Genius meal prep ideas to make your working week a breeze

There’s nothing worse than waking up and realising there is no time for breakfast or someone has helped themselves to last night’s leftovers you were hoping to pack in for lunch. So you grab a pack of chips and hope for the best. Preparing meals the weekend before helps you to avoid these issues – be it breakfast, snacks, lunch or supper. Homemade meals are usually much healthier than takeaway meals and so much cheaper.

It might seem like a hell of a job getting all the ingredients together and making a larger quantity than usual, but during the week it will be your lifesaver.

Here are a few tips and recipes to help you save your money, eat healthier and avoid inconveniences:

Breakfast

Typically breakfast would be easy if you took the unhealthy route, unfortunately all that extra sugar and additives will not do your body any good. Having a balanced breakfast every morning can now be an easy option.

Try this Creamy bircher muesli or the overnight oats for a nutrient packed breakfast, both are low G.I, and will help you to stay fuller for longer! The Creamy bircher muesli can be made ahead of time and chilled in the refrigerator, and for the overnight oats, measure out the the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients the night before, you can prep about 4-5 jars of the dry ingredients and keep them refrigerated.

Whiz up some of your favourite smoothies and freeze the mixture in a medium-sized muffin tin, use about 2-3 smoothie “cups” per serving and blend it up, if its too thick just add a little of your preferred liquid.

Try this Pear and honey smoothie or this delicious Banana, honey and apple smoothie.

Lunch

A healthy, hearty lunch to fill you up is always a good idea! Try one of these 4 recipes for your meal prep; salad in a jar or any salad you fancy, the easiest meal to prep, just remember to put your dressing at the bottom and layer the salad on top. A quick stir-fry or comforting stew never did anyone wrong, store in airtight containers with some rice and Bob’s your uncle! 

Lemon chicken rice bake, with all the essentials for a good meal  can be made ahead and stored in airtight containers as well. All these meals can be frozen and taken out the night before, placed in the fridge and thawed.

Snacks

We all know that good ol’ craving that hits you during the day, either for something sweet, savoury or crunchy. Before prepping your snacks, be sure to prep something you know would curb your usual cravings. Here are 4 options to choose from:

Low-carb quiche muffins
Peanut butter bliss balls
Oat and banana muffins
Veggie sticks and hummus dip

Add a handful of nuts and you are good to go!

Dinner

After a long day at work, supper sometimes feels like a tedious job. Preparing a few ingredients for supper, instead of the whole meal can be helpful.

Try making some Bolognese sauce in advance and freeze it, all you have to do is reheat it and make the spaghetti- so much better than fast food! Throw together a quick soup – try this quick butternut soup or the classic leek and potato, freeze and thaw when needed. Lasagne is always a winner, make your lasagne in a large aluminium container, freeze and bake when needed, this chicken lasagne is comforting and full of flavour!