How to Meal Prep Faster: A Week of Food in Under an Hour

Nikkiey: First of all, I hate cooking. I absolutely hate it.

Yo, yo, yo, what up, guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that help you do all of the things, like lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I'm your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to episode number 42.

Perfect timing, too. Releasing on a Friday, you guys have the weekend. We're going to talk about all things meal prep master. I want to turn you into a meal prep freaking master. This podcast was triggered for two reasons. One, a week ago, I saw on our Facebook community that a woman was about to have a mental breakdown because of meal prepping, and the time, energy, and all of the jazz that goes behind meal prepping. So if anybody feels the way that woman felt, it is not that hard or bad to do. It's not that challenging. I want to ease that emotion here on this podcast today.

The second one is releasing in two days, on Sunday. I can't share the outcome of it now, but in two days you will see a YouTube video from me where I did or did not achieve meal prep in under 30 minutes. So you'll know the answer to that in two days. And if you're listening to this way past mid-April, or May, June, that YouTube video is already live, and you can go see if I did or did not accomplish meal prep in under 30 minutes. Okay?

But that is the gist of today's episode. I want you to become the meal prep master. I don't want you guys to feel so daunted by having to do this activity. Number one, it serves you in your goals. And number two, it shouldn't take you freaking five hours on a Sunday or a Wednesday, whenever you're doing it in the week.

Now, disclaimer: as I share this information with you, I am meal prepping for one person. I know there are families out there that need to meal prep for the kids and the husband and all of that jazz, and you grocery shop for them as well. In the video you're going to watch on YouTube, I did a little mini challenge and timed myself in the grocery store too. I'm obviously not going to drop the details, because I want you guys to go watch that, and I'm releasing this podcast before that video is even live.

But anyway, I did a poll on my Instagram story, because I was so surprised by people saying they thought I took an hour and a half to go grocery shopping for myself. So I asked you guys, "Wow, I'm super intrigued now. How long does it take you to grocery shop?" And man, I was just impressed by some moms sending responses back saying, "I shop in under an hour for myself, my husband and four kids." I was like, you go, super mom. Right? And there was a majority of those. A lot of them were meal prepping and grocery shopping for themselves along with the family, and they did it in under an hour, under 45 minutes. Someone was like, in and out. And I was like, let's go. So it can be done.

The tactics and strategies I'm going to share with you today for becoming a meal prep master, you can totally implement. And I would love it if you'd share with me on Instagram if you went from a two-hour meal prep session to an hour and a half, and then a couple more weeks later you got it to an hour. I guarantee you guys totally can. It just comes with these strategies and tactics I'm going to talk with you about today.

First and foremost, like in anything and everything that I do, there's always a plan and strategy before I go and do it. For my days, I write down what I need to accomplish for the day, then I prioritize the top things, and then I go and take action on those top things. Same thing goes for meal prepping, you guys. It's like, okay, what is priority in my meal prep game? The things that take the longest are going to go in first, and then everything else can literally just be done while those things are cooking.

So, for example, you obviously go to the grocery store and get all of the food. That's step one. Or you order your food from Instacart or whatever. Then you have the food there, ready for you to meal prep. I would say pick a day of the week that you're going to do this. Pick a Sunday where you have the time. Okay, guys, I hate hearing the excuse of "I don't have enough time to do this." You have the time. It's 4% of your day to spend an hour meal prepping, 8% of your day if it takes you two hours. But we're going to get that time down today. So you have the time. Plus, these are actionable items for you to start behaving and moving toward the person you want to become. I know for the past couple of podcasts I've really honed in on that. These are supporting actions. If you meal prep, it's going to set you up for success.

Okay, so you have all of your food. And this is literally how I broke it down in the video you're going to watch on YouTube. I was like, okay, in my brain, what needs to go in first? So I put the chicken in first. I made the mistake of putting the ground beef on, because that thing is just done fast. But I was like, protein will go in first. So I preheated the oven, I put the chicken in, and I put the ground beef on top, yo.

