Tips, A Sample Meal Plan, and Shopping List
So many people do not know where to get started with meal prepping. How do I eat that much protein? Do I have to eat the same thing every day? Am I going to spend all day Sunday cooking just to be eating stale rice by the end of the week? Is it going to be expensive? Don’t worry – you don’t need to be a professional chef to hit your macros and have a good amount of variety in your diet. So let’s dive in!
Step 1: Planning
I like to plan my meals for the week. I tend to have less variety with breakfast and lunch and really put my efforts into planning good dinners. The leftovers from dinner can be eaten for lunch the next day or repurposed into new meals. You might also find that there are a lot of meals that contain many of the same ingredients, but the main difference is seasonings or sauces. Use this to your advantage in meal planning. This also leads to the next step.
Step 2: Prep Ingredients – Not Meals
Prep ingredients without sauces and seasonings when possible. This will give you the biggest opportunity to inject some variety. Today’s Chicken Teriyaki can be tomorrow’s burrito bowl with a little bit of forethought. I also like to put a “grab bag” meal at the end of the week. My go to is Jambalaya. You can take all of your leftover meat, rice, and veggies, add some Cajun seasoning and end up with a delicious end of the week meal and not have to worry about the odds and ends of leftovers that you generate through the week.
Quick Tip – Don’t stress too much about measuring
Your nutritional clock doesn’t reset every 24 hours. When you look at a meal plan and start to add things up – you might say “I need 35 ounces of chicken breast for the week”. Can you buy 35 oz of chicken breast? Can you measure it into exactly 5 ounce servings? The goal is to have a mental check on averages. If you are half an ounce over or under on any given day, it’s okay. It will all average out. Just make sure that you aren’t consistently over or consistently under. A little bit of mindfulness goes a long way.
Step 3: Prep for a couple of days at a time
If you make a giant pot of rice and try to reuse it all week – it gets gross sooner than you’d like. I tend to bundle things together so that I’m only using the same ingredients for 2 or 3 days.
Quick Tip: Buy Frozen Produce
One other issue with meal prep is keeping a lot of fresh produce on hand that can go bad, especially after it is prepped. Also, people with time constraints might find prepping and cooking fresh produce time consuming. I tend to buy frozen produce. It can be microwaved or roasted, it is easy to buy bundles of vegetables that are pre-seasoned. And you can even get some bundled with frozen rice which again – avoids the issue of stale ingredients.
Step 4: Find add ins to adapt
Meal plans, especially ones you get from the internet, are not one sized fits all. They need modified. For scaling down – scale down carbs. You might not need a full serving of rice or pasta. For scaling up – add snacks and sides. My go to snacks are rice cakes with peanut butter, adding fruit to yogurt or a protein shake to make it a smoothie, and club crackers. For scaling up protein – just add a few more ounces of meat. If you are cutting, you’ll need to adapt as you lose more weight. The easiest way is to just start trimming out your add-ins. I trim out most calorie dense to least calorie dense. So peanut butter goes first, then pasta and rice, and finally fruits. Lunches include an apple and some carrot sticks, which can also be scaled up or down depending on your individual needs.
A Sample Meal Plan
Here is an example of a sample meal plan that is pretty similar to the one that I follow myself. You might notice that certain ingredients pop up on consecutive days. Once you get the hang of things you don’t have to plan even with this much detail. You’ll get an idea of the ingredients, and have a cupboard stocked with spices to change up just about any cuisine. Each of these meals is under 500 calories and has 35 to 40 grams of protein. I’ve included links to purchase all of the ingredients to make this whole week of food for around 200 dollars from Amazon. As always, you can get everything cheaper from a discount grocery store such as Aldi or Walmart.
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snack | |
| Monday | Country Breakfast | Tuna Sandwich, Apple, Veggies | Beef Stroganoff | Protein Shake |
| Tuesday | Protein Oats | Beef Stroganoff | Chicken Burritos | Protein Yogurt |
| Wednesday | Country Breakfast | Burrito Bowl | Mediterranean Meatballs | Protein Shake |
| Thursday | Protein Oats | Turkey Wrap | Chicken Teriyaki | Protein Yogurt |
| Friday | Country Breakfast | Tuna Sandwich | Pad Thai | Protein Shake |
| Saturday | Protein Oats | Chicken Wrap | Chicken Nachos | Protein Yogurt |
| Sunday | Country Breakfast | Chicken Burrito | Jambalaya | Protein Shake |
Recipes
Country Breakfast
- 2 Eggs Any Style (I prefer Soft Boiled)
- 2 oz Sweet Potatoes
- 2 oz Turkey Sausage
Beef Stroganoff
I like to use Top Sirloin or Eye of Round. Velveting the beef is optional, but creates a nice texture, especially if you are using lower fat cuts.
Burritos/Burrito Bowl/Tacos/Nachos
The recipe contains individual ingredients, but for our quick meal prepped version, I will sometimes just get a frozen mix that contains rice, beans, onions, and seasonings. Add extra seasonings to taste. You can substitute the turkey with lean beef (95% lean) or chicken breast. Serve over rice, tortilla chips, or a low carb wrap.
Mediterranean Meatballs
5 oz Raw Ground Turkey Per Person
1 TBSP Penzey’s Lamb Seasoning
1 TBSP Dried Mint Leaves
Salt and Pepper To Taste
2 TBPS Lite Sour Cream
Garlic Powder
Frozen Mediterranean Vegetables
Heat skillet with a little cooking oil on stove top on Medium
Mix Turkey, Lamb Seasoning, Mint Leaves, Salt and Pepper in a bowl. Knead until well mixed. Make balls slightly smaller than a golf ball. Put balls in pan and cover. Rotate every 2-3 minutes until golden brown on all sides and internal temperature reads 165. Remove from pan and add vegetables directly to hot pan. Sautee until heated through.
In a separate bowl mix sour cream and garlic powder with a little salt and pepper. Pour over meatballs and vegetables.
Optional: Serve with rice. For Mediterranean recipes I like to sprinkle the rice with cinnamon.
Final Thoughts
If you read this and want to know more about the thought process that went into it’s creation, then check out the Nutrition Basics Page. And stop by the Max Value Nutrition Home Page for more articles, recipes, and more helpful information. There is also a more budget friendly starter meal plan available here! The pricing was calculated using a discount grocery store (Aldi or Walmart). Many of the ingredients are the same. Stocking your kitchen with some of the basics below can get you a lot of variety and nutrition with fairly minimal food prep effort.
Buy All of the Ingredients
Produce
Corn and Bean Mix (Buy 2)
Three Pepper Mix (Buy 2)
Proteins
Protein Powder (30 Servings)
Chicken Breast (Buy 2)
Canned Tuna (2 Week Supply)
Maximum Value Nutrition 