A busy working life can lead to all sorts of compromises, but food shouldn’t be one of them. With these tips and recipes from meal-prep experts, you’ll have everything you need to meal prep like a pro.
Meal prepping doesn’t mean trudging through the same defrosted mega-batch of Bolognese all week. With the right recipes and planning, you can tuck in to an array of tasty and nutritious meals without the fuss.
Proper meal prepping not only saves you time during the week, but it also helps you make healthier meal choices, saves you money on café lunches or evening takeaways and reduces the mental load of deciding what to cook every day.
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What meal prep technique is right for you?
According to Baniece Bains, owner of recipe subscription service Meal Prep Mama, “Studies show meal prepping reduces impulse food choices and increases fruit and veg intake. When you’re busy, you’re far less likely to reach for convenience food if a nourishing option is ready.”
For Alison Cork, presenter and author of Fit & Fabulous Over 50, meal prepping is all about accountability: “If you meal prep, you must first plan your meals, so you know exactly what you’re eating in terms of macros and calories. This allows you to stay on track.”
She adds: “Another benefit of meal prep is that you’ll probably spend less on food and reduce food waste, as you’ll buy only what you need and no more.”
Baniece recommends a ‘cook once, eat twice’ meal prep — doubling up recipes, allowing you to have one portion for dinner with another ready and waiting for lunch the next day.
In fact, there are several styles of meal prepping, making it easy to find the perfect one to suit you. The ‘cook once, eat twice’ style is great for those who still enjoy cooking a few evenings a week but want to ensure they make healthier and cheaper lunch choices the next day.
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For those who like to sit back and relax during the week in the comfort of a well-stocked freezer, make big batches of a recipe whenever you have the time and freeze them in individual or family portions rather than in one huge container. Pre-portioning food like this allows you instant access to meals without the drudgery of eating the same thing every day for a week.
For anyone who likes more choice and flexibility in what they eat day to day rather than a pre-determined set of recipes, prepare the core building blocks of meals and then mix and match them on the day. Baniece suggests you “pick one protein, one carb and one veg base each week. Mix and match with sauces and spices to create variety without endless recipes.”
But whichever meal-prep style works for you, here are some expertly created recipes to see you through the process.
Easy meal prep recipes
Turkey keema and peas (serves four)
Ingredients
- 4 portions of uncooked basmati rice
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger, minced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1-2 fresh chillies, chopped
- 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp chilli powder, to taste
- 500g turkey mince
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 tsp garam masala
- Handful of fresh coriander
Method
- Cook four portions of rice according to packet instructions.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the cumin seeds until they begin to sizzle. Add the onion and fry until golden.
- Add the ginger, garlic and fresh chilli and fry for one minute before stirring in the tomatoes, turmeric, cumin powder, curry powder, chilli powder and season to taste. Cook this mix until it forms a fragrant paste.
- Add the turkey mince, break apart and cook until browned.
- Stir in peas and a splash of water if it’s looking too dry. Simmer for 10 mins.
- Add the garam masala and fresh coriander and serve with basmati rice,
This recipe will keep in the fridge for up to four days.
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Tadka Dhal (serves four)
Ingredients
- 150g red lentils (masoor dhal) or yellow split lentils (toor/moong dhal)
- ½ tsp turmeric
For the tadka
- 2 tbsp oil or ghee
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2-3 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1-2 green chillies (finely chopped)
- A large handful of spinach (optional)
- A handful fresh coriander (roughly chopped)
Method
- Wash the lentils thoroughly then add to a pressure cooker or large pot on a high heat with 700ml boiling water and the turmeric. The pressure cooker will take roughly four mins while the hob will take about 20 mins. Once they’re cooked through, mash lightly with a fork.
- To make the tadka, heat the oil or ghee in a saucepan and add the cumin seeds, garlic and onion, and fry until golden and soft.
- Add the tomato and chillies and cook until everything has softened. Add the spinach if using.
- Mix the lentils and the tadka together until fully mixed and then add the coriander and serve on its own or with rice or chapati.
