How To “Meal Prep”.. If You Hate Meal Prepping (Easy Mode)
In this 30‑minute YouTube presentation, fitness coach Eric Roberts argues that traditional meal‑prepping—cooking large batches, weighing portions, and using many containers—is over‑complicated for most people, especially those who dislike cooking. He reframes meal prep as a series of low‑effort, calorie‑controlled choices that can be assembled from pre‑packaged foods (Greek yogurt, rotisserie chicken, tuna packets, pre‑made salads, tortillas, cereal, etc.) and from simple cooking appliances that require minimal hands‑on time (pressure cooker, air fryer, Ninja Crispy, slow cooker). Roberts demonstrates how to create “lazy” go‑to meals that take under five minutes, combining protein powder, fruit, oats, or pre‑cooked chicken with ready‑made carbs and veggies. He stresses that fat loss hinges on staying in a calorie deficit, not on the perceived healthiness of pre‑packaged items, and that stocking the pantry with these staples removes decision fatigue and reduces reliance on take‑out. Throughout, he shares personal anecdotes, humor, and a no‑guilt stance toward foods like bread. The video concludes with a call‑to‑action for his one‑on‑one online transformation coaching program and a link to another video offering nine years of fat‑loss advice.
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When it comes to fat loss, most people think meal prep has to be complicated. A bunch of recipes, weighing out your food, tracking, using these little meal prep containers. In this video, I'm going to show you how to meal prep the easy way. Simple, fast, and effective for losing fat. So you can get results even if you're busy or hate cooking. And just so you know, I've coached over 25,000 people with their fat loss journey, and I am a closet lazy guy myself. I hate cooking. I hate cooking. So I've dialed in the easiest meal prep strategy anybody can follow. Here's where most people get stuck with meal prep. They think it means cooking an entire week's worth of meals. Picture this, just piles and piles of chicken breasts stacked on top of each other in the kitchen, cooking on the stove, putting it into these meal prep containers. Even me saying that out loud probably makes you want to shoot yourself. And if you're busy with work or kids or just life in general, who really has 4 hours every Sunday to do that. And that's what I realized. Most people are just overcomplicating their meal prep. You don't need to be a chef and you don't need to spend hours in the kitchen because what you can start doing is buying prepackaged food that require no cooking. For example, Greek yogurt. You can even buy the individual packets of Greek yogurt. So all you have to do is open it up, eat it, and you're done. Or maybe instead of buying sweet potatoes that you have to cook, that's an option, but instead you might be able to buy tortillas Or you can buy oatmeal, or they even have frozen options like these frozen french fries you can just put in the oven or the microwave. This way you can still eat carbohydrates, but you don't have to spend the time cooking it. Or maybe you don't want to spend hours and hours making salads and chopping up veggies. Just buy the prepackaged salad bags. Even things like a banana, I consider this prepackaged because I don't have to do anything with it. I just unwrap the damn thing and eat it. Unless you're a psychopath, I guess you could eat it with the Skin on it, the peel on it, but you'd be a weirdo. And this also goes for things like protein powder, or yes, even things like cereal. I eat this cereal before every single workout because it is a quick source of carbohydrates and I don't have to cook it. And to give you some more ideas I don't have directly in front of me, you could buy rotisserie chickens at the store. This way you bring it home, you can have some of it for lunch, some of it for dinner, some of it for lunch the next day. But you don't have to cook it. Or you could buy tuna packets or beef jerky. Those are also 2 high protein options you won't have to cook, but you can get a high protein, low calorie option. Or probably in my opinion, the most underrated one is make sandwiches. For some reason, people hate on sandwiches for fat loss, which makes no sense. Well, it does make sense because people think bread makes you fat. Those people are morons. Think about a sandwich. You put 2 slices of bread down and they even have bread that is low calorie or they have bread that is high in fiber. Remember, for you to lose fat, you just need to be in a calorie deficit. You can fucking eat bread. So you put 2 pieces of bread. Let's say you put some rotisserie chicken or some deli meat or even eggs on top or tuna package, chicken breast, whatever. And then maybe you put some lettuce or maybe even take your pre-made salad bag and put some of this on the sandwich, put some mustard or whatever you want, put the other piece of bread on top and you're done. In that sandwich, you have good quality carbs, you have some fiber, you have some veggies, you have protein, and that takes you less than 5 minutes to make. And all of that is prepackaged food. Or take something like a protein powder, for example. The other day I had to take my girlfriend to go get a surgery and I could not cook when I was at the damn hospital. So what did I do? I put 2 scoops of protein powder in a little plastic bag. I took