Eat Well All Week: Simple & Healthy Meal Prep Ideas

Life is busy and fast-paced, and one thing that often gets forgotten or pushed aside is preparing yourself healthy meals. Finding the time to cook something nutritious can feel like a daunting task. However, the benefits of eating well are so huge, they simply can’t be ignored. Eating healthy can help you have better weeks, better mental health, and better sleep. So today, we’re sharing some straightforward meal prep strategies that can help save you time, reduce your stress, and make healthier choices. By the end, you’ll be a meal prep pro and set up your weeks for success!

Benefits of Meal Prepping

• Cost-effectiveness: You’ll save money because you won’t be ordering or grabbing takeout on the way home. Your fantastic, healthy meals will be waiting for you at home.
• Convenient: How much more convenient does it get to have meals ready for you in the fridge?
• Improve your cooking skills. Practice makes perfect, so you’ll be improving your cooking skills simply by taking care of yourself and getting healthy nutrition.
• Reduce stress—you won’t need to think about what’s for supper anymore! It will be all ready for you!
• Portion control: Avoid overeating with these simple and healthy meal prep ideas. 
• Saves time: You won’t need to worry about all the time it takes to cook delicious, healthy meals.

How to Plate a Healthy Meal

A healthy meal can change and be different but often consists of a grain or carb, a protein, and a vegetable. We’ll show you how you can meal prep these things and make a variety of different nutritious meals with what you’ve prepared.

Prepare the Grain

The first step to meal-prepping for healthy and nutritious meals is to prepare your grains. Opt for whole wheat or multigrain where possible, and make sure to cook as the package says. Below are some ideas of things to have on hand so you can have your healthy carbs with your meal.

• Whole wheat tortillas (or cauliflower tortillas)
• Brown rice
• Couscous
• Quinoa
• Whole wheat pasta
• Whole wheat soup crackers

To prepare them, make up a batch of whatever it is and put it in a fridge-friendly container. Having a few different options helps to make sure you won’t get bored. Some ideas you can make with these are tacos, chicken fried rice, steak and couscous, pasta and chicken, and vegetable soup. Aim for the grain to take up one-quarter of your plate.

Prepare the protein

Next, you’ll make up some different proteins to pair with the grains. Don’t make too much, but make enough that you can feed however many people are going to be at your table. Protein is what keeps you full, so a portion size should be about the size of the palm of your hand.

• Chicken breast
• Chicken thighs, drumsticks, wings, etc.
• Steak
• Roast
• Eggs
• Venison
• Veal
• Duck
• Ground beef
• Turkey
• Lentils
• Chickpeas
• Black beans
• Salmon
• Tuna

Choose 1-3 different types of protein for the week that will go well with your grains. To make things even more convenient for you, package the protein in serving-size portions so you can just grab it and put it on your plate with ease beside your grain. Once you have your vegetables, you can just warm them up, and you have yourself a healthy meal! The protein should take up one-quarter of the plate, the same as the grain.

Prepare the vegetables

Finally, the vegetables! And don’t worry, they don’t need to be boring. The vegetables will take up about half of the plate. You might enjoy more than one type of vegetable, which is great! An easy way to ensure that you get the veggies in is to make a big salad and have it ready in the refrigerator. Make up a big garden salad and use it for one-quarter of the plate, and for the other quarter, treat yourself to one of the following.

• Honey Roasted Carrots: Peel and chop 8 carrots and toss in olive oil. Using ¼ cup of honey drizzle over and then salt and pepper. Roast the carrots for 30 minutes and enjoy!
• Roasted Brussels sprouts: chop up the Brussels sprouts and coat in olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 425 Fahrenheit for 18 minutes.
• Sheet-Pan Roasted Veggies Slice bell peppers, cauliflower, carrots, and whatever other vegetables you like. Toss in olive oil and season to your preference. Lay flat and spaced out on a baking sheet to allow for even cooking. Roast for 20 minutes.

Types of Meals to Make With These Components

You can make an endless amount of delicious and nutritious meals with the strategy above, and it’s just as simple as plating it, warming it up, and enjoying it! Some meal ideas from what we’ve listed above are below.

• Tacos
• Chicken alfredo
• Quinoa and scrambled eggs
• Couscous and steak
• Rice and salmon
• Chicken wings and brown rice
• Taco salad
• Quinoa and roast
• Couscous and turkey breast
• Rice and black beans

Don’t forget to add your favourite vegetables to these too! Don’t be afraid to use vegetable dip if that will help you eat more of them. Try to be open to trying new tastes and textures. If some shredded cheese might help on some of these meals, then go for it. The most important thing is that you’re enjoying a healthy meal and that it’s simple for you to reach for. Don’t worry about a little cheese or vegetable dip to make it more pleasing. 

The Takeaway

By following our simple quarter, quarter, half strategy, you can easily plate up a fantastic meal with little effort. Take 2 hours on Sundays to cook up a couple of batches of your favourite stuff and then store them in airtight containers for easy access. Then, pull out whatever containers you’re feeling like and plate it up! There you have it! Quarter, quarter, and half gives you a quarter grain, a quarter protein, and half a plate of vegetables. It’s effortless during the week—simple and quick! Which meal idea are you most excited to try?!