Meal prepping is the hottest food trend lately, and frankly, I couldn’t be happier! I’ve been meal prepping for years simply because it’s a great way to save time, money, and reduce waste in the kitchen, so I’m happy to see so many people getting wise to this method. But there are still so many people who haven’t had the meal prep “Aha!” moment, so I wanted to do a quick Meal Prep 101 to help people grasp the concept or get over the intimidation to give it a try.
How to Meal Prep
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What is Meal Prepping?
Meal prepping is simply the act of preparing a meal or recipe, then portioning it out to create grab-and-go meals for later. If you’ve ever packed up your leftovers from dinner to take with you for lunch the next day, then you’ve already mini-meal prepped! Generally though, meal prepping refers to preparing 3-7 days worth of food at a time.
Think of it like packing your lunches for the week all at once instead of packing your lunch each morning. You can use this same technique for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Why Meal Prep?
Meal prepping is convenient, efficient, reduces waste, and reduces temptation to eat outside your plan (whether the plan be a diet or a budget). When cooking every single day is out of the question, meal prepping can allow you to still eat home-cooked meals without having to dedicate time each day to preparation.
Who is Meal Prepping For?
Meal prepping is not for everyone. It is good for people who value convenience and efficiency more than variety. With meal prepping you generally eat the same thing for a few days in a row, so if you don’t like leftovers or get bored with food easily, meal prepping is not for you. If having control over what you eat, or maximizing your time or budget is more valuable to you than eating something different every single day, meal prepping is your ticket.
I’ve generally only seen people meal prep for themselves or maybe one other person, as opposed to a whole family. Meal prepping for a whole family would be quite difficult because there are more people to please and would require a million containers.
What Can I Meal Prep?
This is the golden question. As with any leftovers, the palatability of prepped meals varies from person to person.
Foods that work well for meal prepping:
- cooked grains & pasta
- cooked beans
- cooked meat
- roasted vegetables
- hearty fresh vegetables (think celery, carrots, peas, bell peppers, kale, cabbage, radishes, etc.)
- whole fruit (apples, oranges, stone fruit)
- nuts & seeds
- cheese
- sauces and dips (like salad dressings, hummus, salsa, sour cream, etc.)
Foods that don’t usually meal prep well:
- softer fruits and vegetables (lettuce, berries, and cut fruit)
- crunchy items like fried food, crackers, or chips
That being said, there are sometimes ways around this, like packing ingredients individually. I tend to stay away from items that require special care just for convenience sake, but it is possible to prep these things if you don’t mind putting in the extra work.
How Long Do My Meal Preps Stay “Good”?
I get this question on almost every meal prep post I make and unfortunately there is no one hard rule here. As food is stored in the refrigerator it begins a slow decline in quality. In addition to this, the way food is packed or the individual nuances of your refrigerator environment can impact the quality of your refrigerated meals. So often the lifespan or acceptable changes in texture and flavor will be subject to the eater.
Always begin with the refrigeration guidelines set by the FDA, and then evaluate them against your own preferences. In general, I don’t like to prep more than four days worth at a time because I find that by that fifth day the food is usually too limp and lifeless to enjoy. By prepping four days in a row I can prep two times per week and be covered or prep once per week and reach into my stash of freezer leftovers for the remaining days (plus the option for eating out one day).
How To Start Meal Prepping
Start SMALL. I can’t emphasize this enough. Start by packing up your leftovers from dinner one night and taking them for lunch the next day. Once you’re comfortable with that and you get to know what types of food you like as leftovers (pay attention to texture changes that might bother you), you can pick one recipe to prep for the week ahead.
I suggest starting with a single recipe meal prep instead of a meal that requires two or three recipes together. Single recipe meal preps provide your protein, grain, and vegetables all in one recipe, so there is no need to make a side dish.
Once you get a hang of one recipe or meal, you can try two (like lunches and dinners) or try prepping your breakfast ahead. The most important thing is that you prep for the level that works for you. If you try to prep three meals for five days all at once and find that after day three you just won’t eat the same thing anymore, don’t risk wasting the food. Prep only three days. Personally, I like to do just lunches, or sometimes breakfast and lunch, leaving my dinner to be my variety for the day.
