Your Ultimate Guide to Meal Prepping on the Move

There’s no way around it: bodybuilding is time-consuming. Between sticking to a rigorous training program and calibrating your nutrition precisely to build high-quality muscle mass, your valuable time is stretched thin.

Figuring out how to meal prep consistently can be overwhelming — though it’s a necessary part of keeping your meals consistent and accessible. Add your commute, a social life, and family gatherings to the mix, and you’ve got yourself what feels like a near-impossible nutrition situation.

Enter the WOLFpak MealPrep Management Backpack. In one stylish pack, you can bring along everything you need for taking your prepared meals on the road with you on the move — without sacrificing time, space, or all that energy figuring out logistics.

What Is Meal Prepping?

Meal prepping refers to cooking your meals in advance — specifically geared toward your calorie or macronutrient needs — then portioning food out for the week. As a bodybuilder or an athlete with physique-related goals, you must be dedicated to your nutrition. Making your food in advance of eating is often part of this dedication. 

If you have a week’s worth of measured meals prepared all at once, you don’t have to worry about your calories and macros during the week. You’ll have already done the leg work. Just grab your pre-prepared meal — calibrated specifically to your personal needs and tastes — and enjoy. Meal prepping saves you time and curbs your urge to impulsively order takeout. 

Obstacles to Meal Prepping

In many ways, meal prepping is the perfect solution to a daily problem. You set aside a block of time one day a week to prep. In doing so, you free up a huge amount of time and nutritional uncertainty every single other day. Sounds great, right?

But as helpful as it is, meal prepping doesn’t come without its obstacles. Living your daily life doesn’t just interfere with day-to-day cooking time. The rigors of your everyday schedule can also make it feel impossible to haul your perfectly prepared meals with you as you go about your day.

Time Constraints

One huge reason that you turned to meal prepping in the first place was to save time. You’re committed to your macros and — if you use them — calorie counts. But strictly portioning out your food for each meal every day is taxing. It can take a toll on your energy, both mentally and physically. But preparing your meals each day also eats into your time.

You can and do indeed save time with meal prepping because you’ll prepare all your food at once instead of having to dedicate time to measurements each day. That said, it’s a huge time commitment to devote an entire afternoon — not to mention the time you spend shopping — to preparing an entire week’s worth of meals.

The idea of blocking off your entire Sunday just to prep food might not seem worth your time when it comes down to it — especially if you don’t love cooking.

Solutions

Treat your meal prep like your training. Program meal prep into your training routine so that it fits seamlessly with your gym time. Instead of tacking on an additional “session” of meal prep, do your prep on recovery days when you won’t be spending so long in the gym.

To save even more time, don’t be afraid to treat yourself to time-saving kitchen equipment. This might mean investing in a rice cooker, a slow cooker, and a grating attachment for your food processor. 

Choose meals that you can toss your ingredients into one of your cookers and let them cook unattended. Think: chili, rice dishes, and hearty stews.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to multitask. If there’s a TV show or podcast you’ve been meaning to catch up on, watch or listen to while you meal prep. You’re less likely to feel like meal prepping is a stressful time suck if you’re making it fun and fulfilling in multiple ways.

Space Constraints

It’s all well and good to get all your ingredients together and know exactly what meals you want to prepare. Having the physical space to prepare it all is another story.

If you’re trying to meal prep with a small kitchen, you might be facing any number of obstacles. First, you’ve got to figure out counter space. Not having enough physical space to lay out all your food and cooking equipment can make a relatively simple process feel quite overwhelming.

Another constraint might be your refrigerator. Meal prepping with a small fridge can feel nightmarish at best — once you’ve cooked all this delicious food, having nowhere to store it at the proper temperature is a no-go.

Solutions

To help give yourself more counter space, consider investing in a collapsible kitchen island that you can easily unfold to use, then tuck away afterward. If adding counter space isn’t an option, you can still strategize to maximize the use of your counters.

Choose your meal ideas and cooking methods wisely. Instead of opting for meals that require multiple bowls, pots, and pans to cook, look for recipes that only require one bowl for prep and one cooking implement like a rice cooker or slow cooker. This way, you’ll only need to have one piece of equipment out at a time.

