Make the best of your Sunday by prepping healthy food for the week ahead. It makes it easier to eat healthy during the week!
Hi Friends!
Many of you have seen my Sunday meal prep pics on Instagram & Facebook and have been asking questions about them. Hopefully today’s post will be helpful for you.
When people ask me for advice about healthy eating, my number one suggestion is to be prepared. In an effort to make it easy for us to eat healthy meals at home, I’ve found that spending an hour or two on the weekend preparing food makes it much easier to throw together quick, healthy meals during the week. I made it a goal to get back into a food prep routine for 2013 and it’s made my life so much easier! So let’s take a look at what I do on a typical weekend!
First Step: What do I make?
There are some staples that I prep every single weekend and some that vary week to week. Here’s a list of things I typically prepare:
- Quinoa {or a whole grain}: I usually cook 1.5 c dry quinoa with 3 cups of water for about 12 minutes. Quinoa is my most common choice, but I also like to mix it up and cook wheatberries, farro, or brown rice from time to time.
- Beans: I cook at least one bag of dried beans every weekend. Since I got my pressure cooker, it’s gotten SO much easier. You can put a dry (non-soaked) bag of beans in the pressure cooker and have a fully cooked pot of beans in 20 minutes. Can’t beat it. Even before I got my pressure cooker I made beans every week. I used the quick soak method on the back of the bag and it could be done in under 2 hours with very little work. I cook black beans most often because we like them best, but I also occasionally cook white or pinto beans.
- Lentils: The great thing about lentils is they don’t need to be soaked and they cook in about 15 minutes. So, most weekends I cook one bag of dried beans and one bag of dried lentils.
- Hard-boiled eggs: Another thing that’s gotten way easier since I got my pressure cooker! However, these can also easily be done on the stove. I usually cook about 18 eggs per weekend so we can snack on them during the week. Hubby also usually has a couple with lunch and/or dinner for extra protein.
- Breakfast for Hubby: Like I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m on a mission to get hubby to eat breakfast. These Quinoa Breakfast Bars are his absolute fave. I double the recipe and make a 9 x 13 pan each weekend. Then, I cut them into bars, put them in ziploc bags and store them in the fridge so he can grab one in the morning. He also likes these Cranberry Sweet Potato Cottage Cheese Muffins.
- Soup: I love making a batch of soup on Sundays because it requires very little effort. It’s basically just a matter of throwing ingredients in a pot and letting it simmer. I make a big pot and we eat it with our dinners and lunches throughout the week. Hubby’s favorite soup is this Curried Sweet Potato Soup. Other times, I just throw whatever vegetables I have (or a bag of frozen veggies) in a pot with some veggie broth and then add some of the cooked beans and quinoa and some spices.
- Trail Mix: Hubby and I love trail mix for a snack. I either pre-portion it in baggies so we can grab and go, or I make a big batch in a container and we scoop out some each day to take with us. I usually include almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit (raisins or craisins), cereal and a few chocolate chips. For the nuts and seeds, I get the plain, unsalted kind and for the craisins, I buy the 50% less added sugar.
- Chopped Veggies: Lately it’s just been carrots, but in the past I’ve done this with bell peppers, cucumbers, etc. I spend time peeling and chopping them and then store them in tupperware containers so they’re easy to grab for packed lunches, dinners, or snacks. Usually for the carrots I add some water to the bottom of the tupperware to keep them from drying out over the course of the week.
- Black Bean Burgers: Lately, I’ve been getting into a routine where I make a batch of black bean burgers every Sunday. We either eat them that night for dinner or on Monday night. Some of my favorites include Sweet Potato Quinoa Black Bean Burgers, Asian Black Bean Burgers, and Greek Black Bean Burgers. If you’re a meat eater, whip up a batch of hamburgers or turkey burgers.
Other things you could consider making:
- Meat: Throw some chicken or pork in the crockpot and shred to use in meals throughout the week. Or bake some chicken breasts in the oven. Prefer ground meat? Cook a package of ground turkey and throw it into casseroles, tacos, and sauces during the week.
