25 Healthy Meal Prep Ideas
The perfect healthy meal prep ideas to meal prep on Sunday in less than 30 minutes! From protein-packed to vegetarian-friendly, we have plenty of recipe inspiration to get you started! Avoid packaged food and frozen meals this week by preparing nutritious breakfast, lunches, and dinners ahead of time!
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
Mediterranean Lunch Box
- 2 cups wholewheat couscous - uncooked
- 1 medium cucumber - roughly chopped
- 2 bell peppers - 1 red, 1 yellow
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes - halved
- 1/2 cup fresh flat leave parsley
- 1 can chickpeas - 15 ounces
- 1 cup hummus
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lemon - juiced
- 1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
Instructions
- Prepare the couscous according to the package instructions, making sure to add a bit of salt to the water.
- While the couscous is cooking and resting, prepare the veggies: chop the cucumber, the peppers, the red onion, and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Finely chop the parsley.
- Prepare the dressing by mixing the olive oil, the juice of one lemon, dried oregano, salt, and pepper in a jar. Make sure to taste the seasoning and adjust to your liking.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas, add them to a bowl and mix with 1 tablespoon of dressing and the smoked paprika. If you prefer, you can also roast the chickpeas in the oven for 20 minutes at 350F.
- In another bowl, mix the bell peppers with the chopped red onion, 2 tablespoons of dressing, and the chopped parsley.
- Divide the couscous equally among the meal prep containers. Then add all the chopped veggies, olives, chickpea salad, and top everything with a good serving of hummus (if you are making the hummus on the go, you'll need an extra 5 minutes – you can follow ).
- Divide the remaining dressing between the bowls, and mix well before eating.
Notes
Vegan meal prep options
Make sure you add protein to all your meals: I love lentils and chickpeas. Tofu and tempeh are great alternatives to legumes from time to time. You can check more than 100 vegan meal prep ideas here.
Vegetarian meal prep ideas
A great tip for vegetarian (and vegan) meal prep is to use veggies that you don't have to cook. Tomatoes, salad, baby spinach, cucumbers are just some examples. And you can also cheat by buying pre-cut and washed veggies (although they are more expensive!).
Gluten-Free options
These days there are plenty of gluten-free options to choose from. Quinoa is one of my favorite gluten-free alternatives for a rich, filling meal. It's full of fiber and protein. My Mexican quinoa is one of my favorites.
Chicken and fish meal prep recipes
I rarely eat meat and fish, but when I do, I want to make sure they are of good quality and raised in a healthy environment. I usually grill or bake fish or white meat for my meal prep recipes. Season it with spices, salt, pepper, and a dash of olive oil before cooking it, and you'll have a healthy meal in no time.