As for the refrigerator, optimize your storage space with stackable containers that are designed to fit snugly on top of and next to each other. If you don’t have enough space to go around, you might need to meal prep twice a week to free up some fridge space. Don’t worry — you’ll still be saving time (and your macros) overall.

Daily Access to Meals

You’ve done all this hard work in advance to make sure you selected meals that were easy to make and also properly measured and portioned out. Everything has been precisely calibrated to your goals. You’ve spent hours in the kitchen putting together a whole week’s worth of fuel for your workouts. And then… you need to bring your meals with you everywhere you go.

When you’re going to your kids’ dance recital or are heading out with your friends, you’ve got to travel with your fuel. 

If you’re off to work, you have to bring your meals with you. When you have a big commute, you might have to eat when you’re literally on the go. 

Even gym time can require you to bring some prepared food, whether that’s your pre-workout shake or your post-workout snack to eat before you drive back home.

And that’s just your everyday routine. Add traveling — whether for work or pleasure — to the mix and you’ve got a whole new set of considerations. You might have to bring more than one or two meals with you, not to mention any prepared snacks or other sources of fuel you’ll need.

All these factors can cause quite a headache for someone who’s just trying to get in their macros.

Solutions

At some point or another, mealtime is going to happen when you’re not home. When that time rolls around, you’ll need to be ready to put your hard work prepping to good use — and eat. When you’re on the go, meal prep becomes about more than just getting the food ready. It’s also about taking it with you.

When you’re packing up the food you’ve created at the end of your prep day, use containers that travel well. This means leak-proof lids and containers that are big enough to hold the big meals you might need for bulking but small enough to fit in your go-pack.

If you’re on the move a lot, you might consider investing in a meal prep backpack — like the MealPrep Management Backpack. Opt for bags that prioritize making space for all your meals, with enough pockets to accommodate your food and those ice packs you’ll need to keep it cool.

Whether you travel daily or just have a big day tomorrow, make a list the night before of exactly which meals you need to take with you. Get your bag fully ready to go before heading to bed — unzipped but otherwise packed with any non-food items you’ll need. That way, you just need to toss in your ice packs and food containers on the way out in the morning.

Meal Prep Hacks

Whether you’re new to the bodybuilding game or an old pro looking to maximize your efficiency, you’ll want to stay on top of your meal prepping. Here, you’ll learn some of the most important components of prepping your meals, and why it’s so essential for you to get a jump start on your food each week.

Plan Ahead

The grocery store can be at once a glorious and overwhelming place. Before you go to the store, determine which recipes you are making for the week ahead. By having a precise idea of what you’re making, you can eliminate any guesswork about what you need to buy.

Write out a list of the exact ingredients you need, including quantities and any notes about the quality that you need to keep in mind. Are you eating organic, for example? Jot down anything relevant to your purchasing pattern.

The more specific you get with your list, the better. Do you need a three-pound sack of sweet potatoes or a five-pound sack? Double-check exactly which rice you’re supposed to be buying. Before you leave the house, cross-reference the list with what you already have at home. No need to panic when you get to the store about whether you already have curry powder.

The more you plan, the easier the shopping process will be. Think about it like your training program — you trust your program to get you from point A to point B in your workout and your goals. Trust your shopping list in much the same way.

You also stand to save a bit of money when you shop with a list, too. In eliminating the guesswork, you won’t risk overbuying or impulse buying. You know what you’re there for; all you have to do is toss it into the cart.

Buy in Bulk

Buying in bulk will help you keep costs relatively low. Consider which types of proteins, greens, and carbs you can buy all at once. Maybe that means getting family-sized bags of frozen broccoli instead of the lowly regular-sized bags. Similarly, you might opt for bigger sacks of rice or potatoes.

Try to think long-term for the week ahead instead of what’s going to make your grocery bags less intense today. A little extra loaded carry work from the grocery store back to your apartment never hurt anyone, anyway.

Avoid Boredom

If you’re cooking all your food for the week at the same time, you’re sure to save a whole lot of time and energy. The downside? You’re bound to be eating the same thing over and over — and over — again.

