Meal prep made simple

Choose your level

There is no single correct way to prep. Start with the level that fits your week and build from there.

• Level 1, component prep. Cook a tray of chicken thighs, a pot of rice, a tray of roasted vegetables and boil six eggs. Assemble different meals from those parts during the week. Flexible and fast.
• Level 2, a few full meals. Cook two recipes in bulk, such as a chilli and a curry, and portion them into boxes. Great for lunches and late evenings after training.
• Level 3, breakfasts and lunches only. Prep overnight oats and a few lunches, and cook dinner fresh. Ideal if you enjoy cooking in the evening but mornings are chaos.

If you are aiming for fat loss specifically, our guide to fat loss meal prep covers portioning to a calorie target. For ready-made recipes, see our five high protein batch cook meals.

A 90 minute Sunday routine

This is a simple component-based session. The trick is to get the oven, hob and kettle all working at once so nothing is waiting.

1. Heat the oven. Put chicken thighs or tofu on one tray and chopped vegetables such as peppers, onions, courgettes and sweet potato on another, both with a little oil and seasoning.
2. While those roast, put a large pot of rice or a batch of potatoes on the hob.
3. Boil six to eight eggs, cool them in cold water and keep them in their shells in the fridge.
4. Make one sauce or dressing: a tomato and lentil sauce, a yoghurt and herb dressing or a simple peanut and soy sauce.
5. Mix up two or three jars of overnight oats with milk, yoghurt and fruit.
6. Cool everything quickly, portion it into boxes and label anything going into the freezer with the date.

Storing food safely

Food safety is where meal prep can go wrong, and it is worth getting right. The Food Standards Agency advises cooling leftovers as quickly as possible, ideally within two hours, then keeping them in the fridge and eating them within two days. Cooked rice is riskier because of a bacterium that survives cooking, so eat it within 24 hours and reheat it only once.

• Keep your fridge at 5°C or below
• Split big batches into shallow containers so they cool faster
• Put meals for day three onwards straight into the freezer
• Move tomorrow's box from freezer to fridge the night before so it defrosts safely
• Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and do not reheat more than once

Glass or sturdy plastic containers with tight lids make life easier. Choose ones that can go from freezer to microwave.

Stopping the boredom

Meal prep usually fails in week three, when you cannot face another plain chicken and rice box. The answer is to keep the base simple and change what goes on it.

A tray of chicken, rice and roasted veg can become a burrito bowl with salsa and beans on Monday, a curry with a jar of tikka paste and spinach on Tuesday, and a wrap with houmous and salad on Wednesday. Sauces, herbs and spices do the heavy lifting. Rotate your protein each week too, swapping chicken for turkey mince, salmon, tofu or lean beef.

A small spice and sauce kit makes this easy: smoked paprika, cumin, chilli flakes, curry paste, soy sauce, a jar of pesto, salsa and a tube of garlic paste. None of them add many calories when used sensibly, and they turn the same base into a different meal each night.

Keep one night a week free of prepped food. Cooking something fresh or eating out gives you something to look forward to and makes the rest of the plan easier to stick with.

Prep around your training week

Look at your training days first. If you go to an early class, such as the 6am Upper class at Lycan Strength on a Wednesday, have breakfast ready to grab the night before. If you train straight from work, a prepped afternoon snack and a dinner that only needs reheating are what make the evening work.

Rest days are a good time to cook fresh. Heavy training days are when you want food ready in five minutes. For a family household, making one set of components that both adults and children can build into their own plates saves cooking twice, which we cover in family meals that support your goals.

Shopping is part of prep too. Write the list from your plan rather than walking the aisles, and look at the price per kg on shelf labels for protein foods. Our high protein shopping on a budget guide has a ready-made list.