When I met my ex husband at 21, my dinner repertoire consisted of chicken breasts cooked on my George Foreman grill or baked tilapia with a frozen or canned vegetable and serving of boxed mashed potatoes. This was my dinner more often than not and I was content with it. Typically breakfasts consisted of pop-tarts, cereal, or oatmeal. Lunch was frequently a pack of crackers out of the vending machine in the college of business.
The first time I cooked a dinner party for him and some friends I epically failed to make baked potatoes for 4 in the microwave. I got hooked on microwaved baked potatoes as a favorite snack as a kid. That night was a lesson in learning that microwaving one potato is quick… 4 is not. This was an event I never lived down and was the first of many examples frequently used to prove that “I can’t cook.”
I made several attempts over the years, but the outcomes were meager in comparison to his and his family’s cooking skills and I was repeatedly discouraged from even trying. It was easier without my “help” since I didn’t have basic skills and he didn’t want to teach me. Why would we eat my simple meals when his were so much better?
Thus how I came to rarely cook a meal for close to 10 years and believe myself to be incapable in the kitchen.
Then we separated and I had to learn to prepare my own meals.
Insert Elle Woods moment here “What, like it’s hard?”
Any other Legally Blonde fans? I love Reese. Anyway…
In one week of meal prepping I went from “I can’t cook” to “Oh, this is actually really good and it wasn’t even hard.”
This is just one example of ways we develop limiting beliefs about ourselves that stop us from even trying. I was always capable of learning how to cook, seriously it’s NOT even hard, but because I had so much “evidence” that I couldn’t cook and had been discouraged by someone whose opinion was important to me I did not even try. I felt ashamed of my background that lead to being an adult who barely knew how to cook and incapable of improving what is a very teachable skill.
I have been meal prepping following diets from my coach for over a year and a half. On or off prep, with or with a coach, meal prep is a great way to have healthy meals ready to go.
Why meal prep if you aren’t in competition?
I started meal prepping and working with a coach with no intention of competing.
Meal prepping in advance helps with not knowing what to eat for lunch and just grabbing fast food or skipping a meal during a busy day at work.
Prepping on one day a week makes weeknight evenings much smoother as you do not have to cook or clean every night after work. During the week I just throw my coffee mug, meal prep containers, utensils, and shaker cups into the dishwasher each night.
Working with a coach who provides your diet takes the guesswork out of what you should be eating to achieve your goals (weight loss, maintenance, muscle gain, fat loss, etc.), means you have your shopping list as soon as you have your diet for the week, and you don’t have to do any of the planning or macro/calorie counting. I don’t do this type of work, but I’m a huge advocate for it. If you’re interested, I can refer to you to a few options. Contact me.
Knowing what to cook means you don’t have to rely on prepacked processed or frozen foods with nutrition labels you are trying to interpret and fit into a 1200 calorie day (my life when trying to lose weight before hiring a coach). This will only get you so far with weight loss and can inhibit progress towards your actual goals.
I personally do not have children, but frequently hear it as an excuse for why people do not want to meal prep. I know several people that make it work and believe it is worth the effort. A lot of parents are already cooking separate foods for their kids because they do not want to eat the things their kids are willing/wanting to eat. Additionally, kids’ nutrition needs are different by age and vary greatly from those of adults.
Some tips for beginners interested in meal prep:
Get a quick read digital thermometer. I like this one. It shows on the thermometer safe cooking temperatures for poultry, beef, lamb, veal, pork, and fish.
Aluminum foil and large cooking sheets make for super easy oven baking for chicken breasts, chicken thighs, pork tenderloin, and turkey breast loins. Throw the foil away when you’re done and, unless you had a spill, the pan is clean and ready to be put away.
I eat a lot of jasmine rice and my Instant Pot makes it so easy to set and forget until it’s time to portion out. I always cook the full capacity of 8 cups (uncooked) and freeze whatever I don’t use in a freezer safe zip lock bag for use the next week.
On that note, I’ve found that most things freeze well. Whether you want to fully prep and portion multiple weeks at a time or bulk freeze proteins, meal prep can be done once for several weeks. You can pull out a week’s worth of prepped meals from the freezer and allow to defrost in the fridge, or cook from frozen.
Get freezer, dishwasher safe, microwave safe meal prep containers. I use these:
Get a variety of seasonings you like. Seasonings are a great way to add variety when you’re eating the same thing every day like I do in meal prep. Check the label to make sure that they don’t include sugar. A surprising number of seasonings do. What’s in my spice cabinet:
I’m currently working on a digital cook book to share additional lessons learned and my favorite simple recipes I use to keep meal prep from getting boring. Look for that to come out in the next few months.
I buy so many of my meal prep, supplements, household items, and really just about everything except my perishables from Amazon and I love sharing things I love with others. I signed up for the Amazon Associate program while putting this together. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
While we’re on the topic of Amazon and things I love, below are some of the items you’d find in my Amazon Prime Subscription. If you don’t already use Amazon Prime Subscription, I highly recommend it. You can set monthly, every 2/3/4/5/6 months, etc. and you get an e-mail to review your box before it ships.
The spices listed above
I do a scoop of this daily mixed with 8-12 oz. of water. It is only prescribed on certain days of my diet, but I’ve found it helps me to take it every day.
This is prescribed as part of my meal prep. MCT Oil is odorless, tasteless and can be substituted with traditional oils. I usually cook it with my egg whites, but you can also mix into coffee or take alone.
I take Zenwise on weekends with cheat meals to help my body more easily process foods I don’t normally consume. Learning what my body does and doesn’t like has been an interesting part of this journey. My body doesn’t always love the things I like to eat. Now when I decide to indulge I have useful things like this to help my body.
I drink a gallon of water a day. I use this to flavor water without adding sugar or artificial sweeteners. I use “unflavored” post workout powders and these are enough to mask the slight (in my opinion unfavorable) taste in 20oz of water.
I use an “unflavored” EAA intra workout powder and find the taste to be unbearable. MiO covers the taste and makes it a much more enjoyable intra-workout beverage. I’ve tried several flavors and lemonade is my favorite.
As I mentioned in another post, I started drinking peppermint tea to deal with my OLP and I still drink it regularly.
Meal prepping and Amazon are both tools I utilize to simplify achieving my goals.
I hope you find some of these tips and products useful. If so, I would love if you shared your experience and linked back to this blog or tag me on social media @BelieveGrowGlow.
Believe Grow Glow 
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