My Meal Prep Formulas:
An easy way to think about meal prepping is to make a formula out of it. When deciding which foods to meal prep I try to pick out one of the following formulas:
- Basic: Protein + Grain + Vegetable
- Low Carb: Protein + Vegetable + Vegetable
- Vegetarian: Legume + Grain + Vegetable
You can add toppings to any of the formulas above to make it more interesting, like sauces, nuts, seeds, croutons, etc. Or just keep it simple and make life easy!
What Do I Need?
Containers. Containers of different shapes and sizes. And don’t worry, you can start small here too.
I started by buying one pack of the blue-top reusable plastic Ziploc containers per week. They’re BPA free and can go in the freezer, dishwasher, and microwave, which makes them super convenient, plus they’re very inexpensive and come in several shapes and sizes.
Once my budget allowed, I graduated to glass containers. My favorite glass containers so far are the plain, single compartment Pyrex containers (I like the 3-cup rectangle and 4-cup bowl). I do also have some divided glass containers that have separate compartments, but I find their use a little more limited because not all food can fit in the smaller compartments and the compartment dividers aren’t leak proof.
Metal bento box style containers are also great, as long as you’re packing a cold meal and won’t need to reheat it in a microwave.
Fold top sandwich bags or zip top bags can also be helpful when you need to separate ingredients. And, if you like to keep your dressing and dips separate, look for 1-2 oz. size resealable containers (I’ve seen several at grocery stores and on Amazon).
Ready to Get Started?
Check out our Meal Prep Category for lots of meal prep inspo! I create new meal prep ideas fairly regularly, so check back often and don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to stay on top of all the new recipes and ideas! Also check out our Vegetarian Meal Prep, Breakfast Meal Prep, and No-Reheat Meal Prep categories!
Share Your Meal Prep Wins
We can all learn from each other, so share your tips, tricks, and meal prep wins in the comments below! I’d love to hear what you do and what you’ve found that works and your creative meal prep hacks!
I’m working with a wellness coach who is encouraging me t meal prep. I’ve always liked the idea but have been procrastinating about getting started. So, miss the time!
Great information for us beginners, so thank you, I feel more confident in my ability to learn how to prep smarter.
Ready to get prepping! I’ve been thinking about this for a long time just never got started.
Excited to get prepping this school year.
New at this new meal prep and I’m excited to actually try this .
Hello iam interested in food prepping plantnbase protein vegan meals
My food prep meals will be for health and wellness bodybuilders for fitness
And healthy meals for Beauty and Wellness to hydrate and replenish the body systems with wholesome meals.
Thank you for the intro. I’m considering diving into meal prep/batch cooking so that i can stick to the Autoimmune Protocol diet and then some sort of Paleo diet (gluten, soy and dairy free, at least). It would be great if there was a category for those receipes!
Thanks
Thank you for this incredibly thorough, yet concise breakdown. Much appreciated!
I look forward to food that is less processed, more real.
The only part that confuses me is the freezing portions part since obviously food only keeps for ~ 4 days. Does the typical rice keep and reheat good after being frozen? Do you freeze them as a whole prepped meal or do you do the ingredients individually? How do you go about reheating your meal to eat? Or do you take it out and thaw it, then microwave it?
That’s the great part about freezing things! Where something might last 4 days in the fridge temps, freezing it allows time to almost stand still, so you get a lot more life out of it! Most meals freeze great as the whole prepared meal, but of course it varies recipe to recipe. Things with cream or cheese in them for example, may be a little chunky and separate when you reheat them. You can almost always scroll down to the comment section of a recipe and find out any freezing tips from us or other readers. Most meals are fine to just reheat in the microwave from frozen, but just use your best judgement there!
Excited to get started, for both diet and budget. Win/win.
Thank you for the post. You shared some really helpful tips and ideas. I cook for hubby and myself.
If I make a one dish meal and it is 6 servings, we will eat the first one fresh, and I will package 2 servings for the freezer, and we will eat the other 2 servings later in the week. This way we do not eat the same meal 3 days in a row, and there are always meals ready in the freezer. I usually cook at least 4 serving of veggies as well as most meats, either steamed or sheet pan and roasted. I store the veggies separate from the meat, and then just plate and reheat when we are ready to eat.
When making a pot of soup, I always portion and freeze some for later.
Thank you…I’d like to start meal prepping for myself and my husband .
I would love to prepare my breakfast and lunches. I live crunchy foods. Thanks
Looking forward to more meal prep ideas.
Looking forward to checking it out.
Yay! Can’t wait to get started 😁
I’m looking forward to becoming a meal prep expert.
