Just like cooking in bulk is really important when it comes to making meal prepping work to your advantage, so is practicing good portion control.

By simply portioning out your bulk cooking when you store it in the fridge you can maintain good portion control. Meals for the week are ready to grab and go.

You may not want to portion out every meal of every day, but it could be a good idea to start with lunches.  This way you are ready to grab and go every day.  

Foods to pre-portion:

Nuts or Trail Mix

Nuts and seeds are awesome sources of good fats and protein, but it can be very easy to overeat.  Nuts are extremely calorically dense meaning a little can go a long way. If you want to save money, and trips to the grocery store, buy nuts and seeds in bulk.  Look for them on sale by the pound in “bulk sections” of health food stores or Whole Foods. When you get home, measure a serving’s worth and put each serving into small plastic bags.

You can also find a proper serving size on the side of the package in the nutrition facts.  

Grains/Starchy Carbs

This is another food group that is easy to get carried away with. If you are going to make a large amount of oats, potatoes, quinoa, brown rice, or other grains, try putting each serving into a separate Pyrex container after cooking. This is especially useful if you need to take these on-the-go with you, like eating your breakfast oats at work for example.

Proteins

Proteins are usually easier to keep track of when it comes to portions because of the way we purchase these from the store.  But, if you are going to be dicing/cutting up proteins and aren’t going to know how much to eat each day, do the same thing as with carbs and pre-portion them to ensure you eat the right amount at each meal.

Remember with protein, a serving size is about the size of the palm of your hand (2 palms for men).  About 1/4 of your plate should come from protein.  

How to Pre-Portion

Now I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t have room in my fridge for 150 Tupperware containers”. No problem; plan to truly “meal prep” by actually storing your food as pre-made meals.

This means combine 1 serving of carbs (let’s say quinoa) if you need them, 1 palm of protein (1 chicken breast), 2 fists of veggies, and 1 thumb’s worth of fat together in one container.

If you do this 3-4 times with all your bulk-cooked food, you will have your meals prepped and properly portioned for the week.  Then its important to see how you feel with the meals and adjust accordingly.  If you are getting overly full from your meals, reduce your portions. If you are getting hungry just an hour after your meal ,you are probably packing a little light.