
Meal Prep can be daunting, especially if you've never done it before and aren't sure which foods you should eat, how large your portions should be, or how to divide your calories.
Well, good news! I've decided to take out all the guess work ... and all the other work as well.
This weekend, to help jump start a diet phase for my amazing client Jim (who by the way has added 50 pounds to his bench press max in the last month!!!!), I delivered an at home Meal Prep Class that resulted in 32 Lunches and Dinners, 35 Low Calorie Snacks, and 10 Low Calorie Desserts.
To make things as easy as possible, I took it upon myself to:
Shop For All Groceries Needed
Bring The Groceries To My Client's Lovely Home
Prep, Cook, Weigh, and Package Every Meal (32 in total) With Accurate Calorie Counts
Prep and Package Low Calorie Snack Options (35 in total) With Accurate Calorie Counts
Teach How To Measure Out Serving Sizes For Dessert (10 in total)
Calculate His Daily Calorie Max For A Weight Loss Deficit
Plan What To Eat When/How Much Water To Consume
And all while keeping the food cost at $105!

Every meal includes a protein, a fibrous carb, and a starchy carb. For our first round of meals, I kept the menu simple but included some variety in the proteins such as:
BBQ Chicken Breast
Orange Chicken
Lean Ground Turkey Tacos
Deconstructed Turkey Burgers
Deconstructed Alaskan Cod Tacos w/ Salsa
Tuna Salad w/ Relish
And accompanied every meal with 1 cup of White Rice and 1 cup of Vegetables (Broccoli, Mixed Veg, etc).

For in between meals, I packed 25 bags of low calorie snack options (mini Rice Cakes and Apple Straws) that came out to 110 and 140 calories respectively. These low calorie options will allow for a healthy amount of food (16 and 36 pieces of each) to satiate cravings without putting much of a dent into overall calorie count.

I also brought low fat Cottage Cheese that can be mixed with fruit as an in between meal snack (1/2 cup at 90 calories per serving) and Non Fat Flavored Greek Yogurt (3/4 cup at 135 calories per serving) for a sweet dessert that can also be mixed with fresh or frozen fruit.
For breakfast (and to allow my Client who enjoys cooking to still spend a little time in the kitchen), we mapped out a healthy protein shake with Almond Milk that provides a healthy option in the morning for under 300 calories and that he can make before work. See?! I'm not a TOTAL control freak! ; )
MEAL PREP VS. MEAL DELIVERY SERVICE, A CHICAGO HOME PERSONAL TRAINER SAVES $!
Before jumping into my Meal Prep Class, my Client used Cook Unity for a few meals per week. We crunched the numbers and calculated 4 meals from Cook Unity Cost approx. $16.63 per meal.
After food and labor, my 32 meals and 45 snacks/desserts came out to ...
$10.11 per meal!
How's that for eating healthy AND saving money?! Plus, now my client knows how to Meal Prep for himself going forward and can drastically reduce food budget and lose weight!
If you'd like to sign up for a Meal Prep Class or Personal Training Sessions (20% Off For 3 Months!) With A Chicago Home Personal Trainer Click The Links Below!

Great article. I may add that the entire entirety of the meals per day with the rice snack and the apple straws at each meal plus the yogurt once at a total calorie intake around 1700. This gives me another 325 cal to play around with, but obviously I have one calorie goal in comparison to another.