I am excited for this next step in our new empty nester lifestyle.
Great article. Thank you.
Interested to try meal prep.
Very new to this!
A complete newbie to this, so I’m starting from scratch.
Your website is a god send! I’m new to meal prepping so your websites is super convenient for me to learn. Thank you so much!
Thanks. Wanting more ideas for food prep
New to this, starting to homeschool however I also work 4 days a week. Trying to prep but have the kiddos help so they can learn as well.
New but very interested
Bonjour.. pa fait un bon moment que moi et mon mari, on parle en préparer les repas (surtout du soir) en avance puis qu’on arrive assez tard et crevés pour cuisiner. Sauf que je ne trouvé pas l’inspiration en rien que je voyé sur internet.. donc là on va essayé pour de vrai… 😊
I need a free meal prep plan. Can’t find anything online that is free!😡
Well, meal planning is a very personal endeavor and it can take a lot of work. I’m sure other people don’t want to do it for you for free for the same reasons that you don’t want to do it for yourself. ;)
It’s so true that meal preparation decreases waste, increases efficiency, and lowers the temptation to stray from your plan (whether that goal is a diet or a budget). You explained that when cooking every day is not an option, meal preparing can still let you enjoy home-cooked meals without having to spend time on preparation each day. As a huge family, this is a really good tip. I may need some few materials to start though like containers, jars, and even a can seamer. https://melvinacan.com/product-category/can-seamer/
I can’t wait to try the meal prep and new recipes
I am new to the meal prep community as of today! So thank you so much for this, it takes a little pressure off of it :) looking forward to trying your recipes!
Great recipes
Please send me meal plan.
Sorry, please don’t call I just wanted to emails lol
Can’t wait to get started me and my sister are doing this together
Can’t wait to start
I’ve been wanting to try meal prepping for a really long time, but it all seemed a little overwhelming to me.
Trying new things
My daughter and a friend asked me to meal prep for them. If it goes well, I’d like to continue as a side business. Unfortunately I have not the clearest clue where to begin and what to cook. One is on a diet. Organic foods. The other has no limits of style with their meals and only prefer dinner.But,
I’m not sure how to price. I’m looking forward into learning a new adventure.
I am looking forward to your guidance in this new journey of meal prepping. I tend to eat unhealthy options when on the go so hoping this will help!!!
I’m looking forward to trying the meal planning.
I’m looking forward to trying the meal planning
Looking forward to the convenience.
My colleague referred me to your website. Thank you for sharing
My daughter works and i stay home so i would like to pack left overs for her for work
Looking for ways to eat healthy with little time
Need this so much
My husband and I looked at your site probably a year ago hoping to get into meal prepping, but we never started until this past weekend. Let me tell you, this site is phenomenal. PHENOMENAL. I am so glad we stumbled in here and I don’t think we will leave for the foreseeable future. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Just started meal prepping last week. Brussels sprouts, asparagus, spinach with tri-color bell pepper, cauliflower mash, lemon pepper salmon.
I make big batches of staples-meat, rice, etc.- and freeze them in single servings. I just use resealable baggies for most of it. A snack sized baggie holds 1 cup and a sandwich sized baggie holds 2 cups. I also buy large bags/boxes of cold cereal, crackers, pretzels, etc. and portion them into the snack baggies. I have a few in my bedroom so I can have a quick snack while watching TV. Another thing I do is make a big batch and portion it into recipe portions. I take out a portion from the freezer, thaw in the fridge overnight, and make a meal the next day, usually dinner. Big batch cooking is great if you have a sauce or other recipe you make often. Instead of making a new batch of the sauce each time, make a double or triple batch and freeze it in recipe portions. Any of the containers mentioned in the comments and blog post will work as long as you have big enough ones for each recipe portion with at least 1/2″ head space to allow for expansion.
I haven’t done a lot of meal prepping besides lunches for work days. I also sometimes cook meat and/or veggies for a few days and sometimes do a combo of pairing some of them in the same container and the rest separately. It allows me to still have a variety with a little less prep each day. I still want to try meal prepping a bit more. I haven’t done too much with making a big batch recipe-mostly just with cooking items separately to pair together.
Thank you for stating that you should start out small when cooking. My husband and I have been eating really unhealthy lately, so I want to start cooking, but I don’t really know how. I will definitely keep all of your great tips and information in mind when trying to learn how to cook.
You can do it! One step at a time!
