Meal Prep · The Spec
(714) 260-3696
How we count macros, and why you can trust the lid.
Every Culinary Curators meal is 50–60 g of protein and 400–600 calories. Not an average, not a target: a band we hold on every single box. This page is the method — how the number gets written, how it gets weighed, and what happens when a batch misses.
The problem with most meal prep numbers
Most meal prep labels are a recipe run through a nutrition calculator once, at raw weight, and printed forever. The cook eyeballs the portion, the braise reduces by a different amount every week, and the number on the sticker drifts away from the food underneath it. If you are counting, that is worse than no number — it looks precise and it is wrong.
We came at this from the truck. Nine years of portioning tacos on a scale to hold a food cost teaches you that the only number you can promise is one you weigh. So the meal prep runs the same way: a written spec per meal, a scale at every station, and a check on every batch before the lids go on.
The method, in order
Write the spec at cooked weight
Every meal has a sheet: each component, its cooked gram weight, and its protein, carbohydrate, fat and calories from USDA nutrient data for that ingredient in that cooked state. Raw-to-cooked yields are measured in our kitchen, not assumed — chicken breast over red oak, for instance, keeps about 70% of its raw weight, and the spec is written against what is left.
Design every meal inside the band
Protein is set first — a cooked portion that lands 50–60 g on its own, so the sides never have to carry it. Then beans, rice and vegetables are sized so the whole plate sits between 400 and 600 calories with room on either side. If a dish cannot be made to fit without shrinking to a snack, it does not go on the menu.
Cook to the sheet
One cook a week, Monday morning. Grilled cuts come off the oak at a set internal temperature; braises are pulled at a set weight, not a set time, so the reduction matches the spec. Roasted vegetables are salt-drained first so their cooked weight is predictable.
Weigh a finished portion from every batch
Before anything is packed, one full portion of each component is weighed and the meal is totaled against the sheet. If the chicken ran lean or the chile verde reduced tight, the portion is adjusted for that batch so the box still lands in the band.
Portion cold, on scales
Every station packs from a chilled batch onto a scale reading to the gram. The salsa goes in a sealed cup so it never sits on the protein. The lid gets the same calories and protein that are on the spec, plus the full ingredient list, a CONTAINS line, the net weight and a hand-written USE BY date.
Pull what misses
A batch that cannot be brought inside the band is not sent. The 25-box weekly cap is what makes that possible — we would rather turn away an order than ship a meal that missed.
What is on the lid
The same two figures on the menu, on the spec sheet and on the box. Carbs and fat are on the spec sheet on request.
Including the sub-ingredients of the salsas. If it is in the box, it is on the list.
Egg, milk, soy and wheat are called out where present. Call before you order if you have an allergy and we will tell you straight which meals work.
Weighed with the salsa cup. Most meals run 15–19 oz; the number on your box is the box you are holding.
Five days from the cook. Cooked Monday, use by Saturday. Every box.
Pull the salsa cup and the lid first. Pour the salsa on after.
Worked example
A week-one meal, straight from the spec sheet, cooked weights.
| Pollo Asado Bowl · component | Cooked weight | Protein | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast, red oak grilled | 160 g | 50 g | 265 |
| Peruano beans, in their liquor | 120 g | 7 g | 130 |
| Roasted peppers and onion | 100 g | 1 g | 45 |
| Green-Go salsa, sealed cup | 30 g | 0 g | 30 |
| Meal, as printed on the lid | 410 g | ~59 g | ~471 |
Component figures are rounded; the lid and the spec sheet carry the exact totals, and the net weight on the label includes the salsa cup. Ask for any meal’s sheet by text or email.
How to use the band
Cutting
Two meals a day is roughly 1,000 calories and 110 g of protein before you add breakfast. Add fruit, a shake or a bar and most people land between 1,500 and 1,800 with protein already covered.
Maintaining
Three meals is about 1,500 calories and 165 g of protein. Add your own carbs around training and you are at maintenance for most adults without tracking a single ingredient.
Coaching clients
Prescribe meals, not grams. Two Culinary Curators meals a day is a fixed 100–120 g of protein you do not have to audit, and the client does not need a scale in the kitchen.
Questions about the numbers
More from the kitchen
See the six meals and their numbers.
Every dish on the menu lists its calories and protein. First box of ten is $90 for new customers, $120 after that, plus tax.
401 N Sycamore St, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Pickup Tuesday 8 AM–2 PM · $10 delivery in North OC