Meal Prep Tips to Make Food Prepping Fun, Easy, and Delicious

Meal prep does not need to be boring, time consuming, or lacking in flavor. There are so many different meal prep tips, ideas, and solutions. Some people cook meals for each day of the week. Others use meal prep services like Thistle or Hello Fresh for every meal. Personally, I combine approaches. I order a few meals from Thistle, bulk item cook, and prepare two to three healthy and yummy recipes or bag salads for a quick and easy meal when I’m on the go. Read on for more of my best meal prep tips and ideas!

Meal Prep Tips to Help You Stay on Track 

I’ve been food prepping for a while now, and here are some of my best tips for making the process fun, easy, and delicious for you.

1. Look at Your Upcoming Week 

See what you have planned. Do you have a date night or girl’s night out scheduled? Are you out of town? How many nights are you working late and know you won’t have time to cook a fresh meal? What’s going on with the kids’ schedules? Based on these factors, you can see when you need food already made and when you can cook a new meal.

2. Be Flexible with Your Food Prepping 

Not every week looks the same, which means your meal prep for each week will likely differ. Some weeks, I order from Thistle for lunch and dinner and call it a day. Other weeks, I have time to cook a few times throughout the week. Because I’m not stuck to one food prepping strategy, I have the freedom to choose the easiest and best way to cook and eat each week. 

3. Set Yourself Up for Success 

Make healthy food into fast food. No one wants to defrost and cook chicken and broccoli after a crazy long day of work or wrangling the kids. But, if you have that yummy leftover stir fry in the fridge, or all you need to do is throw your bulk items into a bowl and pour some sauce over it, you are more likely to not order from Postmates or snack on processed food. 

Another service I use that helps so much with meal prep is Instacart. It is a huge timesaver, and I use it every week to order all of my groceries without ever leaving my house. It is also great to use when you are traveling. You can place your order and have it delivered right as you arrive home from vacation. Because let’s be honest, nobody wants to go grocery shopping after a long day of travel! You can get $10 OFF your Instacart order HERE. 

Meal Prep Tips for Making Delicious Meals

I mentioned three different meal prep approaches to ensure I eat good, healthy, and tasty meals throughout the week. Here are some meal prep tips to follow when you use these food prepping strategies. 

1. Prepare 2-3 Healthy and Yummy Recipes to Make Each Week

Every week, I aim to make a couple of healthy recipes at home. Most recipes make four to six servings, so even if you cook for more than one person, two to three recipes provide fresh, delicious meals for the week. I love this approach because I don’t have to cook every day. I cook a meal for dinner and then have it as leftovers for lunch and maybe the following dinner.

2. Try Bulk Item Cooking

Bulk item cooking is when you cook a bunch of different ingredients at once that you can then use to make various quick meals all week. Whether you make wraps, bowls, or salads, using the same pre-cooked ingredients makes meals efficient without being repetitive. 

Some of my favorite bulk item cooking ingredients to use are… 

• Protein: chicken, ground turkey, hard-boiled eggs, antibiotic-free organic deli turkey slices
• Carbs: quinoa, lentils, brown rice, farro, sweet potato
• Veggies: grilled mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and zucchini
• Sauces: Primal Kitchen (I love to put the buffalo sauce on everything!!), Bitchin’ Sauce, hummus, avocado, and greek yogurt tzatziki 

Some of my favorite bulk item cooking meals to make are… 

• Buddha Bowls with kale, sweet potato, mushrooms, zucchini, and hummus
• Wraps with Joseph’s Lavash wraps or La Tortilla Factory’s low carb tortilla
• Salads with all of the ingredients above tossed in a big bowl

3. Order from Thistle

Depending on the week, I usually order one to three meals from Thistle weekly. This is my “instead of Postmates” option. While I’d love to cook fresh meals in my kitchen every night, that just isn’t realistic, and Thistle is a great alternative. I always split the dinners into two meals to make it go even further. Click this link for $100 off your first 4 orders with Thistle.

