Most of my clients are busy professionals. The biggest nutrition downfall for this group is constantly eating out for lunch. My clients repeatedly tell me about their struggles to find time or inspiration to pack lunches from home and the huge temptation of hundreds of restaurants right outside their office. This often leads them to consume excessive calories, ultimately preventing them from losing weight or feeling their best.

Like all changes to your eating or exercise routine, bringing lunch from home is a habit that requires planning, practice, and consistent execution to master. This article summarizes the benefits of bringing lunch from home and outlines my two favorite approaches to building this habit.

Packing your lunch has several benefits. First, preparing your own food gives you more control over what you eat. You can pack appropriate portions and ensure all of the ingredients in your meal work for your body and your eating plan. This makes it much easier to make healthy choices and avoid temptation. Second, bringing your own lunch can help you save hundreds of dollars over the course of a month. You may be surprised at how quickly the cost of restaurant lunches adds up, especially if you are eating out everyday of the week. Grocery shopping gets you much more bang for your buck.

Meal Templates

Many people want to bring lunches, but struggle to develop the habit of preparing food day after day. There are two ways to make this process easier. The first is to use meal templates to eat similar meals every day.

A meal template provides the basic construction of a meal while allowing some flexibility with individual ingredients. Templates can be based on anything. Some popular ideas center around a type of dish (salad, soup, chili), ethnic cuisines (taco Tuesday, Indian food, Mediterranean food), a particular protein (steak, fish, pork), or a certain method of cooking (slow cooker, Instant pot, sheet pan dinner).  Meal templates help you avoid decision fatigue while still providing diversity to avoid food boredom. The preparation and primary ingredients remain the same as you rotate seasonings, sides, added vegetables, cooking fats, or other minor components of the meal to change up the flavor or character of the dish.

My Favorite Templates

Rather than coming up with a complicated meal plan consisting of different lunches every day, choose one or two meal templates that you enjoy and are easy to put together. I have used two simple meal templates to successfully pack my lunches for years.

The first is a salad. Every salad consists of some kind of chopped lettuce or greens, protein (usually canned chicken, tuna, or salmon or leftover protein from dinners), a variety of chopped vegetables, and a homemade dressing made from an oil, an acid (lemon or lime juice, vinegar, etc.) and seasonings.

The second template I use regularly is grilled protein with steamed vegetables. I use my George Foreman Grill to rapidly cook beef, turkey, or chicken burgers; chicken breasts or thighs; or lean pork chops. I always have a few spice blends in my pantry for easy and delicious seasoning. My vegetable side alternates between steamed broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus, and carrots.

Both of these meals take minimal time to put together and allow enough variety that I don’t get bored. For example, my favorite salad is inspired by southwestern flavor and includes lime juice, avocado oil, cilantro, red onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, and chicken. Another salad is much sweeter, using spinach, strawberries, mushrooms, red onion, tomatoes, salmon, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. The preparation time and method for these meals is exactly the same, but they taste very different.

Leftovers

Another way to easily pack lunches without a lot of extra effort is to take advantage of leftovers. Instead of cooking just enough food for one dinner, try doubling or tripling the recipe so you have enough food to take for lunch the next day. To maximize your cooking time, consider setting aside an hour or two on the weekend to cook a large dish that you can portion into daily lunches. This works especially well with one-pot dishes like soups, chilis, stews, roasted vegetables, and baked dishes. Grains like rice, oats, and quinoa are also much easier to prepare in large batches.

If you get food boredom easily, repurpose your leftovers into different meals for some variety. I like to use leftover protein in salads and scrambled eggs. You can also add cooked ingredients to sandwiches, soups, pasta, or grain bowls. The possibilities are truly endless if you are creative and open to new food combinations. You may be surprised at what foods work well together as you stumble upon some new favorite lunches.

Lose weight, Save Money, Feel Better

Packing your own lunch is one of the best ways  to improve your eating habits and general health. You will also save money so you can spend more on truly meaningful meals and social outings or enjoy other things in your life.