Good tips for beginners like me very detailed about meal prepping. It was so easy, you definitely gave me motivation and made me feel like its attainable. tryna loose weight and make a reasonable lifestyle change. thank you!
Also mason jars aren’t very expensive and they are a great way to portion out things like soups, chilis and stews for the week.
I use mason jars (16oz) for everything: salads, stews, pastas, risottos, lattes. Unlike most containers they’re small enough to fit in my running backpack (I run-commute too) & leak proof!
Great tip Athena!
Where do you get the metal cups pictured with the dragon noodles and broccoli?
I got those on Amazon. :)
I think this is by far the best website business I have seen. It is professional, has a lot of great ideas and content and very informative and helpful. I was looking for the ginger chicken sauce and your recipe was simple, easy and fast. I have my chicken drumsticks marinating as I type this. I see you have an app and the tabs above are organized perfectly.
From now on, I will be using many of your tips and recipes to make my weekly meal plans for my diet. Thanks for making meal planning so fun and easy.
There’s an app?!? So getting it!
I haven’t seen it mentioned, but I could easily see making 2 dishes at a time and swapping between them over the 4 or 5 days, especially if you are prepping for 2 or 3 people. That would provide variety especially if you changed up some of the ingredients (Many times, I will make a foil dam in my casseroles to divide vegetarian vs. meat versions of the same recipe, or add chicken on one side, beef on the other.), especially if you keep a variety of chopped nuts and dried fruits or veggies.
Thanks for all the info.
I really liked what everyone had to share! Thank you so much! Thanks for the tips!!
Meal prep has been good to both my wallet and my waistline! I’m a fan of freezer-friendly meals, and I prep breakfast and lunches for the weekdays. What helps is experimenting at dinner, in hopes to find the “oh YEAH” meals you can eat again and again! Also I try to find two meal prep recipes and share with my fiancee, and eat the meals on alternate days. Before I plan, I think about what type of cuisine I’m craving – do I want Thai-inspired flavors? Southwest? or homestyle? Then I pick recipes from there that match what I’m in the mood to eat.
Love it!!
Good tips!
Thank you for the wonderful ideas. I am on my own, divorced and find preparing food difficult. This is great as I prepare in the am on a free day. So common for women on their own at my age not 2 eat properly.
Love your site.
The one question I was hoping you would answer is – What if I don’t want to eat the same thing for a meal (be it breakfast, lunch, whatever) for several days in a row? You kind of touched on it when you wrote
“If you try to prep three meals for five days all at once and find that after day three you just won’t eat the same thing anymore, don’t risk wasting the food. Prep only three days.” I guess I just like more variety in my week than what seems to be worth meal prepping for. Thoughts anyone?
Maybe look at meals you can prep and freeze – so you’d make 3-5 days worth, freeze them, then you’d end up with a collection of lunches in your freezer you can choose from the night before.
Meal prepping simply isn’t a good fit for everyone, so you may just need to utilize other budget saving techniques. OR, you can try prepping freezer friendly meals and that way you have a variety of single serving dishes to choose from each day. Here is a quick round up of some of my favorite dishes that I like to freeze in single serving portions for reheating.
I always ask people how different is different enough to not feel the same.
Example – if you make overnight oats, would tossing different fruits into individual containers make it different enough you wouldn’t mind eating it multiple days in a row? So blueberries in one, and maybe strawberries in another?
Or, salads – would adding beef to a few and chicken to the rest along with a separate dressing make them “different”? I try to think of small tweaks like sauces or proteins that will allow me to make a meal feel different. It’s much easier to freeze extras like meat for use another week than it is to let salad greens or other produce go to waste if you don’t eat a whole containers worth.
Again, wonderful insight and suggestions! Thanks Jessie!
I meal prep for a family of 2 adults and 6 kids. My prep mostly centers around precooking beans, grains, and meat. I also chop vegetables and cheese. I keep each meal’s ingredients in groups of separate containers. I tend to cook dinner and breakfast daily and lunch every couple of days. We have leftovers all day the day before I grocery shop. Our food waste is next to nothing, but we do have some hilarious leftover mashups sometimes.
I love it! Thank you for sharing your method! :) (And those hilarious mashups can sometimes lead to amazing discoveries, am I right??)
I have been meal prepping for years…LOVE those Pyrex containers you mention.
My favorite meal prep experience was when I would split it with a former coworker. We would each bring in four meals a week. So, two days I would eat what she cooked for the week, and two days I would eat what I cooked for the week.
