MOUTH-WATERING GUARANTEED THE MUSCLE COOK S PR EPARE YOU R WEEK S M EA L S IN 3 HO URS OR L ESS G U IDE. By "The Muscle Cook" Liam Mailer

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1 MOUTH-WATERING GUARANTEED THE MUSCLE COOK S PR EPARE YOU R WEEK S M EA L S IN 3 HO URS OR L ESS G U IDE By "The Muscle Cook" Liam Mailer

2 THE MUSCLE COOK S P RE P A R E Y OUR WE E K S M E ALS I N 3 H O URS OR LE SS G UI DE The Muscle Cook 2016 and beyond. All Rights Reserved.

3 INTRODUCTION BE REAL. Let s start right from the beginning here. Life is tough. Life is busy. Life requires so much from us that we find something as simple as keeping on top of our own health the toughest task in the world. Whether it is a demanding career, a non-supportive spouse, attention demanding kids or a lack of motivation there will always be a reason or excuse to keep you from staying in shape or achieving the physique you dream about. This leads to the misconception that having structure with nutrition is difficult and the damage from there is done on a daily basis. You end up relying on fast food, café s, restaurants or microwave meals that take less than 3 minutes to prepare with no solid nutritional value. There is next to no optimum nutritional value in consuming this food on a daily basis and you can guarantee it is holding back your results from the hard work you are putting into the gym. This is where I say.be REAL. Be real with yourself, with your efforts and with your future. Once you can finally honestly tell yourself you are doing everything right to merit the physique you want, then the results will come. In fact, the truth is that without proper nutrition, if the situation is bad enough, your gym sessions can be practically rendered useless you will see very little if any optimum physique development or performance gains. Nutrition is going to play a BIG role in your success and I am going to be your SECRET WEAPON! 3

4 INTRODUCTION If you re currently feeling slightly frustrated at the results you are seeing, I m willing to guess that for at least 75% of you, it has to do with your inability to eat as you should. But it s to expensive, But I have no time, But it s so complicated, believe me, I ve heard them all. If you currently feel powerless, like there s just no other option there are only 24 hours in the day and unless I m going to share with you how you can magically create 25 hours in the day, there s no chance that you are going to be able to overcome this obstacle, I have good news for you. It s not about trying to make more time. It s about trying to do more with less time. If you are smart in the way you approach your menu planning and preparation, there s no reason why those with even the busiest of schedules can t maintain a proper daily nutrition routine. In fact, I m going to share with you how you can stick to eating healthy, wholesome, clean and delicious foods every day and without devoting hours upon hours of in the supermarket and kitchen! 3 hours Max per week, but depending on what recipes you choose it can be so much quicker! You don t believe me? Ok then, let me show you. 4

5 WEEKLY PLANNING RITUAL TOTAL TIME: 90 MINUTES To kick things off, you need to change the way you go about your planning. For most of you, your current routine goes a little something like this: The night before, you begin thinking about what s for breakfast and in some cases skip it entirely as you rush out the door to work! Lunch? I will worry about that when I get to work, the canteen has spaghetti and meatball on special this week. Mid afternoon, you ve already consumed your last Protein Bar stashed in your desk drawer so you have no choice but to grab a Coffee and a bag of salted nuts from the vending machine. Dinner comes along, your spouse wants to eat out and since you don t have anything suitable in the fridge for making a healthy family meal you go out and save the stress of searching the cupboards. Home time now, stuffed full of heavy carbs, hardly any protein and ready to repeat the process the next day. Total Estimated Protein Intake 50g Total Estimated Carb Intake 250g Total Estimated Fat Intake 150g Now I m just generalizing here because I know not everyone is in such an extreme case as this but I bet you can take some similarities from it. Not only are you completely under eating, you are totally out of sync with what your balance should be with the above daily macronutrient intake should be (Pro, Carbs, Fats) The first thing we need to do is start out Smart-Sunday-Scheduling process. 5

