I meal prepped 46 boring lunches to be healthier

So we just had another baby and I don't have any more time to prepare healthy meals. So I decided to tackle a much needed project, master the art of meal prep. My goal was to add more healthy meals to my diet, get enough protein to build muscle, save time and money, and the big one, move all my lunches to autopilot. I bought a freezer, a bunch of food containers, lots of spices, and I removed the smoke detector from our kitchen. It's all been very exciting. but also kind of boring. I'm not great at cooking, so I'm gonna keep things as simple and boring as I possibly can. Anything else would just completely defeat the purpose. I can learn how to become a world-class chef in another video. This video is just about getting the basics done right. So I wanna walk you through my initial game plan that I have, how many meals I'm gonna make, and what the macro breakdown is gonna look like, hopefully. So I bought 18 one liter glass meal prep containers from Target. Two of them broke during shipping, so I'm left with 16. I'm gonna split each of these containers so they'll hold two lunches each. My target macros for these dishes is about 30 grams of protein, 30 grams of carbs, and five grams of fat. My main protein is gonna be chicken for most dishes, but I'll add some steak for variety, also because it has more bioavailable iron. creatine, and other vitamins. I'll also be adding a side of greens and a grain or carb. I've also got 14 smoothie jars. So my goal for these is to have about 30 grams of protein, which I'll get from protein powder and Greek yogurt. And I also want a mix of fruit, veggies, and berries. If you're new here or haven't watched my videos in a while, I live in Australia now. So I'm gonna be doing my shopping at Harris Farms. So these right here are the best authentic Mexican tortillas made in Georgia. Kangaroo fillet. What do you reckon? Nah, I'm not that brave. Let's grab some Aussie beef and some free-range chicken. Happy days. Okay, so these are my lunch containers. They are one liter containers. And then over here, I've got my smoothie prep containers with lids. A lot of people ask me if they crack in the freezer and they don't. I think it's because the lids aren't curved at the top. I've had no issues with these containers or my lunch containers. All right, so I've got the oven preheating for my lunch. Right now I'm gonna be getting started with my smoothie prep. This is a pretty similar smoothie that I've made for years, but I have changed a couple small details. I decided to go with kale for my smoothies instead of spinach. Spinach is one of the foods highest in oxalates, which can increase the risk of kidney stones. And since I have a family history there, I wanted to play it safe. Kale is much lower in oxalates, but still packed with vitamins A, C, and K, plus fiber, antioxidants, and other good stuff. So I have some leftover kale here that I'm gonna be using as a side for my lunches. By the way, that white stuff under the orange peel is called the pith. It's got a lot of great fiber and antioxidants that help support gut health, heart health, and it helps to also slow sugar absorption. It's a little bit bitter, but you definitely won't notice it in your smoothies. And finally, a few teaspoons of chia seeds, hemp seeds, and rolled oats, topping it off with some frozen berries. Okay, smoothie prep is done. Another specific choice I made with these meals was swapping rice for quinoa. Rice as a crop tends to take up more arsenic from the soil than other grains because of how it's grown. That doesn't mean that rice is poisonous or that eating it is unsafe for most people, but if you are planning to eat it frequently as a base for your meals. Some experts do suggest diversifying it with other grains is a smart decision. Maybe I'm playing it extra safe here, but quinoa is a really easy replacement because it cooks quickly, it has more protein and fiber than rice, and it doesn't have close to the same levels of arsenic. Nat always adds bone broth to our grains and our rice for dinners, and so I'm stealing that little tip here. It's a great bonus source of protein and collagen, plus minerals like potassium and sodium. Mostly though, it just makes everything taste better. I've got a bunch of different spices here. So I usually do about three batches of chicken, each with their own spice. I've got these bougie spices from, I think it's an Australian brand. Got it as a gift, but if you were really looking to save money, it's pretty easy to recreate this by buying each individual ingredient and making a batch yourself. This one specifically has cumin, paprika, parsley, nutmeg, turmeric, garlic. and cayenne pepper, so this is all the stuff that you can probably get for cheaper. And yeah, you can just make an all-purpose seasoning mix yourself. Whenever I sear chicken or steak to then finish off in the oven, I feel like I always burn the chicken. Like the pan itself just gets very smoky. I don't know if I'm not using enough oil. I mean, the heat might be too high, but then if it's not high enough, I feel like you're not getting a nice sear on the meat. I feel like he's tired. The place is calm, you know? Hi. All right, back to work. So Nat said