- Hummus: Make your own from canned (no-salt-added) or dried chickpeas. Here’s a little how to make hummus video for you.
- Frozen yogurt bites: These are another one of my favorites to make on the weekend for an easy snack during the week. I love these frozen yogurt bites!
- Roasted Chickpeas: They’re perfect for snacking and are also a great addition to trail mix. Here’s how I roast mine.
- Casseroles: Make a big casserole on Sunday night. Eat some that night and have leftovers to eat throughout the week. Casseroles are similar to soups in that they require very little effort, but make a big batch of food.
- Marinades: Whip up a marinade and add some tofu, tempeh, or meat to a bag. Let it sit overnight and pull them out to make an easy dinner on Monday night.
- Burritos: Check out this post on how to eat healthy during the week to see how I make freezer burritos.
- Salad: Chop up a bunch of veggies and make a big salad. Having it ready to go makes it more likely you’ll eat it during the week.
Next step: Storage
If you have a freezer, use it! It makes life easier. Some of my favorite things to freeze:
- Beans and lentils: Simply cook them, let them cool completely, and then put in freezer-safe containers or ziploc bags. I usually use bags. Then, when I’m ready to use them I just smack the bag on the counter to loosen them up and dump them into whatever I’m cooking. If you use containers, just stick them in the microwave to defrost and then add to your desired dish!
- Soups and casseroles: Did you make a double batch of soup or a giant casserole? Put half in a freezer-safe container and stick it in the freezer. Then, in a couple weeks when you have a crazy weekend and don’t have time to prep food, you can pull the container out to thaw and have dinner ready to go for at least one night that week!
- Burgers: I’m finally getting into the habit of making more veggie burgers than we need. That way, I can leave 4 or 5 in the fridge for us to eat during the week and still have 4 or so to put in the freezer. You can freeze them cooked or uncooked. If you’re freezing them before cooking, freeze on a pan, then transfer to a container. If I freeze them after cooking, I let them cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and put them in containers or ziploc bags. When you’re ready to eat them, just cook from frozen if necessary (in the oven or on the stove), or defrost in the microwave and eat!
So… how exactly does this make things easier?
Check out this post to see what we ate for all our meals last week. It shows you how we used the food I prepped to make weekday meals quick and easy!
[clickToTweet tweet=”Want to eat healthy all week? Try food prep with these ideas from @leangrnbeanblog!” quote=”Want to eat healthy all week? Try food prep with these ideas from @leangrnbeanblog!”]
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
If you liked this post, you’ll love my ebook – The Ultimate Guide To Food Prep. It dives into even more detail about how to food prep, troubleshoots common problems and provides tons of tips to make it easier! Click the link below for more details!
Thanks for posting this Lindsay! It’s nice to see the process of food prep and some of your meal ideas. It’ll help me a lot with mines. =)
awesome! i’m so glad!
This is such a fantastic idea–thank you so much for posting these instructions! You’ve inspired me to cook up some pantry staples this weekend. My body thanks you in advance for the easy, healthy food!
yay! i’m so glad to hear that!
This is amazing. I really need to start taking advantage of the extra pair of hands (my husband’s) over the weekend so that I can start prepping meals. So many times during the week I have intentions of making a great, yummy dinner and then one of the boys is fussy or something and I can’t get to the stove to prep everything.
We LOVE making our own trail mix – and we do the same thing – unsalted!! The premade versions are always way too salted for us!
Thanks for sharing this!!!!
yes! pass the boys off to hubby and spend an hour having fun in the kitchen 🙂
what a comprehensive post! When I was a teacher I was a master food prepper on Sundays. Now I eat at home for almost every meal so I don’t really do it anymore, but I probably should get back into it. Love this!
thanks so much!
This is brilliant. I keep saying that I need to weekend-prep, but the weekend always gets away from me. I need to make more of an effort.
even an hour can make a big difference!
Wow! I am very impressed with your prepping skills.
I actually kind of hate Sunday prepping, but inspired by blogs like yours I began doing it.
I cannot express how much better my Monday-Fridays are when my food is largely taken care of!
