Why Your Meal Prep Routine Keeps Failing (and How to Fix It)

Meal prep doesn’t need to be a full-time job—or look like something straight off Pinterest.

In fact, that’s where most people go wrong. They chase the picture-perfect version of meal prep instead of building something that actually fits their life.

If you’ve ever looked at those rows of color-coordinated containers and thought, “I don’t have time for that,” you’re right. You don’t need to. What you do need is a simple system that works for your real schedule, your real preferences, and your real life.

Here’s how to make that happen.

Most women think meal prep has to look a certain way.

You know the look I'm talking about...

Those Instagram-perfect photos of color-coordinated containers, 47 different recipes, hours spent in the kitchen on Sunday.

It's clean. It's organized. It's pretty.

You probably see those photos and think, "I don't have time for that."

And you're right. You probably don't.

Most women (whose job is not creating content for social media) don't.

So here's what happens...

You either give up on meal prep entirely, or you spend way too much time trying to recreate something that was never designed for your actual life in the first place.

And toggling between all-or-nothing can leave you frustrated, exhausted, and convinced meal prep just isn't for you.

But it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing.

And it doesn't have to be complicated.

Meal prep works when it's simple enough to stick with, and flexible enough to fit your life, not the other way around.

Some weeks, I spend 60 minutes (split into two 30-minute sessions). Other weeks, I spend up to 3 hours. It depends on what's happening in my life that week.

But here's the thing – I always prep food.

Every single week. No excuses, no skipped weeks.

Why? Because I have a system that flexes with me.

I didn't always have that system.

I built it over time. I adapted it. I refined it based on what actually worked in my life, not what looked good on Instagram.

And that's the difference between a meal prep routine that lasts and one that dies after two weeks.

The problem is most women skip this step.

They jump straight to complicated recipes and perfect execution instead of building a foundation that actually works for them.

They're trying to run before they can walk.

That's backwards.

The real starting point isn't finding the perfect recipe.

It's not spending hours in the kitchen.

It's not having some magical system that requires zero effort.

The real starting point is this:

Pick a handful of healthy foods you already know how to make.

Brainstorm how you can combine them in different ways to make multiple meals with the same basic ingredients (adjust the seasonings, add new sauces, etc).

Build a system around what works.

Then, once you have something that's solid and sustainable, you can upgrade it (change what you're making, dial in portions, play with macros, etc).

But you do that from a foundation that's solid, not one you're still figuring out.

This is how you build a meal prep routine that actually sticks.

This is how you stop starting over every Monday.

This is how you go from "I don't have time for meal prep" to "I always have food ready because I have a system that works."

And the best part? It's simpler than you think.

If you're ready to build your own meal prep system, one that actually fits your life, make sure to get on the waitlist for my Capsule Cooking mini course, launching on November 17th.

I'll show you, step-by-step, how to create a personalized system that's simple, sustainable, and flexible enough to work no matter what your week looks like.