6 WEEKLY PLANNING RITUAL There are 4 easy steps 1. PLAN OUT YOUR WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST So here what I mean is, choose a few set meals that you want to cook that week, have the recipe s in front of you and calculate exactly how much of what ingredients you need to have before you go do your food shopping. For example: I want to cook some sort of omelet and oatmeal for breakfast, a teriyaki or spicy chicken and rice meal for lunches and a beef stir-fry or fish taco recipe for dinner. Look at the recipe for each, check the ingredient profile and x that by however many days you want to prepare for. You now have your shopping list done for you, no time wasted, no food wasted and no money wasted! If you are like most people, you will tend to eat very similar meals for breakfast and at least your snacks (main meals may change for variety purposes), so you will likely find that this stays pretty constant from week to week. If it does, it only makes your job easier here so, I would highly recommend getting into some sort of routine with this. 2. CHOP UP ALL RAW VEGGIES AND PUT THEM INTO ZIP-LOCK BAGS OR TUPPERWARE CONTAINERS. For those of you who don t want to pre-cook your vegetable for later on because you prefer to have them fresh, it s a must that at th e very least you chop them up before hand. Also a little tip is to drizzle some lemon juice on them to keep them that bit fresher. The biggest reason people skip over having vegetables with their main meals is 6

7 WEEKLY PLANNING RITUAL is because they simply don t feel like spending the time dicing them up. Take 15 minutes to do is all at once and you take the extra effort away for the rest of the week. While you re already cutting them up it won t take all that much more added time to double or triple the quantity so you have sufficient amounts to get you through the week. This way, you can just grab them as needed and toss them into your dish as it cooks. 3. COOK AS MANY MEALS AS YOU CAN AND STORE THEM IN THE FRIDGE OR FREEZER. This is where our meal plans play a huge part in helping you towards your easy living life with food. Our meal plans has clear details for each meal so you know exactly what to eat and when to eat it. I find that preparing your meals + snacks ahead of time for day-to-day consumption was a complete game changer for me. When it comes to breakfast, egg and oatmeal are a genuine staple for me, so I make sure I have everything I need ready the night before so its simply s case of making an omelet or frittata and throwing my oats together with some fresh fruit and honey etc. But, for lunch and snacks, having these already prepared is absolutely key. As you grill up your chicken and steak, rather than grilling up just one or two servings, grill up **Remember, you can keep food in the fridge for 2-3 days (depending on how fresh you want it) and the rest you can freeze in freezer safe containers so you can simply take them out as needed. Vacuum sealing is important to ensure freshness of food for the fridge also** Once your meals are cooked, put them into individual serving size containers so they are ready to grab on busy week day mornings. Do this for all lunches and possibly some dinners, however I prefer to make dinner for my fiancé and myself fresh, but that s just personal preference. 7

8 WEEKLY PLANNING RITUAL If you are planning food snacks for the week ahead, try and prepare these as best as possible for example; a go to snack for me is lemon and chili infused avocado and tuna rice cakes. To ensure freshness of the avocado, mash it in with the tuna and make sure you store it with a good few squeezes of extra lemon on top to keep the avocado green. Then all it takes in the morning is putting enough for a few servings into Tupperware along with some rice cakes to consume on the go. Avocado is normally good once peeled for a day or two so making that little mix twice a week takes minutes. If you plan to bake up your own protein bars, so the baking for these now as well and then place in Tupperware containers in the fridge so they stay as fresh as possible. 4. PREPARE AS MANY SHAKES IN ADVANCE AS POSSIBLE Finally, if you have enough shaker cups, place all the ingredients (minus any dairy) needed for each shake into the cups and set in the fridge. This way, you just need to add your wet ingredients, place in the blender and you ll be ready to go. While it may not seem to save much time, if you re drinking 1-2 shakes a day, over the course of the week, it will add up. Plus it makes them readily available to prepare the night before (more on that in a second). If you don t have enough shaker cups to do the whole weeks worth in advance, do as much as you can and you ll still be ahead of the game. If you can take 90 minutes to get this all done on Sunday, you will be far more prepared for the week ahead. Now let s talk about your daily planning ritual! 8

