A common misconception of meal prep is that it requires cooking in bulk, each meal meticulously weighed, measured and portioned throughout the day. It’s a lot simpler than that.  Meal prep is the concept of making ready-to-go, nutritional meals by cooking in large proportions at the beginning of the week. Each meal is tied to the needs of the cook. To many this is an absolute extreme when it comes to food, but for members in our Ladue community, this is the norm. Meal prep doesn’t have to be a stressful and strict process. For Junior Vincent Lim, meal prep serves as an outlet to work towards his goals.

“My cooking comes in rather erratic mood swings, I would say,” Lim said. “Sometimes I feel really lazy and sometimes I put more effort into it.”

Meals don’t need to be consistent either, switching it up can make prep feel like less of a chore, “It can look all sorts of ways sometimes I’ll just pack some meat with rice with vegetables, maybe pack a fruit in there,” Lim said. “Finding what works for you comes with trial and error and personal research. I just do whatever I feel like with the information I have.”

While meal prep can be fun and convenient, there a multiple ways in which someone may take it.

Senior Eliza Cedergreen recently competed in a friendly body building competition. The sport of body building is incredibly difficult. Athletes spend hours on top of hours training, eating the right food is an important aspect of it. “I have a coach who tells me what to eat and gives me meal plans. So I do what he says and that’s how I base my cooking and like what I eat,” Cedergreen said.

Coaching is a vital aspect of training, having someone with the experience to walk you through meals can make all the difference when it comes to competition.

“All my coach does is tell me what to eat,” Cedergreen said. “I check in with him so I can keep him up to date on what my physique looks like every week.”

Each meal for Cedergreen is planned and paired with supplements to help with body building goals.

“My first meal of the day is a scoop and a half of protein powder with 40 grams of cream of rice,” Cedergreen said. “Then I take opti reds and opti greens by First Phorm and some vitamins.

There are many different extremes to the  prep process and Aaron Jaggers (11) falls in the middle of the prep spectrum. Jaggers is semi-strict with his meal prepping.

“Cooking is pretty strenuous” Jaggers said. “I cook because I want the macros and ordering doesn’t really guarantee that your food is clean” Prep can be strict but cheat days are welcomed.” Meal prepping can help food be more convenient and personalized for your unique lifestyle.