, or in your hotel room to do this like a pro. Notice, none of these ingredients require any “real” cooking other than a microwave which is available in all these situations.

Healthy Carbohydrates
Healthy Fats

My favorites are Minsley Organic Microwavable Brown Rice, raw Avocado, and Core Warrior Whey Meal bars. When I’d travel for work, I’d keep a supply at my desk, or in my hotel room. When I worked in a gym, I kept a supply in the lounge fridge. And now that I work from home, I keep a supply in my kitchen.

Having these healthy options available on-demand is exactly what I meant when I said:

“Plan at your best so you can effortlessly execute at your worst.” – Jackson Bloore

For more information on combining ingredients into a healthy meal… or if you still hate logging but want to hit your health and fitness goals… read How To Lose Weight (Or Bulk Up) Without Counting Calories.

How To Meal Prep If You Hate Cooking

If you hate cooking, good news – you can still log your food and get the body of your dreams regardless of your goal.

Ever seen those old Batman television shows? The one’s where Batman would magically pull a solution out of his ass to escape the clutches of death at the very last minute…

The system I’m about to reveal to you is kind of like that…

Except, instead of escaping the clutches of death you’ll be escaping the addictive allure of the majestic golden arches. Which is kind of like avoiding death, in the long-run, if you really think about it. With this system, you’ll be eating a healthy meal that fits your macros in less time than it would take to hit up the drive-thru at McDonald’s.

And here we go…

  • Buy pre-cooked chicken. I like the Simply Sliced Roast Chicken from Trader Joe’s for $6, but you can buy pre-cooked chicken from anywhere. You can also buy one of those roasted chickens for cheap.
  • Buy raw vegetables. I like to buy the big 3 lb. bag from Costco for only $5 but any raw veggies will do. Sometimes I’ll buy a big bag of baby spinach or baby kale too.
  • Buy raw avocado. You can buy them one-at-a-time or buy a big bag from Costco for cheap.
  • Buy Minsley Organic Microwavable Brown Rice. You can buy these online at Amazon or at Costco if you want to save some money.

Keep these ingredients on-hand at all times. Access them when you need to magically pull a mind-blowing backup plan out of your ass and make a quick, healthy meal in less than 2- min.

Here’s the exact step-by-step process:

  1. Weigh chicken using your trusty food scale. The nutrition info on the package of pre-cooked chicken should be correct without using any type of multiplier. If you purchased a roasted chicken, you’ll need to weigh the chicken and multiply the number by 1.3 to get the estimated raw weight.
  2. Fill a bowl with broccoli florets. No need to weigh or measure because broccoli is a “free food” unless you add oil or butter.
  3. Heat the chicken for 1 – 2 min. I like to use Cholula Hot Sauce for flavor and I often rotate flavors to feel like I’m getting something different.
  4. Cook broccoli in microwave for 1 – 2 min. Grind Pink Himalayan Salt on it for flavor. Even if you hate the taste of broccoli, this will make it taste awesome. If you really want to get fancy, sprinkle organic garlic powder on it too.
  5. Add rice or avocado to modify the meals carb and fat totals to hit your macros.
  6. Enjoy. You can now eat a quick, healthy meal that you made without cooking in 2-min or less.

Sure, this might not be as healthy or cheap as preparing the protein portion ahead of time but it still works. I’ve used this exact process when I needed something quick and healthy…

Whether it was a day jam-packed with clients, while traveling as a consultant, working in an office, or even when on vacation… this system works and gives you what you need in the amounts you need it.

I’m not in the business of wishing or dreaming for the ideal scenario. I’m in the business of getting my clients ridiculous results beyond their wildest dreams — at all costs — in the real world. This works in the real world, really well.

Tips For Your Success

  • Know your calories. If you’re going to be logging, you must know how many calories you should be eating to reach your goal. Read How Many Calories Should I Eat for more information.
  • Apply for my online coaching program if you rather have me do this for you. In addition to a customized workout program, you’ll get a customized meal plan including the exact macros you need to hit your goal.
  • Be prepared. Keep a few extra meals in your freezer or be ready with your Batman pre-cooked chicken system as a backup plan. This should keep you covered at work and on the road.
  • Lazy and cheap approach. Refer to the How To Meal Prep If You Hate Cooking section in this article and read The Lazy Man’s Guide To Healthy Eating to learn how to make quick, healthy, meals in 5-minutes or less without spending a fortune.

Action Items For Your Success

  • Start today. Going from complete ignorance to meticulously tracking your energy intake will be a massive change in behavior. It will not be easy, nor will it happen overnight. If you’re new to all of this, start slow. You can even start with portion control and move to logging when you’re ready.
  • Keep at it. You’ll never be perfect all of the time. I’m certainly not. You’re gonna screw up, you’ll make mistakes, and you’ll need to course correct from time-to-time. The key is to keep at it.
  • Focus on what you can control. Every day is a new opportunity for success. Don’t try to make up for past mistakes. Learn from your mistakes and don’t dwell on them or beat yourself up. Live life in the windshield not the rearview mirror.
  • Don’t spiral out-of-control. If you screw up, don’t compound the damage by binging the rest of the day. That will only make you feel worse. Acknowledge you screwed up and move forward. Don’t let one bad meal turn into a bad day, or a bad day into a bad week, etc.
  • Get help. Hire a coach like me to help you improve and provide accountability or use a meal prep delivery service. If you’re struggling to do this on your own, reach out and get help. It doesn’t have to be me, but get help — today.

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