#24 Meal Prepping 101 with Single Parent & Fitness Pro Marek Strojvus

Clean Eating for Women with Carrie Forrest, MPH in Nutrition

Marek from Marek Fitness is here today to talk about meal prepping. Eating healthy can take extra work and meal prepping can solve the temptation to cheat for convenience. Marek is a single parent and shares some of his great meal prepping tips.In this episode of the Clean Eating for Women podcast, we talk about:

• Marek’s fitness story
• How Marek’s son is involved in the kitchen
• The basics of meal prepping

Some highlights of this episode:

1. Marek is from Slovakia, but he has been in the states for 12 years. Meal prepping has been part of his life for a long time. Getting a divorced and becoming a single-parent gave Marek a chance to start fresh and prepare his own food. It also brought him back to his Slovakian roots and nutritious homemade meals. [01:55]
2. Marek is an electrical engineer with a demanding job and a single-parent. He also competes in men's physique competitions and plays competitive volleyball. At first, cooking seemed almost impossible. Meal prepping for Marek was the missing piece of the puzzle. [04:14]
3. Meal prepping means prepping food for 4 to 5 days at one time. Meal prepping Sunday means prepping dishes for 4 to 5 meals and measuring them up and storing them for the week. [04:56]
4. He Googled and watched YouTube videos and watched people cooked ten pounds of chicken at once and really tried to figure out how to incorporate this into having a healthy diet. He started small just making his lunches. Then he started figuring out ways to make it easier, more efficient, cheaper, and better. [07:37]
5. Budget is a huge benefit of meal prepping. Time is the number one benefit, but saving money is the number two benefit. Cooking in bulk saves time, and time equals money eventually. Buying in bulk and in season also makes the food better. It also costs less. [09:27]
6. He uses vegetarian chocolate protein powder and organic cocoa and oat flour to make healthy muffins. He also uses fruit like bananas. Then he lets his son cook with him and add dark chocolate. This is one way to keep his son involved and encourage him to eat healthy also. [14:18]
7. Meal prepping for beginners. Start small you can't change your whole life that wants. It's a marathon not a sprint. Prepare foods and ingredients you enjoy. Get proper containers. The air around your food affects how long it can keep. Eliminate as much air as possible. Try getting glass or plastic containers from Rubbermaid or Pyrex. [17:10]
8. Utilize your oven for multiple items at a time. Also start with the item that takes the longest. While the potatoes are baking you can get your chicken and veggies cooked at the same time. Also jazz up your meal with spices. Split your chicken into three different groups and use three different types of spices. This will give you variety. Know what you like and always have your staples on hand. [26:54]
9. Make avocado ice cream with organic chocolate, frozen banana, and frozen avocado. This is going to be Marek's new ice cream recipe. Once he finds the ratios, he is going to make it in the food processor. [32:15]

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Marek Fitness on Instagram
• Marek Fitness on YouTube
• Marek Fitness on Facebook

Show sponsor (affiliate link included):

• Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour (use code CLEANEATING for 10% discount + free shipping over $35 during checkout)

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