Preventing Meal Prep Boredom

November 27, 2019

10:00 AM

"But I don't want to eat the same thing everyday."

In my previous post “It’s Time to Meal Prep”, I covered the pros and cons that come with making your meals for the week. One of the biggest issues that many have with meal prepping, is getting tired of eating the same thing every day.

And while I know I couldn’t survive without prepping my meals, I can completely understand getting tired of the same foods! So here is what I've learned to do...

Ways to Prevent Food Boredom

Cook in Bulk

A well balanced meal should consist of the right amount of protein, fats, and carbs. What I’ve found most helpful with variety is to make or have bulk portions of each.

For example, for protein, you could make portions of both chicken and ground beef. This way depending on your mood, you can switch up what you’d like for certain meals. Having already-made protein such as a can of tuna, is also great to have on hand when you just don’t want that dang chicken.

Cooking in bulk for carbs is even easier. While I will always preach whole foods such as sweet potatoes, I do recommend having easily accessible carbs such as wraps or bread for those days when you want to switch things up.

Fats are a little harder to sporadically change, but I recommend using whole sources of fats (i.e. coconut oil, MCT oil, etc) that are essentially flavorless and can be added to almost any meal.

"Consider it almost like a buffet..."

Having these bulk portions of protein, fats and carbs allows you to create different meals everyday. Consider it almost like a buffet where you’re able to choose a type of protein, a type of carb, and drizzle a type of fat allowing you with more variety of meals.

Cook Plainly

Another suggestion I have is to cook your food very simple and add your seasonings/dressings on the day you eat the meal.

A good example here is chicken. If you make your chicken with just salt and pepper, you can add things later like tomato sauce or soy sauce depending on if you’re in the mood for a more Italian or Asian dish.

Healthify Your Favorites

One thing that I love to do is “healthify” food that I love or that I tend to crave. This could be creating a healthier version of mac and cheese or pizza or brownies. Meal prepping does not mean you have to eat chicken, rice and broccoli all the time. There are so many alternatives and many many recipes out there that allow variety!

If you’re enjoying and loving what you’re eating, you’ll be more inclined to stick to eating to your prepped meals. (This will also help curb any of those pesky cravings, too).

Change Weekly

Switch it up! Just because you’re making your meals ahead of time, doesn’t mean you have to eat the same thing every week. Trying new recipes weekly or bi-weekly will also help prevent getting tired of eating the same thing all the time.

Final Thoughts

I would not suggest these final tips for someone who’s on a competition prep, but these work great for someone who just wants to be overall healthier.

• Pick one meal, one day a week and to eat out at a restaurant.

• Prep for all meals except one (dinner will most-likely be the easiest option to not prep).

• Leave weekends free. HOWEVER. If you decide to blow the entire weekend and eat like absolute crap, you will not reach your goals. Choose wisely.

So raise your spatulas, my master chefs…

...Here’s to Health. Cheers.