Stocking Your Kitchen for Success! The Essentials for Getting Started with Meal Prepping

To many, just the thought of meal prepping seems incredibly overwhelming, time consuming and nearly impossible for an average adult with any responsibilities to achieve. Furthermore, when most of us think of meal prepping we envision a piece of nasty, rubbery, and bland chicken breast, steamed broccoli and brown rice all packaged nicely in a Tupperware and are completely disgusted at the thought of having to eat such a thing every day.  So why would one want to even delve into the meal prep scene? Let me start by debunking the common myths surrounding meal prepping. First of all, meal prepping is only as complicated as you choose to make it. There is no need to select one day a week and spend countless hours preparing every single meal and snack you will eat for the next 7 days.  Meal prepping can be as simple as grilling some chicken and having it on hand to use through out the week or doubling a recipe you make for dinner and dividing the leftovers for future meals. Next, prep meals can consist of anything, it doesn't have to be that awful rubbery chicken boob, broccoli and brown rice. You can prep stir-frys, salads, or healthy versions of most of your favorite dishes. The purpose of meal prepping is help you stay on track with your healthy eating plan and ultimately to help you meet your fitness and weight loss goals. Over the years I have found short cuts and some great kitchen gadgets that have made the meal prepping process much easier to manage.  So if you are new to meal prepping, here are the kitchen essentials I recommend to help get you started!

Cooking Utensils

•  Food Storage Containers:  

•  Digital Food Scale: 

•   Measuring Cups and Spoons:

• Good Knife and Cutting Board:

•  Large non-stick cooking skillet
• baking sheet

Optional but highly recommended: 

• BBQ or grill pan
• Vegetable spiralizer
• Garlic Press
• Vegetable Peeler
• Mandolin for slicing vegetables
• Food Processor or blender

Spices, Oils, and Condiments

Cooking Oils

• Calorie free non-stick sprays- canola, olive oil, coconut oil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Coconut Oil
• Low sodium Chicken or vegetable broth- to use in place of an oil in cooking

Spices

• Pink Himalayan salt
• Pepper
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Salt free seasoning blends (Mrs. Dash, Flavor God, etc.)
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Cinnamon
• Italian Seasoning blend
• Salt free taco seasoning blend

Condiments

• Sriracha sauce
• Whole grain mustard
• Bragg liquid aminos
• Low sodium teriyaki sauce
• Taco Sauce or Hot sauce 
• Walden Farms calorie free sauces, syrups and dressings