Jake Bowler
- Jan 16, 2022
- 6 min read

Top 5 Meal Prepping Ideas and Hacks: Don’t be a lazy F@CK

Yo Yo Yo, what is up Gym N Japan Fam! Another blog here for all you wanna be gym rats out there who think training hard is 100% of the battle when trying to get big. Let me tell you sir and madam, that you are entirely wrong, because your diet and foot you eat is what determines how big you are going to be. Yes, training is a big and important part of getting HUUUUGE! But diet is arguably more important.

So, now that you have this blog to look back on every time you think meal prepping is too hard or too expensive, there’s no excuses…AT ALL!! Below myself and Haydon are going to break it all down for you and show you some life hacks to make the hardest part of becoming CBum that much more easier and achievable.

Haydon and his meal prep

1. Heat/Thermo Flask/Bottle

Before you laugh and think this is stupid…for all you tradies out there who think, “shit if only I had a microwave to heat up this juicy spaghetti or this creamy bacon carbonara without getting salmonella.” Well now you have the solution. Get a heat flak/bottle with a nice wide opening lid, stuff that shizzle into the bottle and bam, it will remain boiling hot for the next 6-8 hours. Absolutely genius I tell ya! I remember my parents doing this when we were younger by heating up hotdogs and throwing them in a flask to eat at lunch time! All we needed after that was some sauce and if we were feeling fancy we’d bring some butter and cheese on ice (obviously hotdogs probably aren’t that healthy).

2. You don’t need to break the bank to bulk

Influencers are always showing off these big ol fancy bulking meals or these expensive as fook high protein meals…what if I told you, it doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg to do this. Well there are many options. To name just a few for you:

Rice, ground turkey, favourite sauce +/- cheese
Rice, tuna, kewpie mayo
Spaghetti bolognaise
Carbonara with eggs, cheese and chives - no cream needed, just use more eggs

And that's just to name a few quick and easy ones…these also fit into your heat flask BTW.

Coming in from the shopping - he clearly made 2 trips

Alright story time from Haydon: When I was a broke uni student I knew exactly what it was like to try and eat with no money. I had money but that was for the bevs on the weekend… To be fair I never gained weight during uni but it is possible without breaking the bank. I found that using rice and pasta were the cheapest ways to get the calories you need to function on a daily basis. Some nights I legit ate rice and tomato sauce.. So adding pasta or rice with your favorite meat and vegetables was the way to go. When I would cook I would buy bulk so that I didn’t have to cook multiple nights/days in a row, so I recommend buying some reusable containers to store your meals in the freezer if you don’t eat them within a few days. Final tip for laziness is to buy frozen mixed vegetables, obviously these aren’t as good as fresh but it honestly saves you wasting food and precious money. Also these meals I will list below generally didn’t take too much time.

Things we would make at uni were:

Pasta bake with tuna or beef and frozen veggies.
Spaghetti bolognese with frozen veggies
Chicken curry with rice and frozen veggies
Microwave Rice, tuna and secret burger sauce

Big thing to note from uni: A rice cooker is the best invention ever so if you are a weirdo that uses a stove or microwave, go and buy one. Had to cook rice on the stove once when the rice cooker broke and it sucked.

3. When you make bulk dinner…make more and more and more

Why stop at making pasta or steak and veg for 3 people for one night? When you may as well just cook for a family of 10. This way, you’re not thinking of it like meal prep, because you’re already in the kitchen anyway making stuff. Make more and pack it away or freeze it for lunch for the week. SIMPLE. More food is always better and the general rule of thumb is that if it takes you longer to cook than to eat it, the meal is too complex… especially for meal prepping. Obviously there is a time and place to make a really nice meal for dinner but meal prepping is usually all about getting it done as quickly as possible so it doesn’t feel like too much of a chore. The small time you spend each week will save you big money over the long run as a homemade meal will cost significantly less than one you may purchase when at work.

This is Haydon without his shirt on

4. Air Fryer

Hello and welcome to the dark path of air frying… once you start doing this you will never stop talking about it and using it. The things you can cook in an air fryer are almost infinite, you can bake cakes, fry dim sims, cook pizza or even make your Sunday roast out of it! Wow so many uses in one machine that doesn’t break the bank! There are a lot of benefits to using an air fryer starting with convenience and less mess, you only dirty the one tray/ drawer when using it. Next, it is way healthier than deep frying food as it doesn’t use the traditional fatty oils used in deep frying. Jesus this is sounding like an infomercial might have to add a video of us being frustrated and hurting our back using an oven, BBQ or a microwave… hahaha.

I would say the best way to prepare meals in an air fryer is to cook your main meat in it whether it’s chicken or beef etc then add to vegetables later.

The best machines for a quick meal

Here’s a meal example for you: Buy enough chicken for the week, let’s say 5 meals worth for those working Monday to Friday as well as those microwave frozen vegetables already portioned. Cook all of your chicken for the week in the air fryer: portion them into containers for each meal then refrigerate. Then each day on your way to work you grab 1 packet of vegetables and a container of chicken. All you have to do is heat it up boooom simplessss.

5. Because CBum does it?

For those of you who don’t know, Chris Bumstead is the pinnacle of human physique. Yes, the man has won x3 Classic Physique Mr. Olympias in a row now…but the man is a Greek god gifted to us from the heavens. Look him up and agree with me. I guarantee you he doesn’t skip meal prepping, eating KFC 3x a week while “dirty bulking”. He just eats A LOT of good healthy whole foods.

We would both watch his YouTube videos straight after his latest Mr. Olympia title and his cheat meals aren’t even that bad for you… he even said that it was making him not feel the best either. This is just proof of his god status and knowing his body so well! Obviously we are never going to diet as well as he does but we can definitely do the basics correctly.

I (Haydon) find it very difficult to motivate myself to cook/ meal prep during a week, this comes down to multiple factors which all of them point back to laziness… I think the key for me to prepare meals is to think of exactly what I want to have for the week because obviously I am not cooking multiple times a week! Once you have this plan in mind you need to go out and buy the ingredients enough for the week. Remember! Each person will have different goals for weight gain or loss so keep that in mind when buying ingredients. Once you get the ingredients you cook all of the week's food and portion into containers for when you need them.

So there you go, if that doesn’t motivate you to start meal prepping, then nothing will. It’s time to take 2022 by the balls, rip them out of its throat and eat them for meal prep for the next week!! Trust me, the gainz gods will be looking down on you, blessing you with the swolley pump.