I hope this post inspires others too!
yay! happy to hear that! me too 🙂
LOVE this guide!!
thanks girl!
Hi Lindsay,
What a great post, very helpful ideas! I was wondering, other than honey, what could you sub for the rice syrup in your b-fast bars? Would maple syrup work?
I think it would work, it just might change the flavor. I use agave nectar. If you like banana you could also use a mashed banana, my hubby doesn’t like them so i don’t use them for his bars
GREAT TIPS! I’m such a fan of batch cooking! I do beans in my crockpot because I dump them in and then forget about them for 3 hours. Makes life so much easier during the week!
ohhh i’ll have to try that way next!
It’s a bit harder for me to food prep on the weekends, but I do think that I take away the need to incorporate more meat into my diet. I’m not a vegatarian, however, most days I act like on. Not on purpose, I just honestly don’t eat much meat, unless it’s chicken or something. I normally am getting my protein in through greek yogurt and peanut butter, however I know that (Oh gosh, Biology class, don’t fail me now!) there are certain Amino Acids (Hope I got that right….) that can all be recieved from eating meat. I think cooking some sort of meat on the weekends and freezing is a great idea!
You have no idea how much this post helps me. This came at the perfect time and is exactly what I needed. Thank you!
yay!!! so glad i could help!
Such awesome tips! I follow a lot of them myself, but definitely need to get my pressure cooker back out. I haven’t used it in forever and forgot how handy it can be. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
oh my gosh girl, get it out!!!
Meal prep – such a pain but ALWAYS so worth it!
Awesome info! Thanks Lindsay! I will try adding some of these tips to my routine.
You must be the be best food prepper on the planet! It really does save SO much time and you’re right, being healthy is all about being prepared. I love cooking a big batch of quinoa, a batch of muffins plus one other big meal on the weekend to have throughout the week. I’m only feeding myself so I always have to remind myself of that. I was on a hard-boiled egg routine but then I got too lazy to crack them…bad excuse!!
the pressure cooker makes the eggs so easy-peel. i love it!
AWESOME post! Totally pinned this. And now you have inspired me to cook my own beans. 😉
yes!!!!!! enjoy 🙂
Impressive!
The past 2 Sundays I’ve spent time in the kitchen prepping food for the week. It’s made my weeknights so much easier. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but so worth it. Great tips and recipes!
i’ve been seeing your posts on fb! everything sounded so yum!! especially that homemade bread!
This is great! I’m such a big fan of weekend food prep, even though I work from home. I KNOW I stay more on track when I prep ahead versus when I just “wing it”.
me too! i can “wing it” with the meals, but only if i’ve already prepped the healthy stuff to have it on hand to “wing” with 🙂
I absolutley LOVE this post! Just makes so much sense to make everything in big batches when you are already in the kitchen making something! I look forawd to tomorrow to see how you put everything together. Thanks again!
Great tips! I’ve learned that taking a few hours on Sunday is a HUGE time saver during the week. Totally worth it in the long run!
Wow I prep my food every weekend but never this much, you’re amazing! hubs is a lucky dude 😉
haha i keep telling him that 🙂
What great ideas for easy prep for the week! I’ve noticed we prep alike such as frozen sweet potato quinoa burgers, casseroles, and soups frozen. Love the idea of hard boiling eggs for snacks. Great idea. I usually make twice the quinoa I need for a meal and plan to use it the next day or following for quinoa fried rice. Thanks for the tips!
yummm! quinoa fried rice sounds great!
Thank you so much for sharing. Such great ideas. I have to get my butt in gear.
you can do it!
This is pretty much what I do every week too. The freezer is my best friend. I make a ton of individual baked oatmeal to freeze for quick breakfasts, too!
ooooh great idea!
Thank you so much for this post! I can’t wait to food prep after my next grocery run! I have been looking forward to this post for a while. I will have to start making the breakfast bars too my husband just runs out the door and eat whatever crap they have at work. It’s not helping with the weight loss at all. Prep, Prep, Prep!!
yep! making those bars is the only way i can get my hubby to eat anything at all for breakfast!