So this is the thing: multitask. Use all of your stovetop burners. Use your oven. Use a Ninja if you've got it. Use a toaster oven if you've got it. The more the better, you guys, because you're going to be able to do multiple things at once. And if you're a mom, you can probably do that pretty damn well.

Okay, so I put the chicken in first and the ground beef on top. And I'm like, okay, that's going to take the longest, especially the chicken. That's going to take at least 25 to 30 minutes. Then move on to the next. I had sweet potatoes, so I'm like, I've got to chop up these bad boys. That took a bit of time. I should have done that before I did the ground beef, but you guys are following my gist here, right? I peeled them, cut them up, put water in, and put them on the stove. That took a little bit of time. The next two things I was prepping were asparagus and rice, and those two things took a very short amount of time. Actually, with the rice, I forgot that I was pressurizing it, so I had to wait for the Ninja to pressurize it, and that took a little bit longer. But it's just prioritizing.

And this is a big thing I'm noting, probably why it takes you guys so long to meal prep: y'all are getting distracted by other things. You're getting distracted by your phone. Maybe you put on a TV show to watch in the background and you're getting distracted by that. Maybe you're distracted by your kids running around the house and making sure everybody is fine elsewhere in the household, which is fine. But being distracted by your TV and being distracted by your phone? No wonder it's taking you two hours. Same goes for your workouts. If you're scrolling on your phone, of course it's going to take you longer to do anything, to get your workout done, to get your meal prep done. So just stay focused. Stay focused on the task at hand, which is your meal prep.

Hey, hey, real quick. If you want to learn more about macronutrients and understand how that methodology can help you achieve your body composition goals of changing the way your body looks, I put together a free 15-minute training where I dive into macronutrients and how you can control your body for the rest of your life with them. That link is in the description below. Click on it after listening to the show today.

As I said, prioritize the things you're doing. So put the chicken and protein in first, or just focus on meal prepping a bunch of protein, guys. That's the main thing that needs to be cooked for the week. Rice is easy to make. They have rice in bags now that you can literally pop in the microwave, and then you have rice. Sweet potatoes take a little bit of time. Vegetables probably take a little bit of time as well.

But the main thing is, I use tortillas and rice throughout my week as my carb sources, along with protein and bagels. I am the person who probably has my meals at five ingredients or less. No joke. Because, as I said at the beginning, I hate cooking. I absolutely hate it. I joke that I would probably burn my place down. Obviously that hasn't happened. But if I put some serious thought into cooking a dinner, it would take some serious time. So I'm like, how can I make this so much easier, less time-consuming, with fewer things that need to be prepared? That's how I roll.

Plus, I eat for fuel and function. I don't really eat for the taste of things. Sure, does it taste good? Yeah, a little bit. But is it going to fuel me, and am I going to feel good? That's all I care about. Okay? So prepping all of this stuff, getting it done, and having it in my fridge when I'm ready to eat a meal during the day is an absolute game changer.

Meal prepping, you guys, and then putting it in Tupperware or in your lunch bag for the next day, is an absolute game changer. At that point it's only up to you if you decide to make silly, stupid decisions like going out to lunch with your coworkers or having a cheeseburger for lunch when you have your packed meals. You're in control at that point. But having all of these things done, you would literally raise your success rate by so much.

Those are the ways I would do it. As I've said, you have to strategize your meal prep session. When is it going to happen? Put it on your calendar or commit to the time it's going to happen. Make sure you have everything set up that you need, the food from grocery shopping. Then lock and load yourself in the kitchen for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how many people you're cooking for, and go head first and prioritize.

Okay, proteins are all on. Ground turkey could even be on the stove if you have more people to prep for. Chicken in the oven, or chicken in a Ninja to pressurize it. Ground beef on the stovetop, ground turkey on the stovetop. If you're cooking for vegetarians or vegans, seitan is an awesome vegan option that would also sit like ground beef on the stovetop. Fish, if you're doing salmon or white fish, put that in with the chicken and just watch it. Cook it at the same time.