If you struggle to bring lunch, start by cooking more at one or two dinners each week so you have a couple of leftover lunches. Once you succeed with that, pick a meal template to use for the remainder of the week’s lunches. Don’t be afraid to eat the same things every week or to experiment with totally new dishes and combinations of food. Remember, success with healthy eating requires you to adopt habits you can realistically sustain over the long term.

If you want more practical advice, check out Eleven Easy Meal Templates. I compiled my personal favorite meals into this totally free PDF guide. Sign up using the box below.

One of the biggest secrets to successfully losing weight or improving your health is learning to cook your own food.

Constantly eating out at restaurants gives you little control over what and how much food you consume. Restaurants want to make your meal as tasty as possible and often add in a great deal of sugar, fat, and salt, creating dishes that are deceptively high in calories. The official nutritional information published by chain restaurants is helpful, but even these numbers can be inaccurate depending on the individual meal. Eating out every day also rapidly adds up to hundreds of dollars or more spent on food every month.

Cooking more of your food at home can save you both dollars and inches off your waistline. You can spend less money, eat a larger volume of food, prioritize protein and vegetables, and ensure that your food isn’t loaded up with extra sugar and fat. All of these things will help you feel more satisfied, avoid cravings, and make faster progress towards your goals.

Cooking more of your meals can be a difficult habit to form, which is why it’s important to use a system to formulate a plan of attack. In this article, I will outline my step-by-step approach to mastering meal prep. This includes drawing up a weekly meal plan, obtaining fresh ingredients by visiting the grocery store or setting up a delivery service, and then cooking your food in the most efficient manner possible.

Make a plan

The first step to successful meal prep is coming up with a plan. There is simply no way around this, especially if you are new to healthy eating or cooking. You need to spend some time figuring out what you want to eat for all of your meals before you go to the store. This will become easier with practice as you fall into a regular routine and develop a mental library of easy, healthy meals you enjoy.

I recommend repeating meals often for the sake of simplicity. Eating the same meals every day is a great way to keep control of your calories without much extra effort. It also helps reduce your food prep time since you will eventually become very efficient at making these repeat meals. I have personally found a lot of success eating the same breakfast and lunch every day and rotating through 5-10 regular dinner options. This allows me to to minimize daily prep time while still enjoying a variety of healthy, delicious meals in the evening.

If you are the kind of person who gets food boredom easily, you can use templates to add a bit of variety without changing the entire meal. For example, I make a big salad for lunch every day. The salad always contains chicken, salmon, or tuna along with plenty of vegetables and a simple homemade dressing. I can change up the protein, vegetable selections, and dressing for just enough variety from day to day without adding any time to my preparation.

If you are relatively new to cooking or simply want to expand your arsenal of regular meals, try out one new recipe each week. Look for recipes that are simple and predominantly feature proteins and vegetables. If you aren’t up for following an entire recipe but still want to diversify your cooking, try purchasing one new vegetable or protein source each week. Look up an easy preparation method, such as steaming vegetables or grilling proteins, or add the new food to a dish you are already familiar with such as roasted vegetables, stir fry, or salad. If you like the way the food tastes and it is easy for you to prepare, add it into your regular rotation.

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Once you have created your meal plan, write down all the ingredients you need to purchase. Be specific about the amount of each item you need to avoid food waste.  Do a quick mental inventory of your pantry and write down any items that are running low and may need to be replaced. These items could include oils, vinegar, spices, canned goods, rice, and other dry goods. If you are new to cooking and have a very limited pantry, try buying one new spice or other item each week.

The last step in meal planning is to decide when to eat what. Proteins such as steak and fish should be eaten earlier in the week, whereas pork and chicken typically last longer in your fridge. Certain vegetables and fruits are heartier and will last longer than others. If you know one of your meals takes more time to prepare, be sure to schedule it for a day when your schedule is more relaxed. I recommend purchasing certain items from the frozen aisle to ensure that you will have good food available whenever you need it. Keep a bag of frozen chicken or shrimp and some frozen vegetables in your freezer in case you run out of food and can’t make it to the store. Consider all of these details to ensure your weekly cooking goes as smoothly as possible.