that I should try searing it at a lower temp. See, even this was like, this was low, but it's still like, it immediately sticks to it. Oh, you didn't swallow it on the oil. I did. I did the whole thing. I went like that. But did you like move it around? Yeah, I didn't know I needed to do that. Like if you guys are taking advice from me on cooking, then we're all in trouble. So the pan is definitely burning just a little bit. But I'm getting a better sear on it now that it's low heat. And I also have much less smoke in this room. So win-win. Making videos like this is pretty time-consuming. And so when it comes to tools that help me with my behind-the-scenes creator business, I need to pick ones that are going to help me scale and streamline things. And honestly, that's why I'm stuck with Squarespace for the past 10 years to build all of my websites. They're my sponsor for this week's video. And I want to share three ways they help make me make... better stuff. One, it's really easy to build a website. They guide you step by step through setting up your website, from choosing your template to picking your website's look and every other tiny detail. Two, they pretty much have everything built right into the platform. So if you want to buy and manage your domain, they've got you covered. Want to publish a blog, set up an online store, and book consulting gigs with your clients? It's all built right into Squarespace. Three, it's affordable and it's scalable. Since I first published my site over a decade ago, my site has always been up, regardless of big traffic spikes and product launches. And I've never had to pay anything extra when those big spikes come. If you want to see why I trust Squarespace to design, develop, and publish all of my websites as a solo creator, then go to squarespace.com to start your free trial. And then when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash Matt D'Avella to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. It's a win-win. You get a great website. and you help support my channel. So thanks for considering. I feel like garlic is a pretty easy way to upgrade a dish without much effort. Not that I know what the fuck I'm talking about. So I think these steaks are actually a little bit too thin to even put in the oven. I think, like I was intending to only have it be a sear, but I feel like they're actually cooked now. So I'm gonna let them rest for a little bit. I'm not using a cooking thermometer because I find with like really thin meat, it's not super accurate, but I'm gonna let them rest for 10 minutes. I mean, look at this. You gotta look at this pan. No stick. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's nice. Just finishing up the chicken now. Gotta make it look good for the thumbnail. I think that looks pretty good. Pretty boring. So all done with the steak lunches. Here they are. Pretty good. Pretty good. All right, so meal prep. Done. I'm exhausted. Let's get all these in the freezer. Using the total food and ingredients used for these meals, I was able to calculate the average calories and macros for each lunch. Each had about 529 calories, 48 grams of protein, 54 grams of carbs, and 12 grams of fat. So for me, this is a great result with much more protein than I was originally aiming for. The lunches came out to $3.12 USD per meal. And my smoothies, when adding a scoop of protein powder and Greek yogurt, came in at 310 calories, 38 grams of protein, 36 grams of carbs, and seven grams of fat. My smoothies were a little bit more expensive at $5.32 USD. And that's mainly because of the yogurt and protein powder, which account for half of the cost of each. Thanks so much for watching this video. My meal prep is a work in progress. I'm going to be adjusting and improving this over time. So if you have any suggestions, if you are a nutritionist, an expert in the culinary arts, let me know how I can improve this meal prep and I'll probably do a follow-up video later this year. As always, thanks for watching and I'll see you guys soon. Bye-bye.

Go to http://squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, go to http://squarespace.com/mattdavella to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Stuff that I use & love:
TeuxDeux (To-Do List App): https://teuxdeux.com/matt
Music for videos: https://share.epidemicsound.com/mattdavella (use code MD30)
How I edit social content: https://descript.1stcollab.com/mattdavella
How I do remote interviews: https://www.riverside.fm/?utm_campaign=campaign_5&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=rewardful&via=mattdavella
Squarespace: http://squarespace.com/mattdavella
My backpack (14L Travel Pack) & travel gear: http://shrsl.com/2qfpx-1mzf-o0n7

New here? I'm Matt 👋 I made an award-winning documentary called Minimalism a few years ago and now I make YouTube videos. Please subscribe so my mother-in-law thinks this is a better career than being a doctor.

Get more stuff from me:
My weekly 1 min pep talk newsletter:  http://mattdavella.com/newsletter
My podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@threerulespodcast
My YouTube course:  https://mattdavella.com/youtube
Instagram:  http://instagram.com/mattdavella
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mdavella