Weekly Meal Prep for Weight Loss

It forces you to think through your meal choices, making it easier to stay on track since you’ll have nutritious ingredients that meet your requirements at the ready. Ready to empower yourself and take your weight loss to the next level? Let’s take a closer look at how you can use weekly meal prep for weight loss, along with some examples to help you envision how it could work for you.

Meal Prep Considerations

Ultimately, your meal plan may look very different from a friend’s or a family member's meal plan. That's because you need to customize your meals according to your unique requirements, which is true no matter what type of weight loss plan you're following. And if you're pregnant, breastfeeding, or you have a medical condition, you should talk to your doctor to make sure you're following a plan that best meets your needs. Some of the factors to consider when sitting down to plan your meals include:

• Making sure you include balanced ingredients for maximum nutrition
• Factoring in your activity level, which impacts the number of calories you should be eating for weight loss
• Thinking about the time you have to spend shopping for ingredients and preparing food
• Remembering your expertise in the kitchen — if you’re new to meal prep, stick with easy recipes
• Considering whether your plan includes other family members or just you

Why Balanced Nutrition Is Important

Without a balanced diet, you're more at risk of developing an infection or disease. You'll feel more fatigue, and your overall performance can suffer. Your body needs nutrients to keep it functioning well, keeping you healthier than if you consistently make poor choices. Balanced nutrition delivers antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats.

How to Plan

Ideally, each meal and snack should contain protein, fiber, and fat. This will help you feel satisfied longer, making it easier to stick with your weight-loss plan while fueling your body with the nutrients it needs to maintain your strength and keep your energy levels up. Here are some steps to plan your meal prep:

• Create a schedule for yourself and be consistent with it.
• Sit down and gather the recipes you’ll make for the week or the next few days.
• Make a grocery list to make sure you’ve got all the ingredients you need for meals and snacks.
• Choose a meal prep approach or several approaches based on what works best for you.
• Start cooking the meals that take the longest, fitting other recipes in during hands-off cook time to help save some time in the kitchen.

Meal Prep Approaches

There’s no single “right” way to meal prep, and you can feel free to combine several approaches to suit your needs. You can pick a single day to batch cook all your meals for the week and portion them out for easy grab-and-go eating. Or you can fill your pantry and fridge with all the ingredients and prep them so you can easily put meals together. Examples of popular meal prep approaches include:

• Making full meals ahead of time and keeping them in the fridge to be reheated at mealtimes
• Cooking in large batches, portioning out for storage in both the refrigerator and the freezer
• Creating individually-portioned meals for convenience and easy eating
• Prepping all the ingredients you need so they're ready to cook when you're prepared to make the recipe

Meal Prep Storage

How you store your meals makes a huge difference. There are lots of great options out there. The key is to find the ones that best meet your needs and to keep a variety of containers on hand in varying sizes. A few to consider include:

• BPA-free, microwave-safe containers: Choose from options like collapsible silicone and Pyrex glassware for easy, convenient reheating. Consider investing in a few wide-mouth mason jars for soups, stews, and salads.
• Airtight containers: Washable silicone storage bags, glass storage containers, and stainless-steel containers are reusable and effective for keeping your ready-to-cook ingredients fresh and crisp.
• Compartmentalized containers: Bento boxes and divided containers work well for portioning different ingredients or storing ingredients for mixing right before you eat.
• Produce savers: Specially made to keep your prepped fruits, veggies, and salad fixings fresher longer, these containers can help you get more life out of your produce.
• Freezer-safe containers: Batch cooking and meal prep often includes putting full meals or individual portions into the freezer. Having freezer-safe containers is essential to limiting nutrient loss and avoiding freezer burn.

Food Safety

Food safety is critical. If you're not careful, you could end up with food poisoning. For starters, make sure your fridge and freezer are both at the correct temperatures. Your fridge should be at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or cooler, and your freezer should be 0 F or colder. Other food safety considerations include:

• Refrigerating or freezing your food within two hours of cooking it
• Cooking fresh poultry and fish within two days of buying it and cooking red meat within five days
• Cooking meats and to the correct temperature to kill bacteria (for most meat, that's around 165 F)
• Reheating prepared meals only once to avoid contaminating them with bacteria
• Labeling your containers so you know when you made it (Meals in the fridge should be eaten within four days, and frozen meals should be eaten within six months)

Weight Loss Staples to Keep Stocked

Keeping fresh and dried herbs on hand, along with other spices, is a great way to add tons of flavor to your meals without adding calories. Other helpful staples to have on hand include:

• Non-starchy vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, leafy greens, zucchini, mushrooms
• Starchy vegetables: Butternut squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes
• Fruits: Berries, apples, grapefruits, bananas, kiwi, mango
• Protein: Chicken breast, lean ground beef, fresh or frozen fish, canned tuna and salmon, eggs, tofu, tempeh
• Legumes: Black beans, lentils, chickpeas
• Grains: Whole grain pasta, quinoa, brown rice, oats
• Nuts and seeds: Pumpkin seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, almond butter, cashews
• Oils: Avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil
• Healthy fats: Hummus, tahini, avocados

Meal Ideas

Wondering how to get started? Finding recipes that meet your nutrition goals and suit your tastes is essential. A few options to consider for every meal include:

• Breakfast: Overnight oats topped with almond butter and berries, smoothie or egg muffins made with veggies
• Lunch: Salad with crispy chickpeas, cucumber and tomatoes, grilled chicken with brown rice and sauteed spinach, tuna avocado salad on sprouted grain bread
• Dinner: Cauliflower crust pizza topped with veggies, homemade turkey chili, chicken meatballs served with spaghetti squash and marinara
• Snacks: Fresh veggies with hummus, apple slices with peanut butter, avocado, and cucumber salad, a handful of nuts