a banana with me and so I was able to have 44 grams of protein and a good quality carbohydrate, some fiber and fruit while I was waiting in there. It's just an easy way to get in protein if you're busy, on the go, or don't have time to cook. And by the way, if you want to check out this protein brand, it's the company I work with and I have my own flavor. You can check it out. There'll be some links in the description, but you don't have to get this brand. It's just an example. I know people will ask me. And so once I started making these meal prep swaps and started thinking about meal prep in this way, as opposed to only thinking about it like spending 5 hours on a Sunday cooking, it made meal prep much less overwhelming and much more doable for me because I'm not spending 5 hours on Sunday cooking. So here's what I recommend. The next time you go to the grocery store, be on the lookout for these prepackaged foods. And there's often a stigma around these foods, like they're not healthy and they're not good for you. It couldn't be farther from the truth because remember, if your goal is fat loss, you need to be in a calorie deficit. You can eat any of these foods and as long as you are in a calorie deficit, it, you will lose fat. So find the prepackaged foods that speak to you, that make your life easier, and don't feel guilty for doing it. And so that was point number 1. And now you might be thinking, well, Eric, okay, the prepackaged foods are good, but at some point I do have to cook, or maybe even I do want to cook. So how can I do that without living in the kitchen and taking up all of your time? Well, that's where this next tip comes in, and you can actually meal prep without barely lifting a finger. Let me show you how. One of the biggest reasons people fail at meal prep is because they're stuck at the stove. Cooking feels like an overwhelming chore, especially when you have your kids to attend to, you have to go get to soccer, you have to go get to school, you have to take care of your kids, you just got home from a long day of work, you're exhausted, you don't want to cook. And so eventually you end up saying, screw it, I'll just order DoorDash, and I don't know how to track my calories with this, and just screw it, I'll restart tomorrow. Does that sound familiar? So what you need to do is find ways to cook without actually having to cook. Let me introduce to you a few things that will probably change your life just like it did mine. I want to introduce to you cooking appliances that actually take none of your time to cook. For example, let's take this pressure cooker. Something I will do about 3 to 4 times a week is I will grab this bag of sweet potatoes, and instead of like doing all this fancy stuff where I gotta Cut it up and I gotta, you know, put it in the oven and press it and do whatever. I have no clue. I don't really know how to cook. I just take this, I put it in the pressure cooker, not with the packaging and stuff, but you get what I mean. I put it in there, I fill it with water, I press the potatoes button on here, it cooks it for 26 minutes. I don't have to do anything. I go back to my computer in my desk, I do some work, I hear a little ping when it's done, and I come back and there's like— 8 perfectly cooked sweet potatoes that all I have to do is open them up and I eat them. I don't do anything with cooking. And I will also do the same exact thing with chicken, for example. I will marinate the chicken because yes, white people do season their chicken. I will put it in the pressure cooker. I will press the chicken button. It cooks it for 19 minutes. I go off and do something else. I hear a bing and I come back and it's Done. And then I just pull it out and I eat it. So using this actually allows me to cook without having to physically spend the time cooking. Another example of an appliance that allows you to cook without cooking is this Ninja Crispy. And by the way, I am not sponsored by any of these people. These are just things that I use to make my life so much easier. If I didn't have these, I would not be cooking. This Ninja Crispy, literally, I plug it into the wall, I cook every single night, legit, 7 nights a week, I have these fries for dinner. So I'll plug this into the wall, I will put the fries in here, put this on top, it cooks it for 13 minutes. Legit, 13 minutes, I have my fries done for my dinner. And I just press the buttons, I walk away, I don't actually have to cook it, and I come back and it's done. And the same exact thing applies for an air fryer. So I have this air fryer and I will put fries in here, I will put sweet potatoes in here. I will put chicken, I'll put salmon, I'll put whatever in here. And again, I press 3 buttons. I don't actually know how to cook. I know how to cook, but I'm not a chef. I'm not Gordon Ramsay, but I don't want to spend that time doing that anyway. This makes it so easy for me to use and stay on top of my cooking and my meal prep so I can have the food ready without spending the time. And so listen, are all of these things extra money? Yes, you would have to purchase these things, but think about the purchase. And again, I am not sponsored by these people. There's no like discount code below, nothing. But I know how much this has saved me and how much results it's gotten me because these allow me to stay consistent with my nutrition. And so that allows me to lose