Sunday Meal Prep For an Easy Week
Dinner time rolls around and you don’t know what to make, or the prep will take too long to make a healthy and delicious meal for your family dinner. Trust me, I know that frustrated feeling! It is important to me to have a dinner filled with nutritious foods together as a family as often as we can, so I try to do as much food prep as I can on Sunday. This makes evening dinners throughout the week not take as much time. I enjoy cooking for my family and over the years have have found great ways to meal prep Sunday for an easy week of healthy meals. While we are primarily plant based but these tips and tricks can be used to accommodate any dietary preference.
Make a menu and grocery shop
Each week I think of 3-4 delicious meals I would like to make as I’m making my list for the grocery store. That way I know I will have all the ingredients for the entire week’s meal plan when it comes time to cook. I typically go to the store Friday to avoid the weekend crowds and then I’m stocked to meal prep on Sunday.
One of my favorite places I get pantry items from is Thrive Market. We have been a member for over 5 years and love it. They offer organic products and healthy food at a lower cost than most grocery stores. You can filter by diet type or preferences. I typically place a Thrive order every 2 weeks. You can use this link for 30% off your first order! Buying bulk items such as dried beans, rice and grains saves a lot of money and decreased chemicals found in canned good.
Kitchen tools for meal prep
Soaking beans, rice, seeds and grains
My food prep time really starts Saturday night when I begin soaking a big batch of beans and rice. Soaking dried beans, rice and grains in water with a splash of apple cider vinegar helps break down and release phytic acid which makes them much easier to digest and decreases bloating. It also makes the nutrients more bioavailable to be absorbed. Give them a stir, cover with a cloth and let sit on the counter overnight. Sunday morning I will drain the water, give them a quick rinse and they are ready to cook in the instant pot.
Oatmeal is also a great food to soak but I make it throughout the week and don’t meal prep on Sunday. You can soak and batch prep oatmeal for the entire week as well. Chia seeds are also much better for absorption when they are soaked. I put a few tablespoons of dried chia seeds in a small mason jar and fill it with water. The chia seeds will absorb the water. I will then add them to smoothies or oatmeal throughout the week. Chia seeds are a great source of omega 3s.
Meat Prep
If you eat meat chicken breasts and ground beef it would be simple to make Sunday to have ready for recipes during the week. Brown ground beef for taco meat, cook chicken breast, or make a dozen hardboiled eggs in the instant pot.
Instant Pot
The instant pot and the are my most used kitchen items. We have multiple liners for the instant pot which is a great way to make meal prep for the rest of the week easier. Here is a list of what I make in the instant pot to have on hand for the week. I make most of these in large batches to pull from throughout the week. Baked potatoes with a sauce on top and rice bowls are two healthy lunch ideas I eat often during the week.
- Potatoes (I always have a big bowl of steamed potatoes in the fridge, yukon gold and sweet potatoes)
- Beans (pinto, great northern and black beans are our usual)
- Rice (the instant pot eliminates the need for a rice cooker)
- Steel cut oats
Fruit
I find my kids eat more fruit when I prep it and have it ready to eat in mason jars. Here’s my secret to getting them to last up to 2 weeks. First thing when I get home from the store I fill the sink with cool water and use the Thieves Fruit and Veggie soak and put all my fruit and veggies in there. I let them soak while I put groceries away. I then rinse them and lay them to dry on towels on the counter. You must get them all the way dry which can take a few hours. I put all our berries in large mason jars with an air tight lid and keep in the refrigerator. I just put all other fruits and veggies in the proper crispers. Having it readily available encourages and makes it simple for kids to grab a piece of fruit as a snack.
Veggies
Chopping lots of veggies on Sunday which is a huge time saver for meal prep during the week. I usually chop carrots, onions, celery, cauliflower, and potatoes. I cook with onions in almost every meal so I always have an individual container of chopped onions readily available. For example, if I’m making vegetable noodle soup I will chop all the veggies and put them in a container together so all I have to do the evening I’m making it is pull that out and pop them in a pot.
Butternut squash soup is usually a weekly fall and winter meal staple. I will roast the butternut squash, remove the flesh and refrigerate it until the evening I make soup.
You can also prep veggies in the same way for roasting. Chop and put them in a ziplock bag and the day you want to roast them just put them on a sheet pan with a little olive oil and seasoning and bake. Roasted veggies are a simple side and an easy way to use up left over vegetables.
Sample menu meals
- loaded baked potatoes
- tacos or taco bowls
- buffalo cauliflower bites
- vegetable noodle soup
- sweet potato black bean burgers with roasted vegetables
- butternut squash soup
- tomato soup and grilled cheese
- one pan pot pie (sharing this recipes soon, it’s a family favorite!)
Smoothie packs
Smoothies are my favorite way to get lots of nutrients and greens into my kids. I don’t always do this but if you’re in a rush during the week it’s really a great option to save time. Smoothies are a great on the go breakfast and can be prepped beforehand. Take all your smoothie ingredients and place them in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer. When you’re ready for the smoothie, pull the bag out, put the contents in the blender and add water or milk of your choice. So simple! When I do this my kids enjoy picking the bag from the freezer and making their own smoothies.
Food storage
Now that you’ve made all your staples for the week you need to store them. We don’t use plastic storage containers because of the chemicals they leach into your food, so we stick to glass with air tight lids. I also use lots of mason jars for storage of fruit to keep it fresher longer.
“Must go” night
One night of the week we have what we call “must go” which means any leftovers in the fridge must go. That’s typically an evening when I will reheat a handful of leftovers and we eat a little of everything. This is also an evening I’ll roast any extra veggies we have in that need to be used up.
We will also eat leftovers as nutritious lunches instead of getting fast food. As a homeschool family so are home for lunch most weekdays. We prefer lunches that don’t take a lot of time, so this is sometimes when my kids love to grab the smoothie packs and make a quick smoothie for lunch or a snack. We also will have leftovers from another night, or my husband will take them to work for lunch.
Meal prep for your nutrition goals
The saying “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” is so true when it comes to healthy meal prep recipes. If you don’t have enough meals prepared for the week you’ll give into food cravings and eat foods that don’t nourish your body. Being prepared also makes for quick and easy meals throughout the whole week. We all have busy schedules so having your meal preparation done on Sunday takes the stress out of figuring out what’s for dinner during the week.
It may seen like a lot of work but it only takes me a couple hours to meal prep on Sunday for a week of healthy meals. Our weeks can get busy and preparing ahead of time really takes the stress of what’s for dinner off my plate 😉 I hope these tips can help make your life a little easier!
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