I’ll be interested to read your post tomorrow to see all the combos you use to make meals for the week. I feel like I tend to make the sames things over & over again and it gets boring. I’m also SO exhausted by the time I get home from work and the gym, the last thing I wanna do is prep meals for the next day. So when I do, it’s minimal effort & boring. I have a feeling I’m really gonna benefit for this 🙂
i feel like we definitely have a lot of staples. i usually rely on those 3-4 days a week, try to spice it up with something new 1-2 times and then eat up the leftovers.
I always prepare meals on Sunday before the week starts. It makes life just so much easier during the work week. I have a big container of hard boiled eggs in my fringe too. My husband takes them to work with his lunch to add extra protein as well.
Very nice! I usually do this with vegetables so I can use them up for stir fries or salads for lunches. I never cook ahead dinner protein though because I like to have it fresh and hot out of the pan! I am a huge fan though of eating a variation of the same thing for lunch for a week because it makes prepping time so much shorter!
me too! no need to get fancy for lunch in my book 🙂
Could you expound more on your 20 minute pressure cooker method? I can NEVER get the damn beans even halfway soft in 20 minutes. Does 20 minutes include the cooker warming up to high? Do you keep it over high heat the whole time? Please share, I’d love to not have to fuss over my pressure cooker for an hours!
i put a bag of beans in with enough hot water to cover them by about 2 inches. Then i lock the pressure cooker and put it on high and turn the heat up to the max. Once it starts spitting out steam (usually 5-10 min), i turn the heat down to about half and let cook for about 18 min. After that i remove from the heat and let the pressure release naturally…although sometimes i get impatient and just let it out. i have to play around with the time sometimes…i prefer them undercooked to overcooked because they usually end up cooking a bit further in whatever dish i throw them into.
Great tips and great post! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this! It’s very motivating, and helpful. 🙂
I sometimes do food prep on Sundays, and it does make it SO MUCH EASIER during the week. I need to get back into doing this, and make it a habit like you have!
yep i keep telling myself to just keep doing it a few more weeks and then it will be a full-fledged habit!
What a great post! This is something that I really need to get into the habit of doing more, because it DOES make such a difference during the week with my crazy schedule!
Great post and tips!
Ummm…gold mine! This post has it all! I so need to start making snacks ahead of time, doing a big thing of beans, and such. I’ve even gotten out of the habit of pre chopping veggies. Need to fix that.
definitely give it a try! healthy snacks for the win 🙂
Weekend prep is the only way I can make sure I have lunches prepared for the week which is important because there is nothing available near my office that I can eat besides junk snack food (I’m a vegetarian). I usually do one big dish and then snacks like hard cooked eggs and salad as well.
nice!! it’s so helpful to be prepared for lunches. the prep makes packing my lunchs super easy during the week!
Great tips! It’s amazing how much smoother a week can go with just a little prep on Sunday. I usually roast some chickpeas too (great for lunch time salads!) and prep a ton of veggies…makes busy week nights a lot easier!
Can’t wait to see how you use everything!
love putting roasted chickpeas on my salads! the perfect crunch!
These are great tips! I try to do some weekend prep, but there is definitely room to do more. My latest thing is making more for dinner and freezing it for quick meals during the week – why didn’t I start that sooner?!?
i know, right? once you start prepping you wonder why the heck it took you so long!
my prep looks alot like yours…maybe not always that detailed though..I usually boil eggs, bake chicken, make sure I have tons of mixed nuts, and protein powder on hand, and make some sort of snacks, like my dark chocolate coconut bites!
oooh those bite sound yummy!
This is SO helpful! I think the time it takes to prep all this is worth it in the long run. Definitely trying my hand at cooking up beans and lentils. Thanks so much for this post.
you’re welcome! having them beans and lentils already cooked during the week makes it so easy to throw them into stuff!
Never thought of using a pressure cooker for beans!!! FABULOUS idea
oh you MUST try it! so much easier!
This is amazingly helpful! I love how organized it is.
hehe thanks 🙂
Love this post! Great tips for planning! Thanks Lindsay!
