Healthy Living • YMCA Health and Fitness
Meal prep 101: 4 tips to maximize your healthy eating efforts
21 December 2018 - by Nicole Meredith
Meal prepping is a great way for us time-poor people to put nutritious food on the table — if done right. To make a real investment in your health, you need to prep the right amounts with good ingredients using recipes that will keep or freeze well. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your precious time and money.
Here are 4 things I wish I’d started doing years ago that will help you get the most out of your meal prepping:
1. Learn to read food labels
Before you set foot in the grocery store, know how to decode serving sizes, nutrition claims, and % Daily Value. These snapshots can help you compare two versions of an ingredient you’re looking for, and choose the most nutritious. That said, you should also learn the backstory behind these labels, and how to use them with caution, knowing they don’t always tell the whole story about your food.
2. Start a stockpile of recipes
There’s nothing to stop you in your meal-prepping tracks quite like having no idea what to make. By investing a little time in building a store of recipes that make a lot of volume and freeze well, you can spare yourself that demotivating slump later. Look for veggie-heavy chili, curry, and stews, and pull together a list you can choose from when the time comes.
3. Get your serving sizes in check
Watch out for meal prep overload, where you pack way too much into those Tupperware containers and effectively self-sabotage your healthy eating efforts. Research suggests that most Canadians underestimate their serving sizes, and in turn, overdo it on the meat and carbs. Learn how much protein, grains, vegetables, and so on you actually need. And remember, looks can be deceiving: instead of just eyeballing it, measure or weigh your portions.
4. Keep track
If you follow through on #3, above, you’ll have an easier time recording what you eat — which is one of the best investments you can make in healthy eating. Looking back at a written (or digitized) version of what you’ve consumed today, the past week, and the past month can help you literally see where you’re crushing your goals and where you could use some adjustments. Tracking your food intake will set you up for some very real, long-term gains — or perhaps losses ;)
What’s your favourite recipe to prep in bulk? Let me know on Twitter @CasmeySamantha.
Sam has an honours BSc in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo and is a YMCA Canada Trainer Educator. She’s currently the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s Manager of Health & Fitness Adult Programs. In the 20 years she’s been working at the Y, Sam’s taught thousands of fitness classes and trained hundreds of volunteers to teach classes including Arriba, MuscleFit, Bootcamp, and many more. She’s currently spending her time on Sudoku and cryptic crosswords, but investing in reading books on habits and behaviour change.
Here are 4 things I wish I’d started doing years ago that will help you get the most out of your meal prepping:
1. Learn to read food labels
Before you set foot in the grocery store, know how to decode serving sizes, nutrition claims, and % Daily Value. These snapshots can help you compare two versions of an ingredient you’re looking for, and choose the most nutritious. That said, you should also learn the backstory behind these labels, and how to use them with caution, knowing they don’t always tell the whole story about your food.
2. Start a stockpile of recipes
There’s nothing to stop you in your meal-prepping tracks quite like having no idea what to make. By investing a little time in building a store of recipes that make a lot of volume and freeze well, you can spare yourself that demotivating slump later. Look for veggie-heavy chili, curry, and stews, and pull together a list you can choose from when the time comes.
3. Get your serving sizes in check
Watch out for meal prep overload, where you pack way too much into those Tupperware containers and effectively self-sabotage your healthy eating efforts. Research suggests that most Canadians underestimate their serving sizes, and in turn, overdo it on the meat and carbs. Learn how much protein, grains, vegetables, and so on you actually need. And remember, looks can be deceiving: instead of just eyeballing it, measure or weigh your portions.
4. Keep track
If you follow through on #3, above, you’ll have an easier time recording what you eat — which is one of the best investments you can make in healthy eating. Looking back at a written (or digitized) version of what you’ve consumed today, the past week, and the past month can help you literally see where you’re crushing your goals and where you could use some adjustments. Tracking your food intake will set you up for some very real, long-term gains — or perhaps losses ;)
What’s your favourite recipe to prep in bulk? Let me know on Twitter @CasmeySamantha.
Sam has an honours BSc in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo and is a YMCA Canada Trainer Educator. She’s currently the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s Manager of Health & Fitness Adult Programs. In the 20 years she’s been working at the Y, Sam’s taught thousands of fitness classes and trained hundreds of volunteers to teach classes including Arriba, MuscleFit, Bootcamp, and many more. She’s currently spending her time on Sudoku and cryptic crosswords, but investing in reading books on habits and behaviour change.
