My Easy Meal Prep Guide For One

Hello, my name is Sheila Smires and I am a recovered takeout addict.

When I worked at Victoria’s Secret I ate out every single day. I barely ever brought my lunch with me and instead would hit up everything the food court had to offer, which as I’m sure you can imagine, wasn’t anything particularly nutritious (although the Wetzel’s Pretzel’s little hot dog bites are f*cking bomb and no one can tell me any different). And when I went home I ordered Thai or pizza or Indian food or I walked down the street to my corner store and picked up a sandwich.

I occasionally made a Trader Joe’s run which consisted of almost entirely premade lunches or frozen dinners, but at least it was something. Pretty much my health and my wallet took a big o’l hit during that time in my life. But these days, my meals look a little different.

I head to Trader Joe’s every Sunday and come home and prep my meals for the week. Ordering takeout is a very rare treat, typically reserved for a girl’s night in or when I’m sick (hello soup dumplings!). I do of course eat out a few times a month because there is a lot of delicious food in this city, but I try to limit it to just once in a while.

I went from spending $600+ on food a month to spending $200. I have a budget of $50 a week for groceries and it’s not difficult for me as a single person to stay within that. I also eat a ton of nutritious meals that are good for me and that I enjoy eating. I honestly love my Sunday routine and have found that it’s been an instrumental part in keeping me healthy and fit.

I think meal prepping kind of bums people out because they just imagine a ton of containers full of dry ass chicken and broccoli. But meal prepping is what you make it and you can 100% make it tasty.

I think it can also be a bit of an overwhelming idea if you’re just one person and aren’t sure how much food to get or what portion size to make everything. So I wanted to help you out!

If you’re a single gal trying to save those dollas and/or eat more mindfully then I think you’ll find some helpful gems in my meal prepping guide below:

WEEKLY GROCERY SHOPPING IS THE BEST BUT…

If you really don’t think you can make it there once a week, at least go every other week.

Going once a month and buying a ton of stuff in hopes of being set for several weeks is unrealistic because more than likely that food is going to go bad/not get eaten/not excite you anymore. If you hate the idea of meal prepping because you don’t like to eat the same things all the time why would you go to the store once a month and expect yourself just to eat the things you’ve purchased in that one trip?

I love going once a week because I can constantly switch up my menu and try new recipes. Plus it guarantees for the most part that all of my food gets eaten, I’m not being wasteful and everything is fresh.

If you really aren’t convinced, make sure to get mostly frozen veggies/meat, etc. so you don’t have to worry about anything expiring.

BE STRATEGIC WITH YOUR LIST

Every Monday like the true dork I am I sit down to make the following weekend’s grocery list. I go on Pinterest, I get out my cookbooks and I figure out what I want to make.

Before I start looking into recipes though, I always like to check my calendar and see what I have going on the following week. It took me a while to figure out ways to cut back on my food waste and one of them is to plan ahead. If I know I’m having dinner out twice the following week then I will make sure I’m not buying more food than I can eat. I hate when things go bad because I made too much!

Take a look at what you have going on and literally count out how many meals you need. This week I needed four dinners, five lunches, and five breakfasts. Plus snacks, duh!

I also know that on some mornings I don’t have a ton of time to make eggs or something more elaborate (I don’t typically meal prep my breakfast because I really like eggs wrapped in a warm tortilla with a sh*t ton of hot sauce, ya know?) so I make sure that I’m adding something I can take on the go to my grocery list, like protein bars or green juices.

I also go to Trader Joe’s so often that I pretty much know the general cost of everything so I like to note the price of each item as I make my list to make sure I’m staying within my budget.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOME PANTRY STAPLES

If you’ve never meal prepped before and aren’t someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen I would highly recommend doing a larger shop at first to make sure you have the essentials!

Here’s a list of things I always like to keep in my kitchen:

Salt & pepper
Olive oil or avocado oil
Butter (I like to have vegan and unsalted regular butter on hand)
Your favorite spices (I love red chili flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, basil, etc.)
Hot sauce
Condiments (mayo, mustard, ketchup, etc.)
A bevy of delish sauces (Jalapeño sauce, sweet chili, salsa, BBQ, sriracha, soy sauce, chili onion crunch, etc.)
Vinegar
Pasta, beans and anything dry that you can use in a pinch!
Hummus

PICK A WEEKLY MEAL PREP TIME FRAME

If you’re really going to commit to this I think it’s best to pick a time each week you’ll stick to. Personally, I love to meal prep in the early evening on Sundays.

I make it into some fun “me” time with a glass of wine, a good playlist or podcast, and my cookbooks. Plus it means I spend Sunday nights taste testing delicious things and pretty much having three dinners soooooo can’t be mad at that!

Put on your favorite tv show or an audiobook or have a girlfriend over! Make it into a fun weekly ritual you’ll look forward to.

GET SOME GREAT GLASS CONTAINERS

Just like getting new workout clothes can inspire you to drag your butt to the gym, new tupperware can make you all sorts of jazzed about meal prepping!

I am slowly transitioning out of my plastic containers (I have never claimed to be an expert in sustainability or living waste-free so get off my back man, I do my best) and switching over to glass because it’s 1. obviously better for the planet and 2. better for your body! If you’re heating these bad boys in the microwave at work you’re pretty much infusing your food with plastic. Ew!

Here are some of my favorite meal prepping supplies:

DON’T FORGET SNACKS!

You can snack prep too! I have my go-to snacks I always pick up while grocery shopping and it really helps me stay healthy and full throughout the day.

If possible I pick snacks that are already “prepped” like little packs of green olives or apples but if you pick up something that will require a little assembly then you can prep that ahead of time too!

Some of my favorite snacks options are:

Carrots, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and hummus
Green olive packs (I get them from Trader Joes)
Granny smith apples (or your apple of choice)
Almonds (love the truffle and rosemary Marcona almonds from TJs)
Dried mango
Honey Mama bars
Blueberries
Baked broccoli florets
Salami packs

SOME OF MY FAVORITE MEAL PREP RECIPES:

Here are some of my favorite recipes for meal prepping to give you some ideas! They’re mostly from Carissa Stanton of www.broccyourbody.com but click on the image to see the details. I’ll also link my recipe caps at the bottom if you need more ideas!

*all photos belong to either Carissa Stanton or Jessica Merchant