10 Easy Meal Prep Recipes

You might choose to meal prep for a variety of different reasons. Below are a few common benefits of following a meal prepping strategy.

1. 1. Money saved: Grocery shopping wisely is generally more cost-effective than going out to eat frequently. Shopping for groceries for meal prep can save money and make it easier to stick to a budget, since you will be buying multiples of the same ingredients. Settling on a shopping list and corresponding meal prep ideas can help you stick to a plan.
2. 2. Multiple uses for food: Meal prepping can allow for creativity when it comes to using an ingredient in more than one way. For example, you may use the same base—like chicken breast you reheat every lunch or dinner for a week’s worth of meals—in burrito bowls or taco salad every night. But you’ll have the freedom to use different ingredients as toppings—like bell peppers, salad dressing, or other veggies—for each of your meal times throughout the whole week. This could also help you eliminate food waste in your kitchen.
3. 3. New recipes: Meal prep encourages you to experiment with variety from week to week since you most likely won’t want to eat the same thing every night for several weeks in a row. As you cook or assemble more make-ahead meals, you might feel inspired to put new recipes into rotation.
4. 4. Portion control: Batch cooking for meal prep can give you greater control over portion sizes. Whether you want to eat small portions or plan to eat a big helping of your favorite meal, you will be able to decide in advance exactly how much of your premade food you want to consume. This can give you far more control over portion sizes than grabbing takeout or fast food.
5. 5. Time regained: A little prep time can go a long way in preparing you for the week ahead, and perhaps the greatest benefit of meal prepping is the amount of time it saves you. Rather than cooking a fresh meal every night or commuting to a restaurant for food, you can assure that you already have the meals you need for the week.

While meal prep can be slightly involved, the payoff makes it worth it. Whether you want to focus on nutritious, healthy meal prep recipes or just throw together what you have for an easier week, below are a few useful tips on prepping your meals.

1. 1. Make a list of meals. You’ll need to consider which meals you want to eat and how many portions you want to prepare. Consider the cooking methods available to you. You can only cook so much on a stovetop or on an oven, but you can use both at once for different large batches of food. For example, you could cook a stir fry over one flame and fish over another while a healthy amount of chicken is heating up on a sheet pan in the oven. A slow cooker can give you yet an additional method of cooking more food at the same time.
2. 2. Determine your ingredients. Before heading to the grocery store, make sure you know what sort of ingredients you will need to get ready for the week ahead. How exacting you are in making your grocery list is up to you. Calculating out ingredients with precision—such as the specific number of broccoli florets you will need for each stir-fry portion—can be tedious, but it will help you avoid potentially coming up short while you’re assembling meals.
3. 3. Store meals correctly. The best meal prep strategy is one that takes storage into account—if you can’t store your food correctly, there’s no point in preparing vast quantities of it. Use plastic or glass containers such as mason jars as leak-proof meal prep containers. Then place your food storage containers in the refrigerator or freezer depending on the individual food’s storage requirements as well as how soon you plan to enjoy it.
4. 4. Keep recipes simple and flexible. Simple, versatile recipes will allow you to mix and match ingredients, creating different combinations with your pre-made ingredients to cut down on both waste and monotony.
5. 5. Buy pre-prepped ingredients. If you’re not handy with a knife, you can always buy foods that are precut or preprepared for your convenience. Buying pre-chopped onions, veggies, or fruits can help you visualize just how much you’ll be able to use, as well as save time in the kitchen. A precooked rotisserie chicken will save you hours of prep time.
6. 6. Always have the basics. Make sure your kitchen is always stocked with pantry staples like dried beans or lentils, peanut butter or tahini, and spices, and frozen vegetables, so you can always make a delicious and savory meal. Bland food or the same seasonings can get boring after a while, but keeping a variety of spices and a few jars of versatile condiments on hand means you can always make a little something out of nothing.
7. 7. Portion out the meals. Once you’ve batch-cooked your food for the week, you can make your mornings easier by pre-portioning out your meals in your storage containers. Put an equal portion of each food in a single-serving container and seal tightly with the lid. When you’re ready to head out to work or school, just grab and go.
8. 8. Make it part of your schedule. Meal prepping can seem like a daunting task at first, but setting aside one night a week to cook can actually save time when it comes to weeknight dinners and lunches. Scheduling meal prep for the same time each week can help you stick to your plan.

