Food Prep is a key tool for helping you and your family eat healthier during the week. Here are 10 foods that are great for prepping ahead of time.
This post was originally published in Feb 2014.
Republishing now with updated linksto help you kick off the new year on the right foot!
Hi Friends!
You guys know I’m crazy about Sunday Food Prep, right? I’ve written several posts about how to prep food in the past, and every Sunday I post my prep from the week before, along with inspiration from some of my readers! It seems like more and more people are hopping on board the food prep train and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it!
I thought it would be helpful to round up some of my favorite foods to prep all in one place! So here are my Top 10 Foods For Sunday Food Prep. These are things you’ll notice over and over again if you look at my food prep pictures:
Top 10 Foods For Sunday Food Prep
1) Snacking veggies– Raw veggies make a great snack. They’re easy to prep ahead of time and you can throw them in your lunch box, the kids from munch on them after school or you can enjoy some while making dinner!
- Try carrots, broccolis, peppers, snap peas and cucumbers. They’re great with hummus, yogurt ranch dip, etc
- I peel and cut my carrots and store them in a Tupperware with some water. Every day I run cold water over the remaining carrots and change the water.
2) Breakfast Foods– There are tons of great breakfast options that you can make ahead of time so you don’t have to spend time cooking in the morning. This also gives you no excuse to skip breakfast!
- Make a batch of Quinoa Breakfast Bars or GF Pumpkin Yogurt Bars and pre-portion them into Ziploc bags so you can just grab one on the way to work.
- These Sweet Potato Protein Cookies are made without protein powder and make breakfast on the run.
- Pancakes and waffles can be made ahead of time and easily reheated. Try these Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes or Whole Wheat Yogurt Waffles.
- If you like eggs, try making some Egg Wraps, or Egg Waffles that are easy to customize or make a casserole that you can slice and reheat like this Paleo Breakfast Casserole.
- If you like baked goods, make a batch of these Peanut Butter Banana Oat Muffins or Healthy Blueberry Muffins.
- For other breakfast ideas, check out these posts: 5 Quick, Healthy Breakfast Ideas & 10 More Quick, Healthy Breakfast Ideas.
3) Whole Grains – It’s easy to cook up a big batch of your favorite grain to have on hand. Cook it on Sunday and add to meals during the week.
- Try brown rice, quinoa, farro, amaranth, wheatberries, etc
- Also, don’t be afraid to make your own bread and tortillas. It’s easy to do and you know exactly what’s going into them. Try these Homemade Whole Wheat Tortillas or some Dutch Oven Bread!
- If you’re looking for more homemade bread recipes, I highly recommend the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes Per Day cookbooks (aff link).
4) Snacks – It’s important to have healthy snacks on hand that you can turn to during the week. There are tons of snacks that can be made ahead of time to help keep you from reaching for unhealthy choices.
- Some of my son’s favorites include Sweet Potato Bites, Lemon Energy Balls and Peanut Butter Chia Pudding.
- Some of my favorites include: Sweet Potato Protein Cookies, Wild Blueberry Energy Bars, No Bake Protein Bars and Roasted Chickpeas.
- For more ideas check out 25 Healthy After Work Snacks and 10 Healthy Toddler Snacks.
5) Greens for Salad– I’ve found that having salad greens washed and ready to go exponentially increases the chances that we’ll eat a salad every night with dinner. You can use leaf lettuce, spinach, kale etc.
- To prepare my greens, I cut them, wash them well, spin them dry and store in a Ziploc bag with a paper towel. Make sure to press out as much air as possible each time you open the bag.
- If you’re prepping kale, wash and dry it, then rub it with some lemon juice and olive oil and store in an airtight container, then you can quickly make this Kale Panzanella Salad to enjoy for several days.
6) Baked/Roasted Veggies – If you’re using the oven anyway during your food prep time, you might as well wrap a few potatoes in foil and throw them in the oven! If you’re not a fan of potatoes, chop up some of your favorite veggies and roast up a big pan.
- You can use the potatoes for side dishes or a quick dinner like these Mexican Loaded Sweet Potatoes.
- Try roasting your veggies with a little bacon for extra flavor! Add them to main dishes, salads, etc during the week!
- Or try these Maple Bacon Roasted Carrots or Roasted Green Beans with Ginger and Cranberries.