9 EVENING PLANNING RITUAL TOTAL TIME: 10 MINUTES (70 MINUTES PER WEEK) Now that you have your Sunday night ritual all lined up, you need to also take into account your daily ritual. Doing some quick food prep before you go to bed each night will set your coming day up for success. This will basically consist of mostly getting what you did on Sunday all ready for the day ahead. 1. Put your ready-to-go meals and snacks in your lunch bag ready to grab in the morning Make sure you go for a good lunch bag, one that s going to suit your meal pods and also one that is going to last you. You will be using this every day so it makes sense to go for quality. A bag that fits your meals for the day, place it into the fridge and simply grab it on your way out the door in the morning. Job done. 2. Do the final cooking for your meals you plan to have the next day (Veggies for example if you kept them raw to ensure freshness). You should have very little cooking to do at this point as most of it should have been done ahead of time on Sunday, but whatever little things you need to do, do this now. This could simply also be taking the frozen protein out of the freezer to thaw out and add it to your other meal components in the Tupperware containers. 3. Blend up your shakes for the day ahead (especially if you make smoothies) Blending up your shakes is such an effective way to get extra calories into your diet quick! Now we aren t just talking about protein + water here, those are readily available to make literally anywhere. I am talking about a tasty nutrient packed fruit smoothie or a peanut butter based chocolate shake. Shakes normally last for 24 hours so just make sure in the morning before you leave, throw in a couple of ice cubes to keep them fresh and cold. 9

10 Master the Art of Daily Cooking! TOTAL TIME: 10 MINUTES (2 times per week if you want a couple of fresh meals) Finally, the last step in taking the burden off your daily meal prep is to make sure that you are cooking wisely. For the main meal dinner for most of you that you may decide to prepare fresh for you and your family or even just for flavour, there are a few things that you can do here as well to cut down on the time it takes to prepare this meal. Some quick tips: Opt for grilling or stir-frying whenever possible Grilling and stir-frying in general are my favourite ways to cook flavour packed meals in record time! Most of our go-to take out foods are cooked this way, Chinese, Indian and Thai, all majorly cook their main courses this way. It is a quick and simple way to mix ingredients together instead of waiting on preheating and cooking ingredients in the oven. Use pre-chopped vegetables or in some cases frozen Having your vegetables already chopped is an absolute must and a major time saver when you want to focus on other important aspects of the meal. People overlook frozen veggies, however they are great to have stored in the freezer as an alternative for those days you need something fast! Frozen fruit is also a staple in my freezer as that is the main source or ingredients for my smoothies. I just think they taste so much better with that added cooling texture! Use fresh herbs for flavour rather than sauces Now this is my town. Herbs and spices are my absolute favourite thing to experiment with in the kitchen. Whether it be a hot curry, nutrient packed salad or 10

11 Master the Art of Daily Cooking! transforming a fillet of beef, herbs and spices are a must. From Dill mixed with yogurt as an accompaniment to your grilled salmon, so a marinade of olive oil, thyme, rosemary, sea salt and pepper for your fillet of beef, there are so many combinations that you can play around with. (Find my article on the best herb combinations at our blog) Double cook your meals so you have some for the next day dinner as well (or even breakfast if you fancy non breakfast food for a change). If you are going to freshly prepare a meal one night of the week, make sure that you prepare at least enough for one additional meal. This will further cut down on the pre-prep cooking you have to do. Serve this additional meal either at breakfast or for dinner the next day. Try slow cooking as well Another great cooking technique that you may want to consider more often is slow cooking. This is a commonly overlooked technique but is extremely powerful for assisting with cutting down prep time. You can just place everything into the slow cooker the night before, turn it on, and the food will be ready by the time you get home from school or work in the evening. It s one of the fastest ways to save time with your cooking and with a wide number of recipes that can be used for it; you will easily find something to satisfy your taste preferences. Use brown rice or quinoa more often for your primary carbohydrate source Finally, also consider using brown rice and quinoa as often as possible as your primary carbohydrate source. Both of these are very healthy choices and easy to add into your meals. If you prepare a protein dish with sufficient moisture in the broth/sauce, you can just add the rice or quinoa right in at the end of the cooking time and let it simmer for minutes before serving. 11

12 Master the Art of Daily Cooking! This can also save time compared to preparing your side dish separately. Beans are also another often-forgotten about carbohydrate source that can be very easily added into your dishes or served on the side so consider those as well. Finally, here are a last few tips to always keep in mind to help make your week go that much smoother. 12