When it comes to meal prep, you can prepare a large batch of a single meal, or various ingredients to mix and match together to make different meals throughout the week. These easy recipes can work alone, or as a base for a variety of ingredients.

1. 1. Grilled chicken breast: A thick, juicy grilled chicken breast can be used to make different kinds of sandwiches during the week. Pair with prewashed lettuce, precut tomato and onion slices, julienned peppers, cheese, or any other number of ingredients for a tasty variety of chicken sandwiches. You can also shred the chicken and mix it with mayonnaise and seasonings to turn it into chicken salad. For those looking to stay health conscious, you can use a lettuce wrap or stuff the chicken inside a low-carb pita.
2. 2. Pan-seared salmon: Pan-seared salmon requires only a few minutes and even fewer ingredients (butter, salt, and pepper). Serve your pan-seared salmon on a bed of sautéed greens, and finish it with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. You can also pair the salmon with cauliflower rice, sweet potato wedges, or slice it and toss it with fresh salad greens.
3. 3. Caprese salad: Caprese salad (known as insalata Caprese in Italy) is an Italian salad that features basil leaves, mozzarella, and summer tomatoes. This filling salad can serve as a side or main dish for lunch or dinner. Pair your caprese salad with a side of fruit like berries and grapes to add another sweet, filling component to your meal.
4. 4. Antipasto salad: Antipasto salad is an easy dish that’s essentially a mashup of leftover Italian ingredients, making it one of the more simpler choices for meal prepping. Combine deli meats, artichoke hearts, olives, chickpeas, and/or cooked orzo pasta in a container with a light marinade of olive oil and vinegar or Italian dressing. The beauty of this dish is that it will increase in flavor the longer it marinates.
5. 5. Chili: Chili is typically a thick mixture of meat and beans, although the specific ingredients vary depending on the region and personal preferences. Common kinds of chili include turkey chili, white chicken chili, and classic beef chili. You can scoop chili onto a tortilla with some sour cream, pour it over rice, or eat it straight out of the container with a spoon.
6. 6. Stir-fry: Stir-fry is a Chinese cooking technique that involves cooking food over high heat in a wok. Constantly tossing the ingredients allows food to become crispy without getting scorched. This method is especially useful for veggies and quick-cooking proteins like chicken breast, and it is most successful when every ingredient is cut into small, uniform pieces. In addition to chicken breast, you can also use chicken thighs, beef, pork, or shrimp. Stir-fry is an easy way to clean out your fridge, and pairs well with rice and other grains. You can even use stir-fried vegetables and meats to top noodles.
7. 7. Tacos: Ground beef, chicken, or shrimp are popular ingredients for tacos, and prepping them yourself means you can assemble and enjoy this Mexican favorite all week long. Try out different flavors for your dinner or lunch ideas such as tinga de pollo, carne asada, or al pastor, along with a side of black beans, pico de gallo, chopped cilantro, and shredded cheese. (Don’t add these ingredients to your taco shell or tortilla until you’re ready to eat.) Additionally, you can add all these ingredients to a bed of lettuce for a healthy salad.
8. 8. Grilled zucchini: Grill some zucchini slices in olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper ahead of time to add to a salad, throw on a sandwich, or serve as a side for grilled chicken or salmon. You can also prepare zucchini noodles ahead of time to add to your grilled or stir-fried meats.
9. 9. Couscous: A staple Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean ingredient, couscous is a healthy alternative when rice or pasta fatigue sets in. Whether served as a standalone side dish or combined with vegetables for a healthy salad, the durum wheat semolina packs fiber and protein in each serving. Quickly heated in the microwave, couscous pairs well with leftover meats and hearty sauces. But it also tastes great cold, with salads or marinated vegetables.
10. 10. Rice: Perhaps one of the most versatile side dishes, rice is an ingredient that can be mixed with nearly anything—chili, salmon, chicken, or plain veggies. Make a big batch of rice at the beginning of the week and serve it with your favorite meal prep recipes. Try a different type of rice, such as jasmine rice, basmati rice, brown rice, or fried rice, each week. If you’re not a rice fan, experiment with other grains or pseudo-grains like quinoa instead.

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