Last Updated on November 7, 2022 by
Are you looking for meal prep ideas? It can be hard to think of easy meal prep recipes when you’re just looking for some variety. The first time I started doing my own meal prep, I was nervous about putting myself out there asking for meal prep recipes.
Meal prep for the week is a great way to improve your long-term weight loss results. Meal prep consist of taking a few hours on Sunday to prepare for your week. By preparing for the week, there will be no way you’ll forget about healthy eating all week. I’m going to show you how I meal prep and my weekly schedule for losing weight. After all, if you want to take control of your weight, then this is the way to go. Here is why: I’m going to talk about Meal Prep For The Week For Weight Loss, make sure you read this article.
Meal Prep For The Week For Weight Loss

If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s helpful to have the right foods on hand to fuel your body and provide you with the nutrients you need to feel your best.
Meal prepping can be a helpful tool for anyone, regardless of whether you want to lose, gain, or maintain weight.
Planning and preparing meals and snacks ahead of time can save you time, reduce stress around mealtime, help improve diet quality, and help you reach and maintain a healthy body weight.
This article breaks down meal prepping for weight loss and includes foods to prioritize, how to create healthy and filling meals, sample recipes, and evidence-based, sustainable weight loss tips.

Meal planning for weight loss
Though you may be surprised to hear this, you don’t need to follow any particular diet for weight loss.
Some dietary patterns such as low carb and vegan diets have been shown to promote weight loss, but this doesn’t mean they’re necessary to lose weight in a healthy, sustainable way.
Meal prepping is a great tool because instead of following a fixed, restrictive plan, you can enjoy a nutrient-dense diet that works for you and your individual preferences. The planning piece helps make healthy meals a reality on days you’re crunched for time.
You’re also more likely to enjoy the meals and snacks that you’re eating, and you have the freedom to choose foods that you like because no foods are completely “off-limits.”
With this in mind, some foods — like fruits and vegetables — are highly nutritious and have been linked to weight loss, while others — like donuts and cookies — can still be enjoyed but should be more limited as part of a healthy diet.
A healthy, weight-loss-friendly diet can simply be a well-rounded, nutrient-dense dietary pattern. The most important factor in weight loss is making sure you’re in a calorie deficit, which promotes fat loss.
However, this does not mean that you have to go on a strict low calorie diet. Instead, try cutting back on certain high calorie, nutrient-poor refined foods, choosing nutrient-dense, filling foods more often, and adding in more activity on a daily basis.
This will help you create a calorie deficit while still feeling nourished and fulfilled.
Even though very low calorie diets that only deliver 1,000 or 1,200 calories per day are likely to result in quick weight loss, studies show that the weight lost on these programs is quickly gained back once a person returns to normal eating habits.
Plus, these diets are typically unnecessarily restrictive, take the enjoyment out of eating, and they can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food.
So, what does a balanced, weight-loss-friendly dietary pattern look like? Honestly, it looks just like any other balanced diet. It should be nutritionally complete, affordable, appropriate, culturally acceptable, enjoyable, and sustainable.
One thing that many health professionals agree on is that a healthy diet should comprise mostly whole, minimally processed foods, especially fruits and vegetables.
In addition to fruits and vegetables, nutrient-dense whole foods like whole grains, beans, fish, chicken, eggs, nuts, and seeds should make up the majority of your diet — while still leaving some room for treats.
Be wary of generic meal-prep-friendly meal plans available online or handed out by trainers and nutritionists with a set calorie limit, especially if they are rigid and deliver fewer than 1,500 calories per day.
It’s impossible to know how many calories a person needs on a daily basis without information like their height, weight, age, sex, and activity level. Plus, it’s important to remember that calorie calculations are just estimates (10Trusted Source).
If you would like to have a general idea of your calorie needs, work with a registered dietitian or another qualified healthcare professional who specializes in metabolic health to help determine an appropriate and safe calorie range to support weight loss.
Even though it may be helpful for some people to know how many calories they require on a daily basis, it’s not necessary to count calories, track foods, or follow a very low calorie diet for weight loss.
You can still follow a diet that promotes weight loss without counting calories. Choose the right kinds of foods to fuel your body, compose filling meals, eat in accordance with your feelings of hunger and fullness, and prepare healthy meals and snacks.
SUMMARY
There is no one-size-fits-all diet for weight loss. A healthy diet, regardless of whether you’re trying to lose weight, should be sustainable, nourishing, nutritionally adequate, and most importantly, enjoyable.
How to plan meals for weight loss

When meal prepping for weight loss, it’s important to know how to plan meals that are filling and nutrient-dense.
In general, aim to make most of your meals and snacks balanced, meaning they should contain a source of protein, fat, and fiber.
Getting adequate protein at every meal and snack is essential, as protein is the most filling macronutrient and helps keep you feeling satisfied between meals.
For example, eating an apple paired with natural peanut butter, a source of plant-based protein and fat, will be more satisfying than eating an apple on its own.
Adding more fat and protein to your meals and snacks adds more calories, but it also helps prevent you from being hungry and fuels your body with key nutrients.
Plus, a higher protein diet helps preserve lean muscle mass during weight loss, which is important for maintaining strength, as well as optimal energy expenditure.
Adding sources of fiber and healthy fats to meals can also help ensure your meals are filling, tasty, and contain a variety of nutrients.
Here are a few meal and snack upgrades that can help you get an idea of what well-composed, weight-loss-friendly meals and snacks may look like.
Instead of… | Try this… |
plain overnight oats made with water and brown sugar | overnight oats made with milk and topped with nut butter, chia seeds, and fresh berries |
a green salad with cherry tomatoes, croutons, and ranch dressing | a green salad topped with sliced peppers, avocado, pumpkin seeