If there?s one thing that?s going to make or break your transformation success, it?s preparation. ?If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.? With this in mind, we built the TRANSFORM app to help guide your nutrition, and it’s filled with recipes, suggested meals, shopping list, and tips. 

There’s a method to the meal prep madness. When work and family keep you busy during the week, having meal prep in place allows you to have a successful week of staying on target with your nutrition. And it’s the most powerful tool to ensure nutrition consistency and get you the fastest results! When they say, “Abs are made in the kitchen,” they mean it! With healthy, nutritious meals prepped for the moment hunger strikes, your amazing transformation results are inevitable!

Meal prep doesn?t need to be complicated?it can be as quick and as simple as you want, so don?t overthink it. With practice, patience, and consistency, it gets easier and easier. Before you know it, it will become second nature, and you’ll get into a groove that works best for you! Meal prep is empowering and efficient, giving you the power to choose healthy snacks and meals when you?re hungry as well as saving you time in the long run. You?ll find yourself worrying less about squeezing time into your busy day to prepare healthy meals from scratch, and they?ll be ready to go the moment you need them. Here’s my quick and easy guide to Meal Prep 101:

Why Meal Prep?

• Less cheating! You’ll have accessible, healthy, delicious meals ready to roll the second you need them.
• It saves you money on eating out and from wasting money on groceries you don?t use.
• It creates healthy habits and provides structure to your week for you and your family.
• Setting aside time to meal prep slows you down and allows you to be intentional about your goals and what you?re fueling your body with! It keeps your goals at the forefront of your mind, and it?s an investment in YOU. And carving out that time keeps you more accountable.

How to Meal Prep:

• Pick your days ahead of time! If you carve out the days and time in your week, you?re more likely to hold yourself to it. Put a reminder in your phone?s calendar, set an alarm, or put a sticky note on your mirror if you need to?whatever it takes to get you in the habit of planning ahead.
• Know your numbers and plan your menu. If you’re carb cycling, know what days of the week are high carb, low carb, or reward. Put it on paper and hang it up where you can see the plan.
• Stick with your basics! Yes, those fancy meal prep ideas you see on Pinterest are tantalizing, and if you have time to take it to the next level like that, go for it! But sometimes that can be overwhelming, and it can end up keeping you from starting the process in the first place. When you keep it simple and focus on the basics, you can really set yourself up for true transformation success! Even if it?s just some slow cooker chicken, lean ground turkey, brown rice, quinoa, roasted veggies?you?ve got all you need.
• Once you know what?s on your menu, sit down and make a list of all of the ingredients you?ll need and head on over to the grocery store! Sometimes making your grocery list can be overwhelming (especially if you’re always on the go), but don’t let that few minutes of planning stop you. The TRANSFORM App loads a grocery list for you once you select from the menu options to keep it super easy and consistent!
• Now let?s talk containers. Stock up on food storage containers you?re excited about and make sure you have containers of all shapes and sizes on hand to prep your meals for the week. It?s like investing in cute fitness apparel to get you excited about hitting your workouts hard, and let’s be honest here?is there really any better investment you could make than in your health?! The organization and handiness of good storage containers is priceless and motivates you to stick to your plan. Stick to your plan, and you?re that much closer to reaching your transformation goals!

 Here are some of my favorite prep tools:

Quick and Easy Tips:

• Cook hard-boiled eggs in the oven.
• Peel, chop, cut, and spiralize all vegetables.
• Boil, grill, barbecue, and boil all of your meats and eggs. Flavor them using seasonings you choose or sauces from your recipes.
• Steam, bake, or roast all starches, seasoning them however you like. To save on time, roast starches and veggies with the same cooking time at the same time.
• Make portions clear by portioning snacks into plastic baggies or portable jars instead of eating from the bag. It?s easy to mindlessly munch!

What to Prep:

• Lean meats: Ground turkey, slow cooker chicken, grilled chicken, salmon, tilapia, lean cuts of steak, etc.
• Complex carbs: Jasmine rice, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, brown rice pasta, etc.
• Veggies: Broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, mixed veggies, stir fry veggies, snap peas, zucchini, butternut squash, etc.

And once you have it all prepped, look how pretty and organized your fridge becomes!

Food prep allows you to waste less and eat healthier, and it motivates you to keep going on your journey. What are your top food prep tips and tricks?

Xoxo,

Heidi

P.S.: Abs are made in the kitchen, and meal prep gets you towards that goal, which is why we’ve put so much into the nutrition aspect of the TRANSFORM app (and why this is the second spot on the hunt). Head to Instagram to GET PUMPED! It’ll take you on stroll with one of our favorite transformation journeys to date and send you to Clue #3! **This app hunt has ended**

Related reading:

Grocery Shopping 101
The Extreme Cycle | Meal Planning Tips
4 Kitchen Must-Haves for Transformation Success
Kitchen Hacks: My Top Tips and Tricks!