Scroll through your social media feed and you may come across an image of someone’s countertop lined with a week’s worth of meals and snacks perfectly portioned into single-serving containers. That’s meal prep to the extreme and go you if you have time to do it! But do you know what also counts as meal prep? Cooking a batch ofbrown ricefor the week. Or grilling extra chicken to toplunch salads. Or chopping up an onion and bell pepper for tomorrow’schili. Meal prep is not just for a certain type of person—it’s for everyone—and can include anything that cuts down on time and energy spent during the week preparing meals.
Read more:How to Meal Prep Healthy Snacks to Satisfy Any Craving
Whether you’ve got 15 minutes or an hour to spend in the kitchen on Sunday, any meal-prep will set you up for a more productive and delicious week ahead. These 6 easy ideas are simple meal-prep steps you can do on a Sunday to make for a more productive week.
Carolyn A. Hodges
1. Make a batch of grains
Having cooked grains like brown rice, quinoa andwhole wheat couscousin the fridge reduces time spent preparing meals later in the week. These cooked grains reheat well, or can be eaten cold, and are so versatile. Top cooked quinoa with canned beans and vegetables for a quick lunchgrain bowlor saute cooked brown rice with frozen vegetables and seasoning for aneasy fried rice. You can even prepoatmealin advance and simply warm up at breakfast. And because cooking grains requires very little hands-on time, you can have them going while you prep other things. Consider doubling the batch and freezing half for another week.
2. Cook-up a versatile protein
Cookedchicken, hard-boiled eggs androasted tofuall have two things in common—they keep well for a few days in the fridge and can be used in so many ways. Pick a protein that can multi-task then build a few meals around it. Cooked chicken breast or thighs can be shredded and tossed with BBQ sauce for quicksandwiches, baked into a healthycasseroleand used to bulk up amain dish salad. Recipe-ready vegan proteins like tofu or cookedlentilscan be used in many of the same ways. And hard-boiled eggs make for heartieravocado toast, quick snacks and easysalads.
Pictured Recipe:Meal-Prep Curried Chicken & Chili-Lime Chicken
3. Get dinner ingredients prepped & ready for cooking
4. Prep breakfasts or lunches for the week
Easy-to-grab breakfast or lunch options will come in handy whether you’re eating at home or packing up food for work—imagine all the time you’ll save on those busy mornings! Stash your freezer with a breakfast option or two, likefreezer burritosyou can quickly reheat when you’re craving something warm and comforting, orsmoothie packsto cut down on the time it takes to blend up your favorite fruity combo. Or arm the fridge with a week’s worth ofsatisfying lunches(many of these can be prepped on Sunday in about 30 minutes!).
Pictured Recipe:Chipotle-Lime Cauliflower Taco Bowls
5. Mix up a vinaigrette or sauce
Picking up a bottle of salad dressing is convenient, but whisking up a batch of your own is even easier than you think. Plus,preparing your own dressingsmeans you can control what goes in and what stays out, like excess sodium. And it will take you about 5 minutes using ingredients you likely have on hand. Aclassic vinaigretteis perfect for topping green salads throughout the week, but don’t forget about sauces liketahini sauceorpeanut dressingthat can be used on grain bowls, in wraps or as dips to make meals more exciting.
6. Plan out a snack or two
Grabbing a snack is a lot quicker than making a meal so you might be wondering why bother with the meal prep here. It boils down to convenience andmindful portions. When hunger strikes between meals we may be tempted to graze on anything in sight, sometimes reaching for foods that actually leave us craving more. Prepping a couple snacks that containfiberandproteinwill provide lasting energy to keep you fueled until your next meal. Be sure to plan forsatisfying snacksthat you actually enjoy eating!
The Bottom Line
No matter how much or how little you do, your future self will thank you for doing these prep steps to make for an easier week. Plus, when healthy food is prepped and ready, it makes is so much easier to follow a healthy, balanced diet. Check out our easy-to-followmeal-prep plansandmeal-prep recipesfor more healthy eating inspiration!
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