Meal Prep Tips That Actually Work (From a Registered Dietitian)

By Elizabeth Harris, MS, RDN, Owner of Elizabeth Harris Nutrition and Wellness, with Jasmine Garcia

When it comes to meal prepping, a little organization goes a long way. Having a system can save time, reduce the daily mental load of figuring out what to eat, and make it easier to follow through on your healthy eating intentions.

But the most useful systems also leave plenty of room for flexibility. In my experience, meal prep is most sustainable when you find an approach that fits your schedule, cooking skills, interest, and goals, while still leaving room for what sounds good on any given day. 

In other words, meal prepping also doesn’t have to look just one way. Some people prefer a full batch-cooking session with everything planned and portioned out for the week. If that works for you, fantastic. Most people I work with, however, find that a lighter, more flexible approach is easier to maintain over time. Either way, the goal is the same: making it easier to eat well without the added stress.

I typically encourage people to think less about “meal prepping” and more about getting meal-ready, which can look different from week to week. One week, that might mean having a couple of complete meals prepped and ready to heat up. Another week, it might simply mean making a side dish or two, marinating some chicken, cooking a pot of rice or quinoa, or chopping a few vegetables ahead of time.

Either way, the first step to being meal-ready is knowing how to build a balanced meal that will sustain your energy levels, nourish your body, and fill you up. The components of a balanced, nourishing meal include protein, carbs, healthy fats, and fiber. And to keep things interesting, I always love to include flavor boosters, like a good sauce, a dip, a dressing, fresh herbs, or something else that makes the meal feel exciting rather than routine.

Your Step-By-Step Guide to Being Meal Ready

Here’s how I walk clients through building a meal prep routine. First, I recommend setting a regular day and time for menu planning and grocery shopping.

Before you head to the store, check your calendar to figure out how many meals you need to plan for that week. This works best if you set aside a regular day and time to do this. I typically do it on Sunday mornings. Be sure to consider whether you have any evening activities to work around. For example, maybe you have a dinner engagement that means you won’t need to cook one evening or perhaps the kids have sports practice, and you’ll need something cooked in advance that you can just quickly heat up. Most people end up needing between three and five meals each week, allowing for weeknight activities, leftovers, and weekend plans.

Once you’ve decided on your meals, review the recipes and make your grocery list. If you know you need a meal or two made fully in advance, decide when you’re going to make them and schedule this in your calendar. Otherwise, there’s no need to assign meals to specific nights unless that works better for you. Personally, once I’ve mapped out a menu for the week and purchased the ingredients, I prefer to keep things flexible. Each night, I decide what to make based on how much time I have, which foods need to be cooked sooner rather than later, and what I’m in the mood for.

One skill worth developing is learning to mix, match, and repurpose the meal components I mentioned earlier (protein, carbs, healthy fats, and fiber-rich fruits and vegetables) into meals. That way, you don’t have to start every meal from scratch. Leftover roasted or grilled vegetables can go into an omelet or get heated up with a fried egg and a quick sauce for breakfast, or thrown into a grain bowl with a protein and sauce for a quick lunch. A protein you made earlier in the week can top a hearty salad for lunch or get paired with leftover rice and whatever vegetables you have on hand for a fast dinner. This is exactly the approach I take in my Nourished Table recipe club, where I not only provide you with five tested recipes each month, but I also give you the shopping list and ideas for how to repurpose each dish into multiple other meals.

Other Ways to Make Meal Prepping Easier

People often think convenience foods can’t be part of a healthy mealtime routine, but that’s simply not true. Frozen vegetables, pre-cut produce, bagged salads, microwavable rice, canned beans, rotisserie chicken, pre-washed greens, canned tuna or salmon, and pre-cooked lentils can all be great time savers and simple components to mix and match into breakfast, lunch, or dinner. These aren’t shortcuts to feel guilty about; they’re tools to help you get nutrient-dense, balanced meals on the table faster and with less stress.

A few more strategies that make meal prepping easier:

• Keep “no-brainer” vegetables on hand. These are ones you can pretty much grab and run with, no peeling, chopping, and minimal washing required. Think shredded carrots, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, or microgreens. Add two or three of these to your grocery list each week and drop them into meals whenever you need more color or fiber without more work.
• Batch cook a grain or a vegetable ahead of time
• Make one or two side dishes you can mix and match into different meals through the week
• Keep a few snacks prepped and ready to reach for
• Wash fruit or chop a few vegetables ahead of time
• Marinate a protein so it’s ready for the grill or oven
• Make a sauce or dressing you can use more than once
• Boil some eggs as an easy protein to add to snacks or breakfast
• Prepare some smoothie packs for the freezer to pull out and blend (my Peachy Oats Breakfast Smoothie is a fan favorite)
• Make overnight oats or chia seed pudding and stick it in the fridge for a grab-and-go breakfast
• Make a pot of soup and then freeze smaller portions for a super quick meal down the road

You don’t need to implement everything in this post at once to feel the benefit. Pick one or two strategies that sound realistic for right now, whether that’s keeping a few no-brainer vegetables on hand or marinating a protein before a busy week, and then build from there. Your approach will likely keep evolving as you get into rhythm, and that’s a good thing. It means you’re building a system that works for you instead of trying to force yourself into someone else’s routine.

It also helps to make the process itself enjoyable. Pour yourself a fun drink, put on music or a show, queue up an audiobook, or whatever makes chopping vegetables or cooking feel enjoyable—or at least less tedious!

If you want a bit of help getting meal-ready, that’s exactly why I built my Nourished Table recipe club. In addition to giving you my Meal Ready Framework, each month I hand you five tested recipes (no more guessing if they taste good or are good for you—they are, I’ve already vetted them), a done-for-you shopping list, and ideas for repurposing every dish into multiple meals so you can spend less time cooking and more time enjoying your meals.

Meal Prepping FAQ