13 GET BACK-UP SUPPORT TOTAL TIME: -- (this only needs to be done once on occasion) Make sure that you are never leaving the house unprepared. There will always be those times maybe you didn t get a chance to prepare your snack the night before or you are just extra hungry one day and need additional fuel. A work meeting may have gone through dinner and getting home to eat isn t an option so you need something readily available. Being prepared is a must. Always make sure that you are keeping an extra shake (unmixed) in your back for back up. This way, you never have to turn to the vending machine or some fast food meal. You can still fuel your body well right throughout whatever hurdle you face, never putting a dent in your progress. In addition to this, also make sure that you are always taking a good quality multi-vitamin each and every day as well. This will further help to provide the back-up support you need so that if there ever was a day you couldn t eat as you should be, you are still going to be giving your body the vital minerals and vitamins that it needs. Also invest in a good quality greens supplement, as this will save you if you don t get in enough vegetables, which is where most people will fall short in if they do fall short in anything. Getting in your daily dose of greens is vital for success, so having a good support product will assist with this. So there you have your complete guide to full meal preparation in less than 3 hours per week. Still think you re too busy to eat healthy? Here is a quick summary of your weekly tasks Sunday night Prep: Evening Prep (7 days a week): Daily Cooking (2-3 times per week): 90 minutes total 70 minutes total 20 minutes total TOTAL: 180 MINUTES/WEEK (3 HOURS) You will always face challenges in life that will try and deter you from reaching your goals. The successful people are the ones who rise above the challenges, finding ways to make it work. Using this protocol, you can do just that and go on to reach your health and fitness goals. 13

14 MEAL PLANS 1 A Generic Meal Plan designed for a 2500kcal daily intake for a man of around lbs. Meal plan 2 contains variations for lunch and dinner. Meal 1 BREAKFAST Peanut Butter and Jelly Oats with Creamy Scrambled Eggs, Chives and Tender Stem Broccoli 2 whole eggs + 4 egg whites 100g Rolled Oats 1 tsp Peanut Butter Natural Sugar free Jam 1 tbsp chopped Chives Sea salt Black Pepper 60g Broccoli 639kcal 39p 70c 27f Steam broccoli for 5 minutes then add into a pan with your eggs and sea salt until cooked through. Chop chives and add in at the end with pepper. Cook your oats in water then add in peanut butter + jam. Meal 2 SNACK Avocado and Lemon Tuna rice cakes ½ an Avocado 2 Brown Rice Cakes ½ a lemon, juice ½ tsp chili powder ½ tin of drained brine tuna 1 tsp grainy fresh mustard 262kcal 20p 22c 13f In a bowl mash add ingredients together and spread onto rice cakes. 14

15 MEAL PLANS Meal 3 LUNCH Honey and Paprika Glazed Chicken with Quinoa 6oz Chicken Breast 2 tsp extra virgin Olive Oil 60g Quinoa 2 tsp Honey 1 handful spinach 1 small handful of parsley and coriander 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp cumin ½ a fresh green and red chili 1 pinch sea salt 4 vine tomatoes ½ fresh limejuice and zest 565kcal 44p 53c 12f In a bowl, add paprika, cumin, pepper, salt, olive oil and mix together. Base the chicken and marinade in fridge for 10 minutes. Grill the chicken on a high heat on a non-stick pan, turning every 2 minutes until evenly browned. Once browned, add 2 tsp honey and squeeze limejuice into the pan and cook until caramelized. Cook quinoa as stated on packaging and add greens when plating up. Meal 4 SNACK Post Workout Shake 1 Scoop Whey 40g Oats 300mls water 254kcal 25p 25c 5f 15

16 MEAL PLANS Meal 5 DINNER Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry 5oz Beef Strips (rump or sirloin) Broccoli Florets 3 Turkey Bacon rashers 20g Cashews, chopped 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil Paprika Red Onion Spring Onion Sea Salt Pepper 25g Whey Protein 200g of Fat Free Greek Style Yogurt ½ tbsp. Natural Honey TOTALS 41p 6c 38f In a pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, your diced red onion, spring onion and finely chopped broccoli. Allow them to sweat on a medium heat for around 4 minutes before breaking up the turkey bacon and add it into the mixture for 2 minutes. Add in your steak + paprika with 1 tsp olive oil and cook until steak is cooked to your liking. Meal 4 BEDTIME SNACK 514kcal 250kcal 36p 21c 2f Mix together thoroughly. Calories 2.484kcals Protein 205g Carbohydrates 197g Fats 97g 16