fat, build muscle, recover better, stay on track. And so when you, yes, spend this money, If you actually use these things, think about the time you're saving, think about the results you're getting, think about how much you won't have to dread meal prep anymore. Like, I just know how much they've changed my life, and I know they can change yours too. And another one that I don't have with me, it was similar to the pressure cooker, but there's also a slow cooker you can buy. So you can set it in the morning, and by the time you get back from work, your dinner is done. So if I were you, I would really pick just one of those appliances that you don't already have, try it out, do something with it. It'll save you so much time. And if you already So if you already have those and you're not using them, start using them. Now, even with prepackaged foods and these appliances that make cooking easier, there's still one trap that knocks off most people with their meal prep. They get hungry, don't know what to eat, and end up saying, screw it, I'll just get takeout. And that's exactly why our next step is gonna fix that. Here's the reality. When you're stressed, short on time, tired, your brain doesn't want to come up with creative meal ideas. 76 recipes you're saving on social media that you know you'll never use, stop doing that. And so what happens is you just end up ordering out or you end up saying, screw it, I'll eat whatever's here, I'll eat whatever I want. You go off track with your calories, you don't end up tracking the calories and say, I'll just restart tomorrow, I'll restart Monday. So what saved me and what I teach our online coaching clients is having a handful of lazy meal prep go-to meal options that you can always fall back on. And I'm talking meals that take less than 5 minutes, don't require cooking, and that you actually enjoy eating. If you know these ahead of time, you'll never have to rely on willpower or stress about what to eat. I'll share with you some of my go-to lazy meal prep options now. So the first one is going to be Greek yogurt. I mix a scoop of protein powder. I mixed Some chia seeds for some fiber. I'll put some fruit in there, and if I have the calories, I will work in some peanut butter. This concoction that I mix all in one bowl takes me less than 3 minutes. I get good quality protein, I get good quality carbs and fiber, and I get good quality dietary fat. That has all the components of a good meal. It's just under 5 minutes. I want you to get out of your head like it's not a good meal unless you have chicken and broccoli and avocado. Like, this is okay. Or as another example, this is my— I've done this for so long. If I just know my day has gone to shit and I need a meal, I'll get some good quality carbohydrates with my oatmeal. I will mix it once again with a scoop of protein powder. I will put some fruit and some peanut butter. That right there, good carbs, Good fat. Protein, carbs, and fiber. Or a third one is, let's say I already have some of my chicken meal prepped from the air fryer or the pressure cooker. I will take some of the chicken and I will just mix it with a pre-made salad bag because the chicken is already cooked, it's in the fridge, I just gotta heat it up in the microwave and I just make a salad bag. Like, that's it. It's less than 5 minutes. Or another example is I'll buy tortillas, going back to prepackaged food, I will mix some of the lettuce and condiments in the tortillas, and I'll just use some of the meal prep chicken I already had. This takes me less than 5 minutes. And like I was saying earlier, the sandwiches, so underrated. If you like sandwiches, drop them down in the comments below. So for you, I would leave this video or comment below, what are your 2 to 5 easy, lazy, go-to meal preps that are gonna take you under 5 minutes? Come up with what yours are, and here's the last step. Once you come up with what those are, you need to make sure when you grocery shop you have those foods every single time. Because just having, like, the knowing the options is one thing, but if you know no matter what those foods are in your house, then you won't have to rely on willpower, you won't have to rely on, you know, cooking or You won't have to get stressed about it's not here. If it's in the house, you can make it. And that's why your environment dictates your progress a lot of times. So come up with those meals, grocery shop every week for them. I don't care if you have to like stack your pantry or stack your fridge with them because you know life is going to get crazy and you can fall back on these options no matter what, every single time. I'm telling you, this is the exact system I use with myself and that we have used with tens of thousands of clients to lose fat, build muscle, and just make this whole nutrition diet thing less overwhelming and less time-consuming. I promise if you give it a try, it will work for you too. And speaking of having it work for you, if you're interested in having a one-on-one coach on my team build you a customized nutrition plan, workout plan, and hold you accountable to keep you on track, you can click the link in the description of this video. There'll be a link to check out our one-on-one online transformation program. And in the meantime, after you do that, you can check out this video right here that gives you 9 years of honest fat loss advice in just 30 minutes.