WOLFpak founder Michael Henderson tells BarBend over email that meal prepping doesn’t mean you’re doomed to monotony.

There are creative ways to add variety to meal prepping.

He encourages cooking in batches and then coming in clutch with different sauces and seasonings. “Cook one side dish — like rice — and turn it into multiple side dishes,” he advises. Maybe you dole out Indian flavors for yourself on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while opting for a more Greek style on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

You’ll also want to make sure you’re alternating your approach to food week-to-week. Maybe one week is all about teaching yourself a method of cooking rice, veggies, and protein that you’ve never tried before. The next week, you might instead tackle a style of cuisine you’re much more familiar with.

Alternating between the types of foods you prepare week to week can help you help fight boredom. It will also expose you to a wider variety of micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals. That’s a good call for any bodybuilder’s health.

The MealPrep Management Backpack

Whether you’re running around town on an average work day or you’re heading off to another city, figuring out how to carry all that food with you can be a headache. Your carefully packaged containers won’t fit in your work bag, aren’t secure in your gym bag, and don’t mesh well with the diaper bag for your youngest kid.

When Henderson designed the MealPrep Management Backpack, he had the obstacles of daily life in mind. By creating a multi-functional backpack designed for people with extremely busy lives and circumstances, Henderson offers a solution to the age-old bodybuilding problem — once I prep my meal, how will I bring it with me?

Bring it All

The MealPrep Management Backpack is optimized for bringing along a full day’s worth of large meals. Each pack comes equipped with three sealed meal containers designed to store your big three of the day. If you eat more often, you can upgrade to WOLFpak’s smaller meal containers.

But when you’re on the go, you need more than just your food. The pack contains a 10-inch by 10-inch protective computer pouch. So when you’re off to work or school, you don’t need an extra briefcase or laptop bag — just slide your laptop into its casing and rest assured that it will be safe along your trip.

Even if you’re off to the gym, you’ll have what it takes to stay ready. The Backpack has dual cup holders that run deep to accommodate even your bigger shaker bottles (not included). With these cup holders, you won’t have to worry about staying hydrated or carrying your pre-workout separately. You’ll be hands-free the whole trip.

Temperature Regulation

Tossing your prepared meals into a regular backpack just won’t cut it when it comes to food safety. When you’re traveling with food all day, one of the biggest concerns is temperature regulation. 

This pack comes with a lunch cooler ice packet that stays cold for eight hours. When you need it, you can slip it into the middle compartment to help keep your meals at a safe temperature without damaging any of your other necessities.

You’ll also be able to make use of the built-in front lower cooler department, designed to maximize both space and meal safety. Never worry about the safety or quality of your chicken and rice again — you can be confident it’ll stay cool with the MealPrep Management Backpack.

Travel Ready

Maybe you’re worried about your food containers slipping and sliding around as you get jostled on the subway or toss your pack into the trunk for a bumpy ride. Don’t be. You’ll have a hook and loop velcro secure strap to ensure that each meal container will stay in place during your trip. 

Even if you’re heading way out of town, you won’t have to look far for an efficient way to store your bag. The Backpack has been designed to meet the regulations for carry-on overhead compartments, so you can take it with you wherever you’re flying off to.

Not sure when you’ll next come across utensils? Don’t worry about it — a plastic utensil set will come with your bag, ready whenever you are.

Customizable

When you prepare your meals in one batch week in and week out, you run the risk of monotony slipping in to sabotage your best-laid plans (more on that soon). But the MealPrep Management Backpack is anything but monotonous.

You can customize your bag with one of nine colors and patterns to choose from. Plus, each bag has plenty of space on the front designed for you to add any of the nearly 150 patches that can help display who you are, where you come from, and why you’re packing your meals to begin with.

Eating on the Move

Meal prepping is meant to give you more time back in your week. Instead of working to portion out each meal meticulously every single day, doing it all at once means your scoops and food scales can stay in the drawer most of the time.

But meal prepping on the move can get tricky — to say the least. When you’ve got a schedule to keep and you need to travel with your meals, the MealPrep Management Backpack might be your best bet for keeping your food organized, safe, and convenient. This way, no matter where you’re going, you can bring your gains with you.