17 MEAL PLANS Meal Plan 1 SHOPPING LIST 10 Eggs 20 Egg Whites 700g Oats 5 tbsp Chopped Chives 600g Broccoli 5 Avocados 10 Brown Rice Cakes 3 Tins Tuna 20oz Chicken Breast 30g Quinoa 200g Spinach 5 Red Chilis 5 Green Chilis 20 Vine Tomatoes 3 Limes 25oz Beef Strips 15 Turkey Bacon Rashers 100g Cashews 5 Red Onions 10 Spring Onions 1ltr Fat Free Greek Yogurt Condiments (Make sure you have stocked up before shop as you won t need to buy these every week) Yogurt Honey Whey Protein Olive Oil Black Pepper Sea Salt Paprika Cumin Chili Powder Natural Jam Natural Peanut Butter Grainy Mustard Low Sodium Soy Sauce 17

18 MEAL PLANS 2 Meal 1 BREAKFAST Peanut Butter and Jelly Oats with Creamy Scrambled Eggs, Chives and Tender Stem Broccoli 2 whole eggs + 4 egg whites 100g Rolled Oats 1 tsp Peanut Butter Natural Sugar free Jam 1 tbsp chopped Chives Sea salt Black Pepper 60g Broccoli 639kcal 39p 70c 27f Steam broccoli for 5 minutes then add into a pan with your eggs and sea salt until cooked through. Chop chives and add in at the end with pepper. Cook your oats in water then add in peanut butter + jam. Meal 2 SNACK Avocado and Lemon Tuna rice cakes ½ an Avocado 2 Brown Rice Cakes ½ a lemon, juice ½ tsp chili powder ½ tin of drained brine tuna 1 tsp grainy fresh mustard 262kcal 20p 22c 13f In a bowl mash add ingredients together and spread onto rice cakes. 18

19 MEAL PLANS Meal 3 LUNCH Thai Red Curry with Brown Rice 619kcal 49p 51c 18f 6oz Chicken Breast 1 tsp Sesame oil 1 tbsp Red Curry Paste 300mls Coconut Milk 60g Brown Rice 6 sprays 1kcal spray 2 cloves of Garlic 1 ½ Diced Onion 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger 2 Red chili s 2 Red Bell Peppers 300g Spinach 2 Handfuls of Chopped Fresh Coriander Heat some sesame oil in a pan, add onion, garlic, ginger and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add in thai paste and cook for 1 minutes, add the chicken, cook for 2 minutes. Add 300mls coconut milk, bring to boil reduce heat to simmer and cook until sauce thickens. Add chopped chilies, bell peppers, spinach, salt and pepper. Take off the heat and add in finely chopped coriander. Meal 4 SNACK Post Workout Shake 1 Scoop Whey 40g Oats 300mls water 254kcal 25p 25c 5f 19

20 MEAL PLANS Meal 5 DINNER Garlic and Chili Sea Bass with Avocado 8oz Sea Bass Fillets Garlic Red Chili Green Chili 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce 2 tsp sesame oil ½ an avocado 1 whole tomato, sliced finely ½ lime, juice 25g Whey Protein 200g of Fat Free Greek Style Yogurt ½ tbsp. Natural Honey TOTALS 47p 7c 23f In aluminiam foil, add your sea bass, chili, garlic soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. Place into a steamer and cook for 5-6 minutes depending on size of fish. Add chopped tomato and avocado to place, grade lime zest on top, add fish and serve. Meal 4 BEDTIME SNACK 411kcal 250kcal 36p 21c 2f Mix together thoroughly. Calories 2.435kcals Protein 216g Carbohydrates 171g Fats 88g 20

21 MEAL PLANS Meal Plan 2 SHOPPING LIST 10 Eggs 20 Egg Whites 700g Oats 5 tbsp Chopped Chives 350g Broccoli 5 Avocados 10 Brown Rice Cakes 3 Tins Tuna 350g Chicken Breast 300g Brown Rice 14 Cloves of Garlic 10 Red Chilis 10 Red Bell Peppers 1.5kg Spinach Fresh Parsley Fresh Coriander 40oz Sea Bass or any White Fish 5 Green Chilis 5 Tomatoes 2 Limes 1ltr Greek Yogurt Fat Free Condiments (Make sure you have stocked up before shop as you won t need to buy these every week) Yogurt Honey Whey Protein Olive Oil Black Pepper Sea Salt Paprika Chili Powder Natural Jam Natural Peanut Butter Grainy Mustard Low Sodium Soy Sauce 21