I don’t know if there’s anything that hasn’t been said already about meal prep and how useful it can be.
And yet, there’s always some room for 5 Popular and Healthy Meal Prep Ideas For Weight Loss.
Let me be completely honest, I don’t meal prep EVERY week, sometimes we just …manage it somehow.
But that’s the point, isn’t it?
To avoid situations where you have to blankly stare at the fridge and wonder what your next meal should be, you better have it planned out and prepared.
PRO arguments for meal prep
- It saves you time;
- Makes your day flow smoother and lets you focus on your goals without worrying about food;
- Saves money;
- Keeps you on track with your nutrition goals
CON arguments for meal prep
- It’s cooking and you have to do it. Sorry.
- That’s it.
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5 Popular and Healthy Meal Prep Ideas For Weight Loss
Let the meal preppin’ begin!
It’s hard not to love meal prepping when you look at it like that!
But now we come to the next question – how do we make preparing meals ahead as easy as possible?
Well, you plan ahead.
You start with a grocery list of all the products you’ll need for the meals you wish to prepare. I focus on products that I can easily mix with each other to create versatile meals.
What I’m sharing here with you is an example of what a Sunday meal prep would look like for me.
Of course, this won’t cover each and every meal of the next days, but it will at least the dinners, breakfasts, and some snacks.
The amounts in the grocery list are also based on our small family of 2 hungry adults, so if yours is bigger – increase them accordingly.
Grocery List for Healthy Meal Prep Ideas For Weight Loss
Click here to get the list as a printable pdf!
As we mentioned already, meal prepping is all about efficiency.
For me personally, there’s nothing more annoying than peeling potatoes so I start with that: peel the potatoes and cut them into medium-sized cubes, and put them to boil until ready {add a pinch of salt to the water}.
At the same time, put at least a dozen eggs to boil as well.
Once the eggs are ready, cool them and store them in a container in the fridge.
They can easily last for up to a week – a great in-between snack as well as a staple in our breakfast. When the potatoes get ready, cool them, and set them aside.
The perfect boiled egg:
My trick to getting the boiled eggs exactly as I want them is to first bring the water to boiling and then put the eggs in.
If you prefer them soft-boiled with slightly runny egg yolk, take them out after no more than 6.5 minutes.
For hard-boiled eggs keep them in for 8 minutes.
After you take them out, place them directly into ice-cold water {preferably with actual ice cubes in it}.
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Marinate the chicken
While the eggs are boiling, I start cutting the chicken’s inner fillets in two and removing the unwanted bits from them.
I then spice them with black and red pepper, 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce or coconut aminos, and the same amount of sesame oil.
I also dice 3 or 4 garlic skillets and mix them with the chicken as well. I leave the meat to sit like that for at least 15-20 minutes.
DID YOU KNOW?
You can swap the soy sauce for coconut aminos.
They are made from fermented coconut blossom nectar, blended with some sea salt. The taste is almost identical to the soy sauce, albeit the coconut aminos taste a tiny bit sweeter.
Are they healthier?
Arguably yes, but honestly – the amounts we use here are so small it almost makes no difference.
If you have allergies to soy though – that’s your solution!
Plus – the aminos have over 70 percent less sodium than the soy sauce.
While the chicken is being marinated, wash and slice the champignons and paprika and set them aside together in a bowl.
The green onions get cleaned and chopped as well. I then cut the rest of the veggies and spread them on a baking tray.
Drizzle some avocado oil on top, some salt, and paper, and put them aside.
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The salmon
I LOVE salmon!
So delicious and easy to prepare!
Get the salmon out and place it on a baking tray. I like to spice it with red & black pepper, garlic powder, and a lot of freshly squeezed lemon juice. I drizzle some avocado oil on it as well.
Both baking trays – salmon and veggies go in the oven – at 200 C° for about 20-25 minutes.
While your oven is full and doing its magic…
In a big pan on the stove, add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and the champignons + paprika. In a small cup, mix 2 tablespoons of soy sauce + 1/2 tablespoon flour (or a tsp of cornstarch).
Once the liquid in the pan is almost all evaporated, add the soy/flour mixture in and stir it nicely. Add the chicken and cook until ready.
Again, you can store this in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
All you need to do is add a portion of rice to it and you have a delicious and nutritious meal.
Rice:
You can easily prepare rice in bulk and just store it in your fridge until needed.
However, after discovering the magic of the rice cooker, I much prefer to prepare the rice at least on the same day that we’ll be consuming it.
It takes only 15 minutes of a wait anyway, and it’s much tastier when it’s freshly cooked (in my opinion).
By the time your Asian chicken is ready, the salmon + veggies should be done as well!
All those veggies…
Time for the frozen ones! You know the drill – some avocado oil, have a skillet on high heat, and stir them every now and then until they’re ready.
I guess I didn’t mention WHY we need them.
Well, along with the boiled eggs, they are a staple in our breakfast but if that’s not your jam, just skip them. Meanwhile…
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Back to the potatoes…
Remember those potato cubes we boiled?
Their time has finally come.
Oh, and the time of the green onions too, get them first.
Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt on the green onions and give them a bit of a squeeze with your hands so that their juices come out a bit.
Add them to the potatoes + some fresh dill.
To save me the chopping and washing of the dill, I use a frozen one – it works perfectly well.
Drizzle some olive oil on top and mix everything well together.
Now you have a fresh and delicious side dish for your salmon!
Rule #1 in meal prep:
Take all the shortcuts you can!
I live in Europe and pre-cut veggies aren’t that popular so I have to do all that chopping and dicing myself.
But I know that in the States, pre-cut veggies are widely available in your grocery store so don’t hesitate to reach for them and make your workload lighter.
It will save you so much time!
Desserts/Snacks
We finally got to the oats, yogurt, and fruits from our grocery list.
Obviously, fruits are a great snack by themselves.
You have multiple options here.
Overnight oats are one of the easiest ways to go.
Most of the time I just soak a cup of oats in yogurt and add some fruits and honey to it in the morning.
It’s so simple, yet so delicious.
Of course, you can always spice things up {pun intended}.
Check out this post from Lemon + zest with 6 different recipes for overnight oats.
I’ve tied almost all of them and they were oh-so yummy.
Another thing I love doing is toasting a cup of oats with coconut oil, banana, and/or apple and a bit of cinnamon {like I did this time}.
It’s basically making your own muesli.
Add some milk/yogurt or even quark and you have a great snack/breakfast.
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