My Weekly Meal Prep

I've been making an effort to create more balanced and healthy meals for lunch throughout the week. I am super fortunate in that my work supplies me with an abundance of free snacks, most of which are healthy. While this is a MAJOR perk, it's also easy to fall victim to what I call, the snack trap aka you grab a bag of chips, maybe a piece of fruit or a granola bar and that's it. While this is fine and not the most unhealthy option in the world, it's far from a balanced meal and I find that by the time I get off work I am STARVING and fall victim to yet another trap of mindless snacking before dinner.




Now everyone knows that meal prep is time-consuming and no one wants to spend the last precious moments of their weekend washing a buttload of dishes after you destroyed your kitchen making enough food to feed yourself for a week. This is why I try to plan out meals that contain similar ingredients but are seasoned and prepared differently. I also categorize these ingredients into where I might find them in the store to reduce my chance of backtracking or wandering aimlessly.

I usually take out a large sheet pan (covered in foil cuz I ain't washing it) and put everything that I need to bake on there in section by meal. For this week I had, my southwest seasoned chicken, seasoned chickpeas, teriyaki chicken, and diced sweet potatoes. While these are baking, I start a couple of pots on the stovetop. This week, I made a huge serving of coconut rice (rice cooked in coconut milk) because I knew I was going to be using this rice for two meals. I also had my black bean/corn medley and veggie curry summering away.

Getting a few fresh garnishes is also a nice touch. Here, I used sliced green onions and cilantro for my meals which makes it feel not so 'microwave-ready' plus your coworkers will think you're fancy. I usually end up making a little too much of each lunch and either have the leftovers for dinner or make one Frankenstein lunch at the end of the week which is always an adventure.

Do I do this every week? Hell no, but whatever I do, I try to actually eat a MEAL for lunch with real foods and a good balance of protein and veggies so I don't accidentally find myself face-deep in a bag of chips. Do you have any meal prep tips or go-to easy meals?