It really depends on how serious you want to be. Is this a hobby or an obsession (Ya know). As for practical advise i'll give you mine. I prefer to go with Mod to High Carbs, Mod Protein and Low Fat. That way when i start to drop weight for contests i can make adjustments in my carbs and protein to help insure the maximum amount of LBM retention.
So with that being said. Determine how much you eat: Keep track over 3 days what you eat and then add it up. Don't try and eat any different then you typically would or it will come back to bite you in the ass. Divide your totals by 3 and you'll get what you would typically eat in a day (kcals)
After that a good starting point is 40% Carbs / 40% Pro / 20% Fat - You can make changes after you see how your doing with that.
Now in terms of organization. I like to eat the majority of my carbs earlier in the day and around my workouts. I keep my fat low during this time and later in the day when my carbs are lower my fat goes higher. Protein stays about the same from meal to meal. I use 1 protein shake of Whey isolate PW and thats all.
During the offseason i think its EXTREMELY important to eat a well balanced diet, which includes Vegtables, Fruit, Grains, Several different protein sources, ect. Your health should come first. When dieting you don't have the ability to get all of the above.
As far as getting things ready, i like to do most of it before i go to bed and put it in tupperware. Its really not harder nor more expensive to go this route.
If you have anymore questions of i didn't answer something let me know.
