Hate Eating The Same Thing Everyday? This Is How To Meal Prep Successfully

Let me set the scene: It’s a Sunday afternoon and the sun is shining. You just got back from the grocery store and you have all the time in the world. You put on some music, roll up your sleeves, and get planning! To me, this sounds like paradise. 

I love cooking. It’s something I learned to get acquainted with when I went vegan and gluten-free two years ago. I love it even more now that I have a little more room to cook anything I want (I am no longer vegan nor gluten-free). But while I love cooking, I understand that I don’t have all the time in the world to make a specialized dinner every night. That’s why I try to meal prep at least once a week for a few nights in advance.

Meal prepping is super trendy right now. People do it for YouTube videos, for TikTok, and for the ~vibes~. But the essential problem with meal prepping is that you’re making a bulk order of the same foods every night. You want to be able to switch it up. I ran into this problem a bit ago when I was walking home from my gym and realized that I would be eating chicken again for the 234th time this year. I love my go-to meal, but I really needed to make something new. 

I want to be able to meal prep, but whenever I look up recipes on Pinterest, I always see the same “Asian chicken and rice” idea. I was sick of it, so I went digging and I’m going to put some meal-prep recipes on here that you will love and that include the same ingredients, but aren’t all the same dishes.

Meal Plan #1 — What You Will Need:

– Tortillas/wraps
– Chickpeas
– Spinach
– Tomatoes
– Feta cheese
– Rotisserie chicken
– Bell peppers
– Hummus

What You Can Make:

Meal Plan #2 — What You Will Need: 

– Eggs
– Avocado
– Deli turkey
– Bread
– Arugula
– Provolone cheese

What You Can Make:

As you can see in these examples, sandwiches and salads are always super versatile. The first list has multiple different types of food (Mediterranean, Mexican, Italian) while the second one has multiple ways in which you can present these dishes. For more lists like this, you can look on this website. I also will go on SuperCook.com and just type in everything I have in my fridge if I’m too lazy to go out, but still want a really good dinner! That website takes your ingredients and finds recipes that you might never have thought of before. 

If you are feeling a bit more experimental and want to try a bunch of new recipes for meal preps, below are some fun ideas that you might like to try too!

I also want to say that you might look at what you make and find fun ways to update recipes. I love finding new dressings for my salad, or new veggie mixes to put on the side. I grew up in a house where we had the same exact salad for six years in a row. Have fun with the extra things you put on your plate!

What if you aren’t really a chef?

Cooking sometimes isn’t too fun. You may have worked all week and you don’t really want to spend your weekend cooking. That’s fine! The cool thing about meal prepping is that it doesn’t have to be about cooking, but more about just getting the food. My partner meal preps by buying a rotisserie chicken and doing chicken seven different ways throughout the week. I will often meal prep by just washing the veggies I have in my fridge that I know I need to eat before the week is out. You can meal prep without even turning on the oven!

Some ways you can meal prep without actually cooking is by going to the grocery store and looking for what’s already been made. My partner gets rotisserie chicken, my mom gets fried chicken, sometimes I’ll get an extra-large pizza! It’s whatever you’re feeling and something that is good in protein and relatively healthy, so it will sustain you for the week. Then when you get home, look in your fridge and wash and prepare your fruits and veggies for the week. That way, if you’re doing a salad one night, you can just pour a bunch of stuff in a bowl and call it done! If you have meat or something you need to cook, go ahead and do that in bulk, so you won’t have to worry about it for the rest of the week. It’s all about preparing more than making this five-star dish for dinner. You can also take this time to maybe look at new food ideas you haven’t tried yet. I want to start making a new salad dressing every week so my salads don’t get boring. I also try to incorporate a different meat every week. 

Wondering about meal prep containers? We’ve got you! This seven box pack has different colors if you’re like me and need everything to be in rainbow! I also love this ten pack of glass containers just because I want my entire fridge to look like it is organized and aesthetically pleasing. This container has separated pockets, so if you don’t like your food to touch, it’s got you!

Meal prepping doesn’t necessarily mean you have to take the whole day, get your apron on, and start sweating it out in the kitchen. It may just mean you’re a little more mindful when you go to the grocery store and you look to buy things that will keep you fed for a whole week instead of just one night. 

Have you meal prepped before? What do you like to do? Are you going to try one of the recipes above or are you going to head to the pre-made section? Comment below!

For More Easy And Healthy Recipes, Read These Articles:

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