It provided variety, and it was exciting to swap Sunday night texts with the recipes (usually from your site) of what we had prepped that week.
I love this idea!! Thank you for sharing!
I love your meal preps! Sometimes I make up my own or use leftovers, but generally I go through your meal prep section first because there’s always something that excites me. My life is busy and this has helped me so much in my journey to be healthy. Thank you!
I have tried the week-long meal prep, but I find that it doesn’t necessarily save that much time, for a couple reasons — I cook for two people (so week-long meal prep means making at least 2, if not 3, pots of things so that we’d have enough food), and my regular dinner recipes usually only take about 20 minutes of active cooking time. I don’t like to sacrifice a couple of hours to cooking and cleaning at once unless I REALLY want to! I also enjoy cooking (the simple version) and find it very relaxing.
So what works best is making the quick and easy dinner every night and portioning leftovers for lunch the next day. If there’s way too many leftovers, that opens me up to make a no-leftovers dinner the next night. I use my rice cooker multi-cooker a LOT (for rice, oatmeal, slow cooking soups, chicken, steam-boiled eggs) because I can toss ingredients in it and leave to work out, or just relax a bit. I also roast things a lot, if I’m going to be around the house.
I love this! It’s a great example of how you really have to find what works for *you* and it’s okay if you don’t go all out like meal prep gurus on Instagram. Haha!
I love meal prepping. I am a single person and I will prep one meal at a time. When something makes 4 servings, then three go in the freezer. Sometimes I eat through the whole thing, but other times I’ll want to cook something new and then I have a couple of choices in the freezer at a time.
My most recent meal preps have been, Marcia’s Spaghetti (Cheeseburger Noodle Casserole), named for my mother, Swiss Steaks, (I pick up rice to go with at the Chinese restaurant in town), Ham and Egg Bake (breakfasts on the go!), and Buffalo Chicken Wraps. For the wraps, I used glass containers with three compartments. I put chicken in one, lettuce in another and blue cheese and ranch dressing in the last. This is a refrigerator, rather than freezer, prep. I heat the chicken in the microwave right on the whole wheat tortilla and add the other toppings before rolling up and eating. Delish!!
I love it!
I was a little leery about prepping the same meal for a full week, but I found that if I picked a recipe that I was excited to try, but knew that my family would turn their nose up (like your sweet potato bowl) I’d get something new and exciting and not get tired of it in that four days.
I used to prep overnight oats for breakfast, but since I’m watching carbs now, I do mason jar omelettes! 2 raw eggs in a mason jar, my choice of cheese, protein, and veg (like cheddar, bacon, and spinach) Microwave at work for 2 minutes. So yummy!
My meal prep is lunches for Huz and Child (there is a cook where I work for faculty and staff). It consists of the dinner from the night before. Essentially I always aim to make a meal that is for 5 people instead of 3. Before we tuck in for dinner, I portion out their lunches first, then we eat dinner. It may not be as efficient as your system to create meals from one recipe for many days, but it does offer a bit more variety day to day. Other things I will prep for the whole week ahead of time on Sunday -these include fruit. I’ve found I can prep a week’s worth of strawberries if I rinse them well, then dunk them into slightly salted water and then dry thoroughly and packed into their containers. I used to dunk the berries into water with a splash of vinegar but that altered the taste over time, but the salt water doesn’t. It helps to preserve them once in the fridge. I also pack a week’s worth of snacks like cheese crackers, ham and cheese roll-up, etc).
i meal prep for two by cooking in bulk on the weekends and then portioning out whatever it is i cook (lots of recipes from here work great for this) into two person servings, then i seal a meal them and throw them in the freezer! my commute averages an hour a half a day, so knowing that we have hearty, healthy and delicious meals waiting to reheat at home makes the drive easier to deal with. thank you again for a great recipe site!!
The basic meal prep formul around here is grain or starch, protein, vegetable. It’s basic, but offers so many variations and combinations! Since I’m usually prepping lunches for both myself and my husband, I make 5 of each of 2 different meals, so we can eat something different every other day. Or prep 4 meals each, and count on having leftovers from one dinner. Frozen vegetables are easy to just toss in, and so is chicken sausage because they don’t need to be precooked, jut heated though when you are ready to eat your meal! Silicone cupcake liners are good for separating things inside of containers too!
