So it seems like every Instagram fitness star under the sun has taken pictures of their seven food containers all lined up with the same chicken breast, broccoli, and brown rice that they have cooked up on a Sunday to last them all week for lunch, am I right?

So the question is, is meal prepping all that it’s cracked up to be?

My short answer is yes, but there are definitely some things to take into account if you are looking to start your own meal prepping.

1. If you struggle to find time to cook for yourself during the week, or if you are spending way too much money eating out for lunch at work, I highly recommend meal prepping. While some of us do have time to cook healthy meals as we go during the week, I’d say the vast majority of people do not take the time to make sure that they are sustaining themselves nutritionally throughout the week. If that is you, read on, especially if you are trying to improve your body composition.

2. Meal prepping does take up quite a bit of time, especially depending on what you decide to cook. My favorite time to meal prep is Sunday night because I usually don’t have social plans and it helps me set the tone for the week ahead. For me, I try and set aside two hours for this.

3. Invest in some nice, new tupperware in all different sizes and throw out the tupperware that has seen better days. No only will this help you declutter your kitchen, but having tupperware than works well for meal prepping will make you much more likely to stick with it.

4. Don’t make just one recipe to eat all week. First off, you will get tired of it and towards the end of the week, that lunch out is going to look more and more appealing. Second of all, if you eat the same thing all week, you may be losing out on a variety of nutrients. Change it up!  Instead, try choosing two to four recipes to make depending on how many meals you are trying to prep. Typically, because I try and take two small meals with me to work, I choose four recipes. Normally, I’d pick one soup, one salad, one more traditional meal prep with (rice, veggies, and tofu), and then I’d pick one more ambitious recipe.

5. Find new things to meal prep every week. This will keep things exciting and make you more likely to continue. One of my favorite places to find recipes is on FoodGawker, where you can specify your food needs. Or check out my recipes on here that already have everything calculated out for you!

6. Finally, meal prepping is great because you can understand your calorie macronutrients for part of the day ahead of time, and thus you can form your other meals around that. This makes it much more likely for you to hit your macronutrient ratios and for you to see progress in your goals sooner!