The following is sponsored content by Jet Fuel Meals.
Meal preparation for the week ahead can be a fairly stressful and time-intensive endeavor. Once you’ve figured out what you want to make and the ingredients you’ll need — time-consuming tasks on their own — you’ll need to make a trip to the grocery store, dealing with traffic and crowds, to get them. That’s followed by more time in the kitchen cooking meals that you can divide into plastic containers and stack in the fridge…and then cleaning all the pots and pans you used. Even worse, by the time you’re done preparing dishes for the next five to seven days, you’re already worrying about what to make for the following week.
That’s why more and more people are turning to food preparation services like Jet Fuel Meals. The rising popularity of meal prepping is allowing South Floridians to reclaim precious time and declutter their minds by having someone else handle the cooking, says Robert del Castillo, founder of Jet Fuel Meals.
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A professionally curated meal prep service isn’t simply another food trend, but a tool for fighting everything from over-portioning at takeout joints to that subtle but crushing daily grind known as decision fatigue, del Castillo explains.
“We’re all looking for convenient options, and this is kind of the perfect thing,” he says. “Even at home, cooking for yourself, you’re not too sure how much of something you should eat. Meal prepping resolves that. It takes the guesswork out of the picture.”
That guesswork isn’t limited to how much rice is too much or whether you’ve gone overboard on the sauce. Cooking for yourself — shopping, planning, cleaning — sucks more hours than most folks realize. Jet Fuel’s customers “save six to eight hours a week,” del Castillo says. “That’s almost four workdays you get back every month.”
That’s more time that people can spend with family and friends and exercising to stay healthy while reducing daily anxiety, del Castillo points out.
Ending Decision Fatigue, One Delivery at a Time
More than just calories in and calories out, the real enemy for many Miamians isn’t the food on their plate, but the endless grind of what comes before it: what to cook, are you eating healthy, what if you’re tired of chicken again? “A lot of times in the meal prepping space, it’s pretty repetitive and redundant,” del Castillo notes. “And people get tired of eating the same thing.”
Jet Fuel’s answer: a 12-week rotating menu. Breakfast, lunch and dinner change every day for three months straight. “You don’t have to worry about eating the same thing over and over or trying to come up with new recipes because you’re already tired of cooking the same thing,” del Castillo says. “We’ve developed a 12-week menu cycle where you’re having a different breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.”
Beyond a cornucopia of dishes, Jet Fuel Meals provides its customers with guidelines for eating well and in the proper amounts and portions, del Castillo says. “That’s what a diet really boils down to,” he says. “Are you eating the proper amount of protein, carbs and fats, and are you eating portion-controlled meals?”
Jet Fuel meals are portioned according to individual diners’ needs.
How the Jet Fuel System Works
The company offers a range of plans for every dietary ambition: maintain (for keeping a healthy weight), weight loss (lower carbs), athletic (double portions), Keto-inspired (no starches, just protein and veggies), plus pescatarian and plant-based plans. Jet Fuel also offers kids’ meals as an add-on to other plans.
People can customize their meal plans on the Jet Fuel Meals website. “You select the frequency, how many meals per day — breakfast, lunch, dinner, or all three,” del Castillo says. “You can do one meal per day, five meals per day, five-, six- or seven-day meal plans.”
Clients can also remove ingredients they dislike and can tweak dishes for allergies or strong aversions, Castillo notes: “It’s fully customizable for your needs.”
Deliveries roll out three times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, typically between midnight and 6:30 a.m. Meals, bundled in insulated bags with ice packs, are ready and waiting for you — another worry off your morning list.
For locals with unique schedules, later deliveries can be arranged directly with the Jet Fuel team, del Castillo says. The company currently delivers across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and up through Orlando, Tampa and Lakeland, blanketing Florida’s biggest urban corridors.
What Makes Good Nutrition and a Good Plan?
As a licensed personal trainer who keeps close track of what he eats, del Castillo figured out the science behind meal preparation.
“You don’t have to worry about how much of this or how much of that to do, because that, in itself, is a whole other knowledge set that we provide,” he says. “It’ll help you stay on track and help you with your health goals, depending on which diet you select.”
Whether the goal is muscle, maintenance or weight loss, a structured meal plan helps people stay focused, del Castillo adds.
The Value of Saving Time
Quantifying six hours a week might seem trivial — unless you’ve ever washed up after a family meal at 10 p.m. “That’s enough time that can be allocated to healthier habits, like a 30-minute walk a day,” del Castillo says. “Or more time with family instead of being in the kitchen.”
The real appeal of meal prep, he maintains, is not the food, but the freedom from chores, from nutritional confusion, and from the ever-churning question of “What’s for dinner tonight?”