Healthy Meal Prep for the Week

We’ve all seen those beautifully organized meal preps with Tupperware lined up on the counter with perfect portions of rice, chicken, and some kind of veggie. And while I know that works for some people, it didn’t work for me (or my family).

If you’re anything like me, you enjoy diversity in your meals, and serving your own portions.

Some days you’re hungrier than others. Some times you want more meat. And some days you want more veggies. And MOST days you probably don’t enjoy reheating a meal that was made 6 days ago.

I break my meal planning down into 3 steps:

Planning
Shopping
Making

Step 1: Planning

In our house I typically only plan dinners & snacks.

I don’t plan lunch or breakfast because lunch is almost always leftovers and breakfast is almost always some kind of egg (scrambled, egg sandwich, omelette) with a smoothie or fruit.

Planning Dinners for your Week

My two biggest tips for planning dinners is:

#1. Have a master list on your phone of dinners to choose from.

#2. Switch up not only the protein source, but more importably the cuisine type.

Let’s dive into those each a little more…

Tip #1 Creating a Master Dinner List

I find it helpful to break down your list into two categories Warm Weather Dinners and Cool Weather Dinners. Breaking your list down into two categories like this helps you to both eat seasonally but also to make sure that you’re not serving up a bunch of hot crockpot meals in the middle of summer.

meal planning ideas dinner-ideas for winter and summer

Tip #2 Switch Up the Protein Source & Cuisine Type

When planning healthy meal prep for the week I like to add lots of variety. Not just by switching up the protein (beef, turkey, chicken, fish, etc), but also in the cuisine department (Mexican, Italian, American, Asian, etc.).

I find that switching up the cuisine has more of an impact than just switching up the protein. So even if I eat beef 5 days a week, as long as I switch up the cuisine then I don’t get bored.

Now you’re ready to plan your week!

Planning Snacks for your Week

In addition to having fresh fruit or beef sticks on hand, having homemade snacks in the fridge, is a new addition to my weekly meal prep and I have been loving it!

So often when we grab snacks we want something fast with no clean up. This usually means it comes in a bag, box, or package. But if we’re trying to focus on nourishing foods or saving money, those kinds of snacks don’t come in a bag.

Each week I pick three snacks to make:

one protein snack
one veggie snack
and one sweet snack

That way, no matter what your craving (or need) is, it will be met with a healthy homemade option that is ready to eat!

Here are some of my favorite snacks to make in each category:

Protein (choose one to make)
- Chicken Salad
- Egg Salad
- Meatballs
- Salt & Pepper Chicken Strips
Veggie (choose one to make)
- Carrots/Cukes/Peppers with Hummus
- Three Bean Salad
- Pickled Cucumber & Onion Salad
- Roasted Veggies
Sweet (choose one to make)
- Peanut Butter Date Balls
- Baked Good (cookies, bread, muffin, etc)
- Sweet & Sour Gummies

Step 2: Shopping

After I’ve planned out my dinners & snacks I start making a list of all the food I need to get to make those dinners, sides, and snacks.

Meal by meal I jot down the ingredients I will need in my grocery list app.

I have several different lists in my grocery list app, that way I have a separate list for the farmers market, my local farmer, and the grocery store.

I try to get as much as I can from my local farmer & farmers market first. Whatever I can’t get from them I will get at my grocery store.

Step 3: Making

The final step of this meal plan prep is making (some of) the food.

The first thing I make is the snacks. I make sure they are fully made, so that you can just grab them and go.

Once the snacks are done I start on the dinners. With the dinners I don’t recommend making everything because food always tastes better when it’s made fresh. Just do something that will help save you time on the weeknights. For me this looks like…

chopping the vegetables
marinating the meat
making the sauces/dressings/spice mixes
making the rice/quinoa

Final Tips On Healthy Meal Prep for the Week

I know this might be old-fashioned of me, but I like to keep all my recipes printed out in a binder. I tried the digital thing, but I hated having to touch my phone with cookie batter fingers, or worse… raw meat fingers, every time the screen dimmed or I needed to see more of the recipe.

All you need is a three ring binder, plastic dividers, and some page protecters and voila!

Let Me Know In The Comments…

How do you store all your recipes? What are some things you do during the week to make meal times /meal prep easier? What are some of your favorites meals/snacks during the week?