Meal Prep Ideas for Healthy, Delicious Food All Day Long

Most people think of meal prep for lunch and dinner, but having food prepared for breakfast, snacks, and dessert is just as important! Here are some of my favorite options that are easy to make and eat throughout the week.

Favorite Breakfast Ideas

• Avocado Toast: 1 slice 60 calorie Dave’s Killer Bread, 1-3 egg whites or 1 over-easy egg, and 1/2 avocado with salt
• Oatmeal Pancakes: Get the recipe HERE!
• Baked Oatmeal: Served with bananas and blueberries. Get the recipe HERE!
• Quick Oatmeal: 1/4 (dry) cup Quick Oatmeal tossed with cinnamon, unsweetened vanilla almond milk/coconut milk, and vanilla extract or natural sweetener
• Yogurt Parfait: 0-2% plain or vanilla Greek yogurt or Siggi’s, 1/2 cup berries, with cinnamon and/or natural sweetener (or just Siggi’s yogurt solo because it’s that good)
• Egg Bites: Get the recipe HERE!
• Protein Shake: 1 scoop of Vital Proteins Powder with 1/2-1 cup water, vanilla unsweetened almond milk, and/or coffee; optional–1/2 banana or 1/2 cup frozen fruit

Quick Lunch Idea

Get two bags of salad. (One of my favorites is Taylor Farms Sweet Kale Salad.) Then, get 1 pound of chicken (or lean protein of your choice). Grill or bake your protein. Get four Tupperware containers, pour the two bags of salad evenly into the four containers, and add 4 oz of chicken to each. That’s it! Now you have four grab-and-go lunches done for the week in minutes.

Favorite Snack Ideas

• Nut Butter Rice Cake: 1 salt-free plain rice cake with a light spread of salt-free natural almond butter (great before or after a workout)
• Light Snack: 10 raw almonds and 1 small apple
• Yogurt Parfait: 0-2% plain or vanilla Greek yogurt or Siggi’s, 1/2 cup berries, with cinnamon and/or natural sweetener (or just Siggi’s yogurt solo because it’s that good)
• Veggies with Dip: 1/2 cup hummus and bell pepper and cucumber slices
• Protein-Packed Snack: 4-6 Turkey slices and 10 almonds
• Fruits with Nut Butter: 1/2 apple or 1/2 banana with an optional light spread of almond butter (great before or after a workout)
• Protein Bar: 1 Quest Bar or ONE Bar (great before or after a workout)
• Protein Shake: with 1/2 banana and almond milk (great after a workout)
• Protein Balls: Get the recipe HERE!

You can find more of my favorite easy snack ideas in this post! 

Favorite Healthy Desserts

• Siggi’s Ice Cream
• Warm Fruit: 1/2 of a pear or apple with the seeds removed. Microwave it for 30 seconds, top with cinnamon and 1 tbsp almond slivers
• Frozen Fruit: 1/2 cup frozen mangos, microwave or 15-30 seconds until slightly defrosted. You can also let the bowl sit until they start to slightly defrost (if you can wait that long!)

Favorite Healthy Swaps

Just because you want to eat healthy doesn’t mean you can’t still have your favorites. Try these healthy swaps that taste just as good (and sometimes even better) than the real thing. 

• Swap regular bread for Dave’s Killer Bread
• Swap regular tortillas for La Tortilla Factory’s low carb tortillas
• Swap regular condiments and sauces for Primal Kitchen sauces
• Swap regular yogurt for Siggi’s Yogurt (my favorites are mixed berry and vanilla 4% fat)

Find More Meal Prep Tips and Ideas on My Instagram

Every time I find or try a new (or old favorite) recipe that I love, I share it with my followers on Instagram. Be sure to check out my recipe reels and food posts for more meal prep tips and recipes you’ll love!