What’s the difference between meal planning and meal prepping?  Abigail from That Clean Life explains!

April 19, 2018

Abigail Hopkins is the co-founder of That Clean Life, an online platform that helps leaders in the health and wellness industry easily create personalized and professional nutrition programs for their clients. Abigail is a Registered Nurse, a Culinary Nutrition Expert, a big fan of hip-hop and playing the long game.

We chatted with Abigail about her tech meal planning company, how you can include meal planning into your routine, and a recipe for her Curried Chicken Slow Cooker Stew.

WEHL: Tell us why you became interested in natural wellness.

AH: I became interested in natural wellness in my mid 20’s, after going through some health issues and realizing what a profound impact the food I was putting in my body was having on the way I felt, both physically and mentally.

WEHL: What’s your philosophy on wellness?

AH: Eat real food and move your body in a way that you enjoy. Drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep. Nourish and deepen your social connections.

WEHL: What is That Clean Life and why did you decide to start your company?

AH: That Clean Life is an online platform that helps leaders in the health and wellness industry easily create personalized and professional nutrition programs for their clients, without spending hours on it, so that they can make the world a healthier, happier place.

We started That Clean Life after realizing that meal planning was such a key habit in eating well, but it was way too time consuming. We wanted to leverage the power of technology to make the habit of meal planning much more simple and fun.

WEHL: What is meal planning? How is it different from meal prepping?

AH: Meal planning is planning out your meals and grocery list.

Meal prepping is preparing your meals or ingredients.

Meal prepping is a lot more organized and efficient when you have a plan!

WEHL: How do you choose the recipes you are going to make?

AH: I choose recipes that:

  1. I will enjoy eating.
  2. Take minimal time to make.
  3. Use minimal ingredients.
  4. That can be made in advance and create leftovers.

WEHL: What are some of the benefits of meal planning?


  1. It saves you time. You never waste time wondering what to eat, or making last minute trips to the grocery store, because you’ve planned it all out, shopped and prepped in advance.
  2. It saves you money and reduces food waste. You will always eat up the ingredients you buy, and only buy what you need.
  3. It helps you eat healthier. Having a delicious, healthy plan makes it less likely you will be caught hangry and ordering takeout.
  4. It helps you feel happier. When you eat healthier, you feel happier.
  5. It helps you develop healthier habits, and inspires those who look up to you.

WEHL: If someone has never done it before, where should they start?

AH: Start small. Just choose one meal to meal plan for. I’d recommend meal planning your dinners, and choosing recipes that will create enough leftovers for the next day’s lunch. Once you have this down pat, you can move on to meal planning your breakfasts and snacks.

WEHL: Any tips to help making meal planning part of your weekly routine?

AH: Choose a day where you do your meal planning and prep. For me, this is usually on a Sunday. It’s all about consistency and making it a habit.

WEHL: What does your weekly meal plan look like?

AH: My meal plan is super basic. I’m one of those people who doesn’t mind eating the same thing every day, so I choose one breakfast, one lunch and two snacks. Dinners is where I mix things up and have something different usually every other day.

So this is what my meal plan looks like this week:

  • Breakfast: Mushroom & Spinach Omelette
  • Lunch: Sweet Potato & Arugula Salad with Lentils
  • Snacks: Coconut Yogurt with Mixed Berries, Rice Cakes with Almond Butter & Banana
  • Dinners: Salmon with Arugula & Rice, Spaghetti Squash with Lentils & Crushed Tomatoes, Turkey with Sweet Potatoes and Zucchini, Slow Cooker Curried Chicken Stew.

I drag and drop these meals into my meal plan on That Clean Life, and my grocery list is automatically generated so that I can shop right away, without having to figure out quantities.

WEHL: What’s your go-to recipe for a quick and easy weeknight meal? 

AH: Here’s my current go-to recipe for Curried Chicken Slow Cooker Stew


Do you meal plan and prep every week? What tips do you use to make sure it’s part of your routine? Let us know in the comments section! 

Connect with Abigail and That Clean Life: 


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