MEAL PREP …. it’s the problem that I hear from most people about why they can’t stick to following a healthy diet: ‘I don’t have time to cook! I’m too tired when I get home from work!’ Taking a bit of time at some point in your week to prepare meals or recipe ingredients for the week ahead can make all the difference in your health.

Here are a few ideas to make your prep easier. Choose the ideas that work for you based on how much time you have on prep day. Keep in mind that you don’t just have to do it all on a weekend afternoon. You can have some meat for future meals, cooking in the oven, while you’re eating your dinner. Or when you’re cutting up veggies for one meal, cut extras for another meal (even if they’re different veggies).

If you’re using a meal plan, take a look at the upcoming week to see what you can prepare ahead. Consider what will take the most time and try to do that on the weekend or a night when you have an hour or two: cook meat, chop veggies, put together the marinade, boil the eggs, make a batch of granola, fat bombs, muffins, or crackers. 

If taking a few consecutive hours on the weekend to cook, isn’t something you’re interested in or able to do, be creative about finding other pockets of time. Also, prep can be a 2 step process: measure out ingredients one day, put them together and cook them another day. YOU DON’T HAVE TO COMPLETE THE WHOLE MEAL.

Breakfast: You’ll find the *recipes in my Better Breakfast Recipe Book

*No Grain English Muffin recipe- put ingredients for single portions in small containers or bags. When you’re ready to eat, just empty the bag into a mug, add oil and an egg, stir and microwave for 90 seconds!

Make a triple batch of *Chia Pudding and store in the fridge so that you have breakfast for at least 3 mornings. It will keep in the fridge for 4 or 5 days.

Make up a jar of *No Oat Oatmeal dry mix so you can measure out 3-4 tbsp and add milk when you want it.

Meat/Protein

Hard-boiled eggs will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. Just don’t peel them until you’re going to eat them. Use for snacks, for deviled eggs, quick breakfasts or as a topping of salad.

Cook one or more types of meat while you’re doing other things in the kitchen or around your house. The preparation is fairly quick, it’s the cooking that takes time. Either choose meat recipes that are in your meal plans or just cook up a bunch of simply seasoned meat to create meals in a hurry.  Just add vegetables or salad and healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, etc.

Take a large pack of chicken, pork or beef and separate into a few meals. Add a different marinade to each portion. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes and then cook. Freeze whatever you’re not going to use in the next couple of days. It’s easiest to freeze in zippered bags that lie flat in the freezer, and the meat will thaw in the fridge or cold water fairly quickly.

Cook a pork roast and a beef roast and slice up meal-sized portions and either freeze or refrigerate in zippered bags. Fry up some ground meat with some taco seasoning or just salt and pepper (to be used for any number of recipes). Bake a bunch of chicken wings with a simple seasoning of lemon pepper or salt and pepper. Cook some salmon fillets and portion for a few meals. Again, freeze what you aren’t going to use in the next few days.

Vegetables

Wash and cut some vegetables to eat raw or lightly cook. Cut raw veggies keep well in veggie bags (the ones with little holes in them) or the plastic storage containers meant for this (they usually have a trivet in the bottom to allow water to drain).

Salad: Thinly slice veggies and shred lettuce- place in an ice water bath to keep crispy until you need it (it will keep in the ice water in the fridge for a day or 2).

Soup

It’s fairly quick to toss a bunch of ingredients into a slow cooker and let it go all day.  Use some good quality boxed chicken or beef broth, add your favourite veggies and some meat.  Season with salt and pepper, onion or garlic powder. Add some heavy cream and butter or coconut milk at the end of cooking for additional flavour and fat.  You could even add some shirataki pasta or rice.

Freeze what you’re not going to use in the next 3 days, in individual serving sizes (ziplock bags work well AFTER the soup has cooled).

Snacks

Make a double batch of fat bombs if you have time and freeze some.

Assemble some small containers of mixed nuts and seeds and add a bit of dark chocolate if you like.

Portion out small containers of olives or cheese slices, ready to grab as a snack when you need it.

Other Tips

Once every couple of weeks, make up a batch of granola and muffins and freeze what you’re not going to eat in the next few days.

Connect with a friend or neighbour who might want to share some of those items and either get together to cook/bake or split what you make on your own.

I’m a big fan of freezing (in case you hadn’t noticed). Whenever I cook bacon, I always cook extra and freeze it. That way I can take out a piece or 2 to use on salad or soup or other recipes.  I also keep a knob of fresh ginger and a whole lemon in my freezer at all times. It’s so easy to grate frozen ginger or lemon (peel and all) to add flavour to stir-fries, soup, marinades or meat. (I use a rasp/zester like the one pictured below. It’s my favourite kitchen tool.)

Once in awhile, make up some casseroles or keto lasagna that take more time but definitely worth the effort! These typically freeze well. You can just assemble and freeze so they’re ready to thaw and cook, OR fully prepare/cook and divide into smaller portions for freezing. Then you can just take out of the freezer what you want when you need it and quickly reheat it.

Order low carb ingredients/products online. If you don’t need the items immediately, you will often save money and eliminate the time spent in a store, so you can do more important things! I am an affiliate for Well.ca because I like their selection, prices, and free shipping if I buy $35 or more. If you purchase anything from Well.ca using any link in my website or blog, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you 🙂

I hope these tips will make meal preparation easier for you. Comment below and tell me what tip you find most helpful, or share your favourite meal prep tip!