Avoid those urges to grab something easy when you’re short on time by preparing in advance. Remember that old quote “Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail”? Yeah well…that applies with your health and nutrition too.
Preparing lunches ahead of time means that whether you work from home or you’re in the office, this meal prep technique will not only ease mid-week stress and decision making, it’s easy on your bank balance and good for your health.
We’ve collected up 20 make-ahead lunches you can prep in your spare time on a Sunday afternoon to make you ready for a productive week.
Including protein-packed, nutritious and even some vegetarian options, we’ve got you covered.
1. Campfire stew.
This easy slimming friendly recipe is a slow-cooker goodie from Pinch of Nom. This serves four so would make four tasty lunches. We reckon it’d be prefect served with rice, mashed potato or baked sweet potato. It’s just the perfect hearty winter healthy meal prep.
2. Quinoa salad with feta, pea and mint.
A beautiful healthy meal prep fresh salad courtesy of Laura Herring in her The Fast Days Cookbook.
3. A healthy spaghetti bolognese.
Using lean mince in this recipe and whole wheat pasta mean that this is a healthier edition of the traditional family favourite. Double up this recipe to make more portions and get a few days of healthy meal prep sorted.
4. Thai style beef noodles.
A filling and low calorie lunch, ready in only 15 minutes. This serves four, use it for four portions of lunch.
5. Grape, feta and rice salad.
The sweetness of the grape against the salty feta make this salad irresistibly delicious. Perfect for meal prep as the rice add carbs making this filling.
TIP! Add chicken in for extra protein in this healthy meal prep dish.
6. Chicken, watermelon and walnut salad with buttermilk ranch dressing.
The combo of the juicy watermelon, creamy buttermilk and those peppery radishes will have you wondering how this is so damn healthy and tasty at the same time.
7. Beetroot rice salad with goat’s cheese and a hazelnut dressing.
Beetroot + Goat’s Cheese = Heaven.
8. Spiced chicken rice.
This is one of those super-easy one-pot dishes. Ready in 35 minutes and makes four portions. The perfect healthy meal prep.
9. Lasagne “roll-ups”.
Think lasagne – but easier. This recipe combines some of our favourite things into one dish – this one makes six portions and can even be frozen so perfect for the ultimate in-advance meal prep.
10. Healthy pesto pasta.
An unbelievably fast and tasty recipe – ready in only 10 minutes. This one doesn’t include any meat so for you veggies can be left as is if you’re avoiding meat. If you’re packing in the protein, we think this would be A-MAZING with salmon or chicken.
11. Lighter chicken enchiladas.
The perfect lunch – this recipe serves eight! Portion it up for perfect lunches that have balanced carbs and protein.
12. Chilli con carne.
Traditional yes – boring no. The humble chilli con carne is perfect meal prep – super filling and great to re-heat, chilli can be prepped into a variety of different meals. Serve with basmati rice, pittas, flatbreads, wraps, cauliflower rice or sweet potato wedges.
13. Roasted spiralised carrot and feta salad.
Roasting carrots brings out all their caramelised sweetness. Pair this up with salty feta and walnuts for a perfect lunch filled with healthy fats. We think this would work great as a side salad to some griddled or baked chicken or salmon if you’re upping your protein.
14. Chicken, pea and goats cheese risotto.
Super tasty and perfect for using up leftover chicken!
15. Slow cooker salsa chicken.
Could this be the simplest recipe…ever? This salsa chicken is four ingredients only has a preparation time of only five minutes! Making six servings too.
16. Tuna pasta bake.
This wouldn’t be a meal-prep lunch list without tuna pasta. This is a great one for using up ingredients in your storecupboard and is filling and high in protein too.
17. Turkey kofte with rice.
These kofte are essentially meatballs. Using turkey makes this recipe high protein and low in calories, the perfect mid-week lunch.
18. Chicken, vegetable and spinach curry.
This is a mild curry but can of course be spiced up by adding more chilli! This filling meal is shown with rice but you could swap out this for some flatbreads, pittas, chapattis or some cauli-rice if you’re cutting the carbs.
19. Spanish tortilla.
So versatile, this tortilla can be served with a large leafy salad. Why not get experimental and try adding your own favourite flavours into your tortilla?
20. Ultimate chicken coconut curry.
There’s chicken curry, then there’s this chicken curry. Made with coconut milk and thai curry paste, there’s plenty veg in this one and it’s unbelievably coming in at less than 500 calories per portion. Just amazing.
There you have it! Twenty different recipes for you to try. Meal prep doesn’t have to be boring (yes – you there with the chicken and rice in your Tupperware).
Let us know what you think in the comments and share your faves with us!