A weekly meal plan with ready-made meals – two protein-rich breakfasts, two base options with two variations for main meals, and a homemade snack, which you can mix and match depending on the day, without having to cook the same thing several times.
Meal planning during the week is often made difficult not because we don’t know what to eat, but because the moment we get hungry, we simply don’t have anything ready.
We get home after a long day, open the fridge, and when there’s nothing in there that we can whip up in a few minutes, the easiest option usually wins out.
That’s why meal prep doesn’t have to mean spending half your Sunday in the kitchen or eating the same thing for five days running.
The idea behind this Weekly Meal Prep is a bit different: to prepare a few food components in advance that will give us plenty of options for the week.
This time we’re preparing:
A bit of preparation means we spend far less time thinking about what to eat over the next few days.
In the morning: about 1 minute to serve.
This is one of those breakfasts that I love to prepare in advance in larger quantities. You divide the mixture into 3 portions, leave it in the fridge, and in the morning all you have to do is grab your ready-made breakfast.
Ingredients required
Makes about 3 portions:
Preparation
Mix together the skyr, protein powder, oat bran, chia seeds and linseeds. Divide the mixture between three jars or containers and add the pumpkin seeds and mixed berries.
Pop it in the fridge and your breakfast for the next few days is sorted.
Approximate figures for the total amount: around 92–95 g of protein and nearly 30 g of fibre.*
If you divide it into 3 portions, that works out at approximately 30 g of protein and 10 g of fibre for breakfast.*
That’s exactly what I like about meal prep: you spend a few minutes on it once, and then your breakfast is ready and waiting for you for three mornings in a row.
If you prefer a savoury breakfast, this is the option for you.
„It is no coincidence that “The Dietitian’s Protein Shake’ is one of the most popular recipes from the Glycaemic Balance cards on DietitianMED.
It’s quick, filling and contains 26 g of protein per serving, with approximately 310 kcal.*
Makes 1 portion
Prepare the eggs and mix them with the cottage cheese until you achieve your desired consistency. Serve on or alongside a slice of wholemeal bread.
And here, my trick is simple: don’t just make one portion.
Make a larger batch of the dip and keep it in the fridge so you have a ready-made base for a few snacks.
And if you want more protein, add 50 g of smoked salmon; this will provide you with a further 10–12 g of protein or so.*
You come home from work feeling hungry. There’s nothing ready to eat. And almost automatically, you reach for the cupboard with the ready meals.
Does that sound familiar?
A balanced diet doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes the difference is simply that part of the decision has already been made in advance.
That’s why, for our main meals, we won’t be preparing a single recipe that we eat over and over again.
We will:
2 bases + 2 fillings.
You then combine them depending on what you fancy eating on that particular day.
We are preparing the two bases
Roasted sweet potatoes
Chop the sweet potatoes, season them and roast until cooked.
Rice
Boil 200 g of uncooked rice, which will yield approximately 600 g of cooked rice.
Divide the prepared bases into separate boxes, and let’s move on to the protein part.
Ingredients required
Preparation
Chop the chicken and the courgettes.
Start by cooking the chicken in a well-heated frying pan, then add the courgettes, garlic, ginger and spices.
Add the soya sauce and red wine and allow the flavours to blend. Finally, add the cream and cook until the sauce has a creamy consistency and the chicken is cooked through.
Leave to cool, then divide between the tins.
Serve with rice or sweet potato during the week.
For those days when you fancy something meat-free, we’ve got a second option ready for you.
Ingredients required
Preparation
Cook the quinoa according to the instructions on the packet.
Prepare the broccoli, tomato and chickpeas, and season them with chilli, paprika and salt. Cook the vegetables until they reach your preferred texture, then mix them with the quinoa and chickpeas.
And again, you don’t have to eat it the same way every time.
You can combine the vegetable filling with sweet potato or rice, or even add some of it to a salad.
A sweet treat can also be part of your weekly preparation. These almond biscuits take about 25 minutes to make, and one recipe makes 16 biscuits.
The almond flour and almond paste give them a soft, slightly chewy texture, whilst the dark chocolate chips add just the right amount of sweetness. The biscuits are naturally gluten-free and can be stored in a tightly sealed tin for up to 4–5 days.
Ingredients required
Makes 16 biscuits:
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
In a bowl, beat the egg with the sugar, erythritol, almond butter, melted butter and vanilla. Add the almond flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt, and mix until you have a soft dough. If the mixture is too dry, add 1–2 tbsp of water. Finally, stir in the dark chocolate chips.
Shape 16 biscuits, arrange them on the baking tray and press them down gently. If you like, sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt on top.
Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges turn a light golden colour. Don’t wait for the centre to become completely firm; the biscuits will firm up further as they cool.
Leave them in the baking tray for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Approximately per biscuit: 146 kcal, 4 g protein, 11 g fat, 11 g carbohydrates and 2 g fibre.*
Once they have cooled completely, store the biscuits in an airtight container for up to 4–5 days. You can also freeze some of them if you want to keep them for the following week.
With a bit of preparation, you’ll already have a few options ready that you can alternate between and mix and match depending on the day and your preferences.
For breakfast, you can choose between the protein breakfast with skyr, oat bran and forest berries, and the savoury dish with eggs and cottage cheese.
For your main meals, you have a choice of two base dishes – rice and roasted sweet potatoes – and two different accompaniments: creamy ginger chicken with courgettes, or a vegetable mix of quinoa, chickpeas and broccoli.
So, from a single preparation, you get several different meals:
The ready-made almond biscuits are left for a snack.
You don’t need to plan every meal of the week down to the last detail. It’s enough to have a few ready-made meals in the fridge, from which you can easily put together a balanced meal when you don’t have the time or inclination to cook.
So on busy days, deciding what to eat becomes much easier, without having to prepare the same meal all week long.
The nutritional values given are approximate and may vary depending on the ingredients used and their quantities.
