Getting a healthy serving of protein in with every meal can be hard if you don’t prepare ahead of time. In this article, I’ll go through the basic strategies I’ve been teaching to my clients for years.
I’ll cover each way that I prep protein and you can pick and choose what works best for you:
Grill
- Burgers – 90/10 is best but 85/15 works well too
- Chicken – I prefer to grill chicken breasts over thighs, but
- Sausage – Turkey, chicken, and pork sausage of all kinds
Grilling tips:
+ Use low-medium heat and cook for longer. This helps maintain the flavor so your food doesn’t taste like raw leather
+ A little seasoning goes a long way. I personally love this seasoning for burgers.
Crock pot
- Chicken
- I prefer chicken thighs, but chicken breasts work well too
- Add some seasonings and water (so the chicken doesn’t dry out) and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
- Chili
- Pulled Pork
- A pork roast or shoulder cooked in the crock pot for 6-8 hours and then shredded is delicious stand-alone or turned into tacos, burritos, burrito bowls, bbq, etc. You can’t go wrong. What to add:
- Vinegar – just a dash
- 12oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- Salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder – as desired (I like a small coat over the entire roast)
- A pork roast or shoulder cooked in the crock pot for 6-8 hours and then shredded is delicious stand-alone or turned into tacos, burritos, burrito bowls, bbq, etc. You can’t go wrong. What to add:
Crock Pot tips
+ Get a crock pot with a timer. That way you don’t have to remember to grab your food and it never gets burnt.
+ Use the low heat setting. 99% of the time you’re better off cooking slowly. Meat is more tender and flavors stay in the meat.
+ Add water. If you’re cooking a relatively low-fat cut of meat or a thicker cut (roast), add some water. It will prevent the meat from drying out or over-cooking.
+ Use vinegar (sparingly). If you’re cooking a tougher cut of meat add a dash of vinegar. It will help the meat get a bit more tender as it cooks.
Carry with me:
- Protein powder
- I prefer the SFH protein powder. It’s delicious, has no artificial ingredients, and comes from grass fed cows
- Beef jerky
Breakfast ritual:
- Eggs
- Cook in the morning (it takes 5 minutes to scramble eggs with veggies in it) or hard boil some eggs the night before
- Egg muffins
- You can use a silicone muffin pan to easily create egg muffins. Just add eggs (1 per cup) and some green chili’s, cheese, veggies, or whatever else you’d like to add. Cook for 20-25 minutes.
- Here is a more in-depth recipe
- Quiche
- Another great way to prep breakfasts for a week all at once.
- Here is a bunch of great recipes
- If you don’t do well with dairy substitute milk with coconut milk
- You can use a silicone muffin pan to easily create egg muffins. Just add eggs (1 per cup) and some green chili’s, cheese, veggies, or whatever else you’d like to add. Cook for 20-25 minutes.
I hope you picked up some tips in this article. Next week I’ll be back with more on prepping healthy carb sources.