Navigating the grocery store

Now that you have your meal plan, it’s time to hit the grocery store. If you have done the first part of planning well, this step should be relatively easy. However, I find that people often skip the planning stage and head right to the store. This is a huge mistake, especially if you are new to meal prep, prone to impulse junk food purchases, or tend to waste a lot of what you buy. You should always come armed with a list until you are very experienced with meal prep and shopping. A list ensures that you will get the best value for your dollar and gives you a buffer against cravings.

Go through the store, buying everything on your list and nothing more. Most of your purchases should be made from the perimeter of the grocery store where you will find the fresh produce, meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy items. Only venture into the aisles to purchase items you have specifically put on your shopping list. Take special care to avoid aisles that house problem foods for you including chips, candy, soda, and baked goods.

Whenever possible, don’t go to the grocery store on an empty stomach. Your hunger may fuel impulse purchases of junk food or cause you to buy more food than you actually need.

If you absolutely detest shopping or don’t have the time to go to the store, I recommend investing in a grocery delivery service such as Instacart or Peapod. These services allow you to submit grocery lists which are then delivered directly to your house. In addition to saving you time, these services make it more difficult for you to grab that bag of chips or candy bar at checkout.

You might also consider signing up for a meal delivery service for some or all of your weekly meals. These services range from delivering meals that are precooked and just need to be reheated to sending you boxes of ingredients with instructions on how to prepare the meal yourself. Many of my clients use these services with great success. There are many options available, so talk to your friends and do some research to determine which one might be a good fit for you. 

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Get cooking

After you have finished shopping, it’s time to prepare your food for the week. There are two approaches to this process: (1) cook all of your food for the week in one sitting; or (2) prepare one day of food at a time.

If you know your weeks are hectic and you would rather get everything done at once, I recommend setting aside a couple of hours to do all of your planning, shopping, and cooking on the weekend. If your weekends tend to be busier than your weeknights, or if you have a small refrigerator and can’t store a ton of food, prep one day at a time. Either approach can work as long as it fits into your schedule and lifestyle.

There are many tricks you can use to reduce cooking time. Batch cooking is an easy way to prepare many meals at once; it works especially well with dry grains, beans, legumes, and proteins. For example, you can bake several pounds of chicken at once and then divvy it up for individual meals.

If you are making a one-pot dish such as a chili, soup, or stew, try doubling the recipe to leave you with twice the food for the same amount of time and effort. You can also freeze some of these leftovers for quick and easy meals in the future.

The slow cooker is another one of my favorite tools for easy meal prep because it allows you to make a large amount of food with minimal effort. Simply drop in some protein, hearty vegetables, and spices and return several hours later to a delicious and balanced meal. You can also use the slow cooker to batch cook large amounts of protein, grains, and vegetables to eat at various meals throughout the week.

If you are prepping day by day, you can still do some work on the weekend to make each day easier. Try chopping vegetables and storing them in the fridge for easy access for salads, stir frys, and scrambled eggs. Hard boil a dozen eggs for quick breakfasts or snacks. Set aside time every night or morning to do your main cooking for the day. If you can’t find time, consider switching to a weekend prep.

Meal prep your way to better results

Cooking more of your food at home is one of the best ways to take control of your health and weight.

Set up a weekly meal prep ritual that helps you get into a routine of planning, shopping, and cooking more of your meals, and stick with it diligently for several months. It takes time to establish habits and you need to get used to the numerous steps that go into this process. Once you’ve been consistent for a while, you can tweak your process to make it work better for your life. Long-term success depends on these processes becoming automatic so you can eat healthy while devoting your energy and effort to living your fullest life.

If you want some help with meal prep, sign up in the box below to receive Eleven Easy Meal Templates, a totally free guide to my favorite quick, healthy, homemade meals.