Ideas for Meal Prep

I've been prepping for the past couple of weeks and it helps plenty. Knowing that I already have my meals planned out helps me avoid eating random, bad foods. I don't have much variety in what I prep. Basically, I grill a bunch of chicken breast, make some brown rice and steam some veggies. Then I put it all together. These meals are fast and easy to make. I wish I had more variety, so I look forward to seeing what other people suggest on here.

It's hard to say where you should start. It of course depends on what you like to eat. To prep for a few days in advance this is what I do, I hope this advice can be helpful.

I cook off 8 chicken breasts- simple roasted in the oven with salt and pepper. (or other proteins- like fish, I intend to have a salad with and don't mind eating cold- fish doesn't reheat as well)
I cook off 1.5 cups of quinoa. I eat this for breakfast sometimes, like oatmeal with additional of almond milk, or make grain salad, can add to soup- possibilities endless with this one. It's versatile and loaded with protein.
I also make a batch of salad dressing to last not more than 3 days- I like to change it up. My latest one was chili- citrus-- (sambal (chili-garlic paste), lime and lemon juice, a little honey, and just a little evoo.

Good Luck in your meal prep!

butterfly cut 6 t0 8 chicken breasts, season and broil 5 minutes each side, grab a container of spinach form the grocery store, then add some fruit, yogurt or whatever else. You can even shred the chicken using a very low speed blender or processer. I did this for years, back in the 5 to 6 meals a day times. It was simple and fast and gives you a consistent base of healthy foods.

Now a days I do things a little different, but that's the most efficient way I know to meal prep.

For breakfast I prep some egg white muffins once a week - I do 5 in a muffin pan - layering the following ingredients in each hole in this order:
- 5g baby spinach
- 20g diced ham
- 1 chopped cherry tomato
- 1 egg white whisked with baking powder, pepper and chives
Then 30 minutes in the oven at 180/200 C. Leave out for 5 minutes then pop out of muffin tins and let cool completely in a wired rack before putting them in the fridge inside zip bags.
In the morning I nuke one for 15 seconds and eat it with some oatmeal (most of the times prepared the night before).

For lunch or breakfast I recommend soups and casseroles, or meatballs, savoury muffins, stir-fries and steamed veggies.

I'm not sure how much food prep you're up for, but I recently started freezer cooking once a month, and it has literally changed my life. I don't know how many you cook for (maybe just yourself), but I cook for a family of 6. I never have to worry about what's for dinner or even lunch, because we have so many leftovers. We have stopped eating out almost entirely, because there's no more panic "OH CRAP I have to make dinner..." There's usually something delicious waiting in the crock pot when we get home.

If you're just cooking for yourself, you could freeze a ton of crock pot or oven meals in a single afternoon. It takes a little planning and prep work, but it seriously pays off. If you're interested, just google "freezer cooking" for tons of websites/blogs with instructions, recipes and shopping lists.

Good luck!