So it's just thinking: don't do one thing at a time. That is surely going to take you a long time to do all of the things. Use the resources you have, like an oven and a stovetop, and if you have the Ninja, use that. Then, like I said, I usually have dry things like oatmeal, bagels, and tortillas. But if you have to cook rice and sweet potatoes, slice up the sweet potatoes and put them in the oven if you have room, if you're not doing fish. Cook them while the chicken's cooking. Or chop them up into cubes, put a little bit of water in, and cook them on the stove. You have four burners up there. You can multitask. It is totally possible.

So I think the majority of the time going on here is maybe that you have more people to cook for. But you have the resources I just mentioned to do all of those things. Think about chicken: it probably takes the longest to cook, upwards of 25, 30 minutes. I like to cook it at a higher temperature, like 450, for less time, because it makes the chicken juicier. Or pressurize it. Pressurizing only takes about 20, 25 minutes as well. And ground beef and ground turkey are so quick. You can get that stuff done in 10, 15 minutes.

So think about that right there. Chicken in the oven, and ground beef and ground turkey on the stove. That's under 30 minutes right there. That's under 25 minutes. And while those things are doing their thing in the pan, you make some rice and some sweet potatoes or potatoes. So tell me where this takes an hour or two hours. My guess is, like I said, y'all are distracted, or you're just moving slow. But seriously, you can do all of this, even if you're cooking for more people, in under 45 minutes to an hour. This should not take you three hours.

I hope the video helps you see how I thought through it as well, because it's all strategizing, prioritizing, taking the action, and staying focused in the moment. And I should preface: the meal prep you'll watch in the YouTube video was a week's worth of food for me. I cooked a week's worth of food for myself in a certain amount of time, and it was surely under an hour. I'll say that. I'm not going to give it away, because you guys have to watch it. It was a hilarious video, by the way. You've got to give it a go.

But for the purpose of this podcast, it is totally possible to become a meal prep master. The main takeaways are that you think through how you're going to take the action, you strategize, you prioritize, and you do the things. And all those examples I gave are totally possible. Now, if you're getting fancy into the nitty gritty and making some beautifully done lunch with all these spices and all this garlic and all these onions and all this jazz, then sure, the cutting time may take you a little bit longer. But it still shouldn't take two or three hours to meal prep, or feel like a daunting exercise. So I put tactics in there.

Now let's talk about mindset really quick. If you feel like it's a daunting exercise, you're just going to get more of the results you've gotten, because you're not going to do the thing. You're not going to find it fun or want to do it if it feels like a daunting exercise and like you're going to have a massive breakdown. Look at it as something enjoyable. Man, guys, I feel so good when I have my food prepped, because I'm eating clean food, and that alone gives me so much energy.

So think of it like that. You're doing an activity that serves who you want to become and the goals you want to accomplish, and it sets you up for massive success in the days to come. You also don't have to think about food. People waste so much time thinking about what they're going to eat for lunch and dinner. I've been guilty of this too. Luke and I will be like, "Hey, what do you want for dinner?" "I don't know." And then we spend an hour thinking about it, especially if we want to go out to dinner one of the nights. So much other good time for your brain comes into play when you already know what you're going to have for lunch and dinner.

As for pre-workout, post-workout and breakfast, those three things normally stay the same for me. Breakfast is the same every single day: egg whites, a whole egg, and a bagel with cream cheese. My pre-workout is oatmeal and egg whites. My post-workout is a protein shake and fruit. Then lunch and dinner are the things I prep and change maybe every week or two.

So think about it. It's not daunting. It's something that's going to serve you and your goals, so get excited about it. You're going to be planned, you're going to be organized, you're going to be on point.

So that's how you can become a meal prep master, you guys. Plan ahead. Know what foods you're going to have. Strategize it. Prioritize the things you're going to cook first, the ones that are going to take the longest, and while those things are in, cook everything else you have on your plan. Chop up the things, add them in, do all of it. But get the priority bulk cooking first. Okay? It's totally possible.

Go watch that YouTube video. It releases in two days, and you'll be able to see whether or not I was able to accomplish a meal prep in under 30 minutes. All right, guys, peace out. See you next episode.

Real quick: the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. The only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask is that you leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, it will mean the absolute world to me, and it may change the world of someone else.