7) Lean Proteins – If you’re a meat-eater, why not cook some of your meat head of time for less weeknight cooking.
- Choose your favorites like chicken, salmon, meatloaf, burgers (meat or veggie) and try baking, roasted or grilling them.
- Try making a batch of burgers/cakes like these Avocado Chicken Burgers or some Thai Chicken Meatballs or Paleo Turkey Sweet Potato Meatballs.
- Put your crockpot to good use and make some shredded chicken or try a Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken or Beer Braised Pulled Pork.
- Use these cooked proteins during the week in sandwich wraps, on salads, in casseroles, etc! Try this Salsa Verde Chicken Casserole or Salsa Verde Pork Enchilada Casserole. You could also make those casseroles ahead of time and reheat during the week.
- Grill some steak and use the leftovers to make a Steak Cobb Salad.
8) Beans & Legumes – Even if you’re not a completely plant-based eater, it’s still a great idea to add some plant-based proteins to your diet. I buy dried beans, cook a whole bag at a time and freeze the extras. (Learn How To Cook & Freeze Beans here). You can do the same thing with lentils! Then just pull them out when you need them and add them to whatever you’re cooking.
- You can add beans and legumes to casseroles and salads or use them to replace meat in your favorite dishes like this Lentil Veggie Mac and Cheese.
- Try these Asian Black Bean Burgers for an easy weeknight dinner that you can make ahead of time or learn how to add beans to breakfast.
9) Soup – Soup is a great way to pack tons of nutrients into one easy meal.
- Choose low-sodium broth, or better yet- make your own. You can always make extra and freeze. Just defrost when needed!
- Add tons of veggies! Frozen veggies work great in soup and are packed with nutrients.
- Add some protein- choose your favorite meat or opt for some high-fiber beans or lentils
- Add some whole grains if you’d like!
- This White Chicken Chili and Instant Pot Beef Stew are some of our favs!
10) Hard Boiled Eggs – These are great for almost any meal. Cook them on the stove or use this tip to cook them in the oven. I like to cook mine in my pressure cooker!
- Eat them for breakfast with some peanut butter toast.
- Grab a couple for an afternoon snack.
- Slice them up and add to salads for lunch or dinner!
Of course, there are tons of other foods that can be prepped ahead of time for a healthy week…these are just some of my staples that I turn to week after week!
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 image below for more details.
Looking for more food prep posts? Check out these as well:
How To Food Prep- 5 Tips For Beginners
12 Ways To Use Leftovers
How to Prep Food on the Weekend
Weekend Prep for Easy Weekday Meals
How to Eat Healthy in College
How to Eat Healthy During the Week
Let’s chat: What are your favorite foods to prep?
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
Excellent list and resource!
Can’t I just DOUBLE your prep and swing by real quick to pick up my portion? I promise to give Mr. Bean a high five or manly chest bump.
Don’t be alarmed if you get a sudden influx of readers from Australia- there was a discussion at lunch today about Food Prep and how many of my colleagues were stumped, and I gave them all your url lol and now they will probably think this was post written just for them haha-
I mean. It was. I usually prep 2 proteins and 2 carb sources over the weekend and some snacks!
Sunday I roast sweet potatoes, boil eggs, cut up raw veggies, big pot of quinoa and lately “cheesy” sauce. I’ll also do baked oatmeal for my kids and some snarky things – muffins, granola bars or energy balls.
Every week I say “I will do food prep this week!” and then I don’t…but mark my words….I will boil eggs Sunday to snack on throughout the week.
I’ve been looking for some snack bars actually. Do you have any other recipes? I’ve made the one you have linked too. Actually, I’ll just go look at your recipe page. Great ideas Lindsay and thank you!
I need to get me back on the BEANWAGON.
(and by ME I mean the family :-))
Awesome post!! I love finding more ways to prep things 🙂
Great ideas, especially the breakfast options. I always need a fast breakfast (or like this morning, will be taking it and eating at work), so simple ideas are needed. I otherwise tend to stick with the cereal and toast formula.
Great ideas Lindsay! I use a lot of these, but you have given me some more to use! I didnt think about cooking the grains, without actually adding them to things. That part doesnt take long, rather than making the whole meal.