Great post, Beth! I HATE cooking, but meal prepping and your easy recipes have saved my life! If I don’t meal prep once a week, I wind up eating cereal for dinner. I try to make it as easy on myself as possible– this week, for instance, I made your maple dijion chicken thighs (my favorite recipe!) and paired it with Trader Joe’s kale/broccoli salad kit + frozen roasted potatoes. Fast, easy, and cheap.
I have a really hard time with breakfast, however. I’m allergic to dairy and can’t tolerate eggs so it’s tough finding things to eat. Would love to see some more breakfast prep ideas, beyond oats!
I’ll make a note of that and try to brainstorm some things! :)
This may sound crazy, but have you considered eating non-breakfast things for breakfast?
I eat salad, soup or even tacos for breakfast fairly regularly. So many people eat breakfast for dinner regularly, why not dinner foods for “breakfast”?
Also, I recommend pancakes – they heat up really well in the toaster and can be topped with all sorts of things if you need something simpler than syrup. I usually do some PB & jelly on top since I eat at my desk.
Wonderful suggestions! And I also have to admit, that I often eat non-breakfast food for breakfast. Haha!
Thanks for all that you do! Posts like this explaining techniques and strategies are equally as useful as the recipes themselves!
So many BB recipes are great for leftovers, but your sweet potato/tahini grain bowl recipe is my favorite meal prep lunch inspiration. I use the basic “formula” to come up with different combinations to keep it interesting, based on what’s in season and what I have on hand. Grain + roasted veg + protein + cold toppings (something crunchy!) + sauce. I pack up the heated/non-heated ingredients separately, and I think the hot/cold combo also helps it feel more “fancy” and not like I just grabbed something out of the fridge :) But for anyone who doesn’t have access to a microwave at lunch time, it also works just eating it cold.
Also, seconding the comment above, glass Snapware is awesome!
GREAT article!!! I’ve taken leftovers for lunch for many years and while I’ve always done my weekly shopping with take along lunches in mind, only started planning leftovers a couple of years ago. Since I only fix stuff I really like, eating it for a couple or 4 lunches in a row isn’t an issue–at restaurants we frequent, I rarely order off of my short list of favorites, and most of our home cooked meals rely on a seasonal rotation of favorite recipes. Some lunches still involve cold pizza and a quick green salad–1 slice at a time leftovers from a large pizza last me at least several days. How many of us eat the same sandwich days in a row–I know my dad did for years–and most of us eat the same thing for breakfast whether we eat at home or hit a fast food drive through on the way to work. Few of us keep more than 2 boxes of cold cereal around, and when I buy an avocado, it’s 4 days of avocado toast for breakfast (yum). Keep them coming, Beth–you have inspired me for a couple of years, now.
I like prepping the oats for my oatmeal (along with dry extras such as sugar, bran, etc) in smaller mason jars, so all I have to do is measure out the liquid and cook in the morning. Nice to be able to dump and go in the morning.
I love your meal preps! I do a kind of meal prep for my family of three and this usually looks like a double batch of a dinner that is eaten fresh and then the other one is frozen. Or the leftovers are dishes up in individual portions (I just use bowls and plastic wrap). The individual dishing of leftovers makes the biggest difference in them actually getting eaten!! At least in our house.
Dollar Tree has a 4-pack of 4-ounce plastic leak-proof containers that I’m finding very handy for sauces, dips, yogurt, or really any snack. I also love the glass snapware Pyrex has now since they are leak proof and I don’t worry about them in the microwave.
Overnight oats are a super easy meal prep that makes mornings go smoothly. Sometimes I at them cold, but I usually combine the oats and milk the night before just so it cooks faster in the microwave. (This also avoids the microwave mess you can get by cooking in the microwave for too long/in a too-small container!) Then top with frozen blueberries. Not the fanciest, but it’s filling, easy, and a good start to the day.
My biggest tip is to do frozen food meal prep. I prep normal 4-6 portion dishes and freeze them as individual servings. Each weekend, I cook one regular dish (such as a lasagna) and package it up. Because i already have ~25 portions of other food in my freezer, I never have to eat the same thing twice in one week. It takes a while to build up the stash but I now have plenty to choose from.
I have been meal prepping breakfast oatmeal for a few years now, and it’s the best! I save money and eat less sugar than using the packets, and I have a ton of flavor combos I rotate through. When I get tired of warm oatmeal, I make cold overnight oats instead!