Thank you Lindsay!! I’ve been wanting to make the black bean burgers for quite a while now 🙂 Not that I couldn’t just go find the recipe elsewhere on the blog! We prep some things here each week – roast veggies, hb eggs, and ration out daily snacks/sides to go with the lunches. It definitely makes the morning routine quick and not much wiggle room for making bad decisions!
exactly!!! more good stuff on hand means more likely to make good choices!
Pinning & tweeting – such great info – THX!!!!!
thanks for sharing!
I am trying to get better a food prep too! thanks for this
You’re such a good wife 😉 My sister makes her husband meals and such all the time, it’s so cute how that all starts happening!!
Your food looks all so organized and delicious too, nicely done – no stress in your kitchen! 😉
I do a lot of weekend prep for the work week too. I am just not as organized as you are. I need to make your quinoa breakfast bars this weekend. I love quinoa!
oooh yes! do try them and let me know what you think!
I used to do food prep, and then I got lazy! It’s something that I really need to focus on again, not only does it make eating healthy easier but it also saves money!
yes! saves SO much money!!
Awesome tips! Thanks for sharing.
I thought I was the only one to plan my meals. I actually make schedule every Sunday. When my flatmate saw it for the first time she couldn’t stop laughing 😀 Cooking food over weekend is a great idea, I wish my freezer was big enough to accommodate all the lunch boxes. Have any of you guys tried freezing soup? It’s the best thing ever! Eating organic soup as one of your meals is great for maintaining a healthy weight and it’s so yummy! xx
I’m so inspired by your food prep posts! I am going to try it for the first time this weekend! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
yay!!! be sure to send me a pic sometime so i can feature you!
Awesome tips!! we are getting a new (working!!) freezer next week and I will be filling ‘er up over the next few weeks! These are awesome tips for weekend food prep!! Thanks!!
This post is so helpful! I’m getting my first kitchen in August and I’m trying to start good nutrition habits from Day 1.
Two questions:
1. Do you freeze or refrigerate your chopped vegetables?
2. How long do your frozen black bean burger patties keep?
Thanks!
awesome! good luck to you! I keep my chopped veggies in the fridge and use them throughout the week usually, but if things are on sale, i might cook and freeze a bunch of extra to have on hand! I did this with red peppers one year. I would say the burgers would be fine for up to 2 months or so in the freezer? Mine usually don’t last longer than that before I eat them 🙂
Thanks so much!
This is great! I got here from Tina’s blog and I really appreciate the ideas. I’ve been a big proponent of weekend food prep since I started having groceries delivered (dear fellow cheap college students: DO THIS!! In my area it’s only about 8 dollars for groceries to be delivered, I split it with two other girls so now it’s 2.50 a person. You can take advantage of weekly sales, buy things in bulk, and reduce impulse buys. You can pull up your recipes in one side of your screen and have your grocery orders on the other side! This has saved me so much time and energy.
I digress. I appreciate your tips on making things! I used to make full on meals, like burgers with buns, but after a while I’ve changed my ways. I’ve left a bottle of salad dressing or a box of crackers at my office and now just bring in the salad greens or soup in a container. Very convenient!
great tip on the grocery delivery!
I’m not one to comment on blogs but I have to say this is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Now I don’t have any excuses for not being prepared! Thank you so so much you’re a huge blessing!
I apologize if you’ve answered this somewhere, but how do you bake your fish for food prep? And what kind do you use?
I usually buy wild caught cod or salmon and i just sprinkle it with spices and bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until it’s cooked through!
This was just what I needed to read. I am the prime example of putting off meal prep, and it always catches up with me. I end up not having proper meals during the day and then eating horribly instead. thank you for breaking it down for me!
you’re welcome! good luck! every little bit helps!
I was just wondering if it is okay to cook a bunch of chicken on a Sunday and if will be okay to eat all week?
leftovers are usually fine in the fridge for 3-4 days so i wouldn’t cook more than you can eat by wednesday or thursday
This is a great resource! I always end up eating poorly throughout the week due to under preparation – looking forward to trying out some of these tricks!