This recipe will keep for five days in the fridge.
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Orange and coconut energy balls (makes 30 small balls)
Ingredients
- 13 dates (with stones)
- 1 medium orange
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 40g rolled oats
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 20g desiccated coconut
- 100g 90% cocoa chocolate (preferably Lindt as it melts well)
Method
- De-stone the dates, grate the zest of the orange and juice the orange.
- Put the dates and the juice into a blender along with the cocoa powder, oats, chia seeds and desiccated coconut. Blend until well mixed into a thick paste.
- Divide the mixture into 30 balls, rolling them in your hand to round them.
- Melt the chocolate and place a sheet of greaseproof paper over a chopping board.
- Dip the balls into the melted chocolate using a spoon and leave to harden on the greaseproof paper. Sprinkle with grated orange zest or desiccated coconut. Store in the fridge.
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Venison chilli (serves two)
Ingredients
- 100g red onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 100g tomatoes, chopped
- 150g venison mince (or 5% fat beef mince)
- 200g Italian passata
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 120g tinned black beans, drained
- Coriander, to garnish
Method
- Put the onion, garlic and tomatoes into a large pan on a medium heat and cook until the onion and garlic are soft and the tomatoes start to break down.
- Add the mince of your choice and brown it off.
- Add the passata, paprika and vinegar, season to taste and allow to simmer for 10 mins or so.
- Add the black beans, mix well and simmer for another 10 mins. Garnish with the coriander.
- Serve with a portion of your favourite vegetable (we like roast sweet potato).
This recipe will keep in the fridge for up to four days.
Top tips for meal prep
Cook like a pro
Batch cooking or filling the freezer with several recipes at once can be stressful. To minimise stress, and time spent in the kitchen, Alison recommends you “lay out all the ingredients and prep them (chopping etc) before starting the recipe. It’s way more efficient and less stressful.”
Go glass
Forget the tower of plastic takeaway boxes that litter the kitchen cupboards, glass storage boxes are your meal-prepping friends.
They’re microwave and dishwasher safe and don’t retain the smell or colour of previous meals (we’ve all seen what a curry or fajita mix can do to a plastic box).
They also reduce your exposure to microplastics as storing and reheating food in plastic allows its harmful chemicals to leach into your food.
L360 recommends these airtight, leak-proof glass storage containers from John Lewis, starting from £4.50.
Invest in a range of storage containers
Be sure to have a range of sizes that allow you to freeze meals in either single or family portions. A variety of shapes to accommodate different types of food will also save you some unsightly squishing foods to fit the space. For example, longer, shallower tubs are great for fish filets, while shorter but deeper containers fit lasagne nicely.
Think ahead
It’s worth dedicating some time each week to picking out recipes for the week ahead and writing a thorough shopping list for them.
Alison says: “Diarise a specific time in your weekly calendar to shop and prep. That way, it becomes a non-negotiable part of your life and more likely to become a habit.”
Planning like this prevents those pesky little runs to the supermarket for forgotten ingredients and means you don’t have to think about what’s in the fridge.
Choose your recipes carefully
Certain recipes aren’t suited to meal prep.
You have to remember that leftovers eaten either at work or quickly in the evening will most likely be microwaved or eaten straight from the fridge, so avoid foods that benefit from fresh preparation such as crispy, deep-fried foods, souffles or anything that quickly turns soggy or hard.
Not all food is freezer food
As nice as it would be to put all your favourite meals in the freezer for future convenience, some foods do not freeze well. Most notably, these are ingredients with a high water content such as lettuce, cucumber or fruit, as they become mushy when defrosted.
Likewise, while raw egg white can be frozen, whole eggs — both cooked and raw — do not defrost well. Dairy produce like cream or soft cheese also tends to split when thawed.
Buy food stickers
Label your freezer food with the name of the meal and the date you made it to keep on top of what’s there and when it should be eaten.
This avoids yet another bag of mysterious, years-old stew at the back of the freezer. As Alison says, “After a week or so, you’re quite likely to forget what’s actually in the container.”
Feature image: Freepik