I try to chop all the veggies and get all the ingredients into a salad that are not going to go soggy, and then add the wet stuff in another tub, and combine them on the day I need it! Works well! Preparing food saves so much time, and money too!
You are just full of good ideas!
Great list! I always roast squash for the week, but I need to get better at making some sort of grain and bars/muffins for the week.
Holy grail of food prep info! Great post Lindsay 🙂
Awesome post!! I do great with meal planning, but am not so good at doing some prep in advance… love these ideas!
Fantastic list–one to tuck away for the weekend! Come spring, when our evenings are spent driving to and from kids sports, this will be very handy for me.
Definitely proteins–I can get very lazy about cooking proteins in the moment–I will revert to easier fixes, like scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, TVP and tuna (which are all great). But now it is to the point of feeling like SUCH a treat when I have grilled chicken! How sad is that?!
Love having squashes, etc, prepped, but I tend to zip through them so quickly when they are.
My favorite things to have prepped are proteiny, healthy, low sugar snacky baked goods. Like my zucchini pumpkin goji muffins, which are my absolute favorites. They go with everything (sweet or savory), and I could NEVER feel bad about having one.
These are awesome tips! It is so true that having healthy food prepped and readily available is the KEY to staying on track. 🙂 Washing/cutting all those yummy fresh foods right away will really help!
Awesome ideas! I love food prepping- makes the work week less crazy! I love to prep anything baked. Chicken, roasting sweet potatoes, or cookies 🙂
Great ideas! I wouldn’t make it through the week without food prep. This week I made chicken, sea bass, salmon, eggplant, cauliflower BBQ bites, sweet potatoes, protein Thin Mints… and some other stuff. 😉
LOVE this post! I really need to get better about food prepping. I know it would save me so much time!!
you can do it! totally worth it!
I’m usually so bad about doing this, but Sunday I baked and shredded some chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, and premade some breakfast sandwiches. It definitely saves time during the week!
I started doing food prep this year and it’s such a time saver! Each weekend I make a quiche or a batch of scones to have to breakfast all week. It’s great to just get up and go in the morning without worrying about my eats. I usually make a batch of trail mix and hard boiled eggs too. 🙂
Love this post Lindsay!
I was really good about planning and prepping meal ingredients and snacks this week and it’s really motivated me to do it on a regular basis. It’s amazing how just a little prep work on one day gives you more free time on multiple days. What’s not to love about that?! 🙂
Can’t wait to use your suggestions for inspiration in the week ahead!
So many great ideas–I do find myself stuck sometimes, it’s nice to have inspiration.
I absolutely love these tips Lindsay! I’ve been wanting to try and get better at food prep on the weekends, so this is going to be a huge help to me!
Such great tips! Definitely some of my favorite foods to prep, too! And thank you for linking up to the oat packets! XOXO
Such a great (and very useful) post, Lindsay! Eggs, chopped veggies, washed greens, and cooked lean proteins are some of my must-do’s at the beginning of the week. Having them ready cuts so much time off of getting meals cooked later on!
Great ideas! I also like preping whole grain muffins. It is another way of getting your whole grains portions on the go!
great idea!
Great ideas! I love Sunday food prep!
These are all awesome ideas! My mom and I usually prep soft-boiled eggs, fresh cut veggies, baked salmon or grilled chicken, quinoa/farro/brown rice, breakfast muffins/oatmeal bakes, sandwiches, and sometimes pasta. Prepping truly does make healthy food choices a heck of a lot easier throughout the week!
Almost every weekend I hardboil eggs in the oven and put chicken breasts in the crockpot for shredded chicken. It really helps to have that available (ex: I was out of town this weekend and it has been really annoying to not have those things for lunches this week).
i know what you mean! frustrating when you get used to having them and then don’t!
Great post, Lindsay. It’s always good to prep food ahead of time. Great ideas!
This is so helpful, Lindsay! Months ago, I went through and created my own list of what looked like your favorite meal prep dishes, but this is much easier and more comprehensive. Thank you for putting the time and effort into creating this post!
woohoo! glad to help!
Thanks for these tips and ideas! I feel like it’s a great starting point for someone who wants to start planing – like me! Thank you!
Love this post! So many great tips and tricks – definitely learned a thing or ten!
