My Meal Prep & Recipe Planning Favorites

My Meal Prep & Recipe Planning Favorites

Ideas on how to make feeding a family a little bit easier…

I’ve hinted at my meal prep situation lately, and even though I’m not crazy disciplined about it, I thought I’d give you an idea of what I do to start the week off ahead. I truly just don’t have the time to go all out, so I just do my very best… and you can, too! When it was just Ryan and I, we really did have it down (see here and here), but once Laurens joined us I just fell out of the habit.

Currently I’m back in a decent groove, but honestly it’s less about fully meal prepping and more about making sure we have good, healthy ingredients on hand and filling snacks at the ready.

Even during a busy week I don’t mind making dinner (favorite recipes here), especially if I’m not in the middle of a hanger crisis! So having healthy muffins or protein bites on hand really help. That way I can just eat a little something to calm down a bit, ha! And then power through the early evening to have dinner on the table for us.

Also I’ve learned to just double batch EVERYTHING. From meals to snacks, I’m fully doubling the recipe every time I make something. If I can make the mess once, I’d rather just go for it and then I’ll pop extras in the freezer. This truly makes such a giant difference.

So I thought I’d share a few recipes and ideas with you to make the week go smoother in case you need it, too! I like to keep these categories in mind before I start: snacks (love these recipes), protein, veggies, sauces, and smoothies. If I have these ready for my week to start, then I’m already ahead!

Meal Prep Ideas

Protein

This isn’t really a recipe but if I have grilled chicken on hand well then, the world is my oyster. I do this with burgers, too! On Sunday I’ll have Ryan grill a bunch of protein so I can divide it up and store in the freezer. It’s so easy to top a salad with grilled chicken or a burger when you are in a pinch!

Veggies

Laurens is a great eater, but I love to have veggies that are cooked at the ready because when he’s hungry, he’s HUNGRY and I’ll miss the time window to make veggies! He mostly eats what we eat, but it’s nice to have steamed broccoli, zucchini, squash, and sweet potatoes available. I’ll just throw a bunch in the oven with a little olive oil and bake on sheet pan, then store in the fridge to reheat quickly.

Sauces & Dressings

Having a homemade sauce on hand really helps elevate an easy meal! Depending on the week, I’ll double batch pesto sauce, caesar dressing, peanut sauce, etc… all are super easy and freeze well. It’s then really easy to pull out the pesto and grilled chicken, boil up some pasta, throw it all together, and you have an easy homemade dinner on a busy workday.

Muffins

I’ve told you this before, but we are muffin people. I love having a little healthy treat with my coffee in the afternoon! So I’ll happily double batch muffins and keep them in the freezer. These are my favorite recipes: Protein Blueberry Lemon Muffins, Banana Muffins, Carrot Apple Muffins, Lemon Olive Oil Muffins, and Fudgy Banana Muffins.

Protein Bites

Protein bites are so easy and fun to make. I typically just make up a random recipe, but these are a few favorites! They store so well in the freezer that I find myself reaching for one any time of day the hunger hits.

Chia Seed Pudding

You know it’s an absolute FAVORITE of mine. I have two recipes that I use… this one and this one that has a bit more protein. It’s is so great to have on hand in the fridge to eat throughout the week. And I love these little jars to store it in.

Smoothies

Last but certainly not least! We have a smoothie every morning and a few weeks ago we realized we could just prep all the smoothies for the week in reusable bags and be done with it. Honestly, it’s changed our mornings. EVERYTHING goes in the bag except the milk and ice. So when we need to make one, we just dump one bag’s ingredients plus milk and ice in the blender and go. Game changer!

We also love these for breakfast… having a bunch on hand really helps during the morning rush.

Hope this all helps! Let me know if you have any other ideas for meal prep, always up for adding to my rotation! xx

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