And speaking of food prep, I was on the lookout for snack ideas so I searched your recipes. And I made your no bake chocolate PB oatmeal balls…SO good. Both Vishnu and I can’t stop eating them!
yay! so glad you liked them!
Amen, Sista! Food prep saves my life and allows me to have a stress free week. Love the post- you rock!
she does it again! your advice never fails 🙂
haha thanks girl!
Food prep is the best! I love how you took the time to list all these suggestions. I know so many people need help when it comes to this and probably really appreciate this 🙂 Just stoppin by one of my favorites! Have a great week!
xoxo Sarah Grace, Fresh Fit N Healthy.
i like to roast a lot of veggies, and generally make a soup for lunches and egg frittata for breakfasts every week.
Thanks for the shout out … fist pounds to you my meal prepping soul sister 😉
haha fist bump right back at ya!
Seriously, you are the Master Food Prepper!
What an awesome awesome list! Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve been getting better with my weekly food prep and this helps with more ideas.
I think proteins and veggies would be best thing for me to prep! They take the longest.
Great list! You have so many good recipes to choose from too! HB eggs are definitely my favorite food prep–perfect little package of protein 🙂
Awesome list! I’ll have to bookmark this post because I always need more ideas for meals!
yay! glad it helps!
I usually get fruits and veggies all ready for school lunches.
Great list! Sometimes I try to do too much and get overwhelmed meal prepping so it’s nice to be reminded to keep it simple!
I always make sure to have a bunch of protein cooked up! I find I can make a quick meal as long as the meat is cooked.
This is so great…I’m hoping that it spurs me into a bit of planning tomorrow! Thanks for sharing all your great ideas.
woohoo! you’re quite welcome 🙂
It is funny to read your posts on Sunday Food Prep because I have been doing for about 3 years now. I believe I got the idea from a Family magazine geared to mothers who work. I am single but I work full time and commute 2 hours a day in addition to work plus trying to fit in exercise so that leaves little time to cook good meals. So, I cook for the week. This Sunday I made homemade wheat bread, roasted beets, marinaded a chicken to bake Monday, baked a egg casserole for breakfast, boiled some eggs and cooked dinner for that night…Szechuan Green Beans and ground pork which I have leftovers for the week. I make salad dressing too which helps with salads during the week. If I bake something quick during the week I do try to do it while I am exercising. Buen Provecho!
I saw your blog and have been trying our meal prep for a week as well. Would love to get your opinion on how I did healthylivying.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/meal-prep-first-timer/ 🙂
What’s the best way to reheat the roasted veggies? Thanks,
I typically use the microwave…they won’t be crispy anymore after the first day but still taste good.
Wow this is awesome! Love all your ideas, I’m looking to get started with food prep, but I’m wondering how long do you usually keep your grains for? I’m wanting to make them for the week and I see tonnes of photos with people spreading out their lunch boxes etc, but I was wondering can I actually make it for this long in advance?
i usually don’t make more than we can eat in about 4 days!
Great, thanks for your reply Lindsay!
This is the single greatest meal prep list I’ve seen in a long time! Your writing is so clear and concise. This is going to help me and family a lot, especially since we are struggling with quick breakfast options at the moment. Greatly appreciated! Glad I found your site.
Question — on changing the carrot water when storing in the refrigerator — why do you do that?
I just do it to keep things fresh! It gets kinda orange after a couple days so it’s nice to freshen up the carrots with a quick rinse and some fresh water every couple days!
I totally agree with the idea for chopping up and washing greens for salads… I quite often back off from adding it as a side as aww, I should still wash it and chop it (and add olive oil, vinegar, salt…) Thank you for all the ideas!
Hi there Lindsay,
It’s so refreshing to see someone so genuinely passionate about sharing their love of food prep. I have created a blog http://www.foodprepsundays.com dedicated to this mission 🙂 However, I am yet to post tips on snacking prep etc. This is an absolutely brilliant article. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I look forward to receiving more inspo from your mail list.
Anna
i need to get a salad spinner – i never prep greens because i don’t want it to get soggy (or moldy??) but i think this would definitely help!
Great post, Lindsay. It’s always good to prep food ahead of time. Great ideas!
So many great tips and ideas!
What a fantastic resource! Meal prep is my #1 tip to anyone trying to lose weight or just eat healthier. I especially love your snack ideas, which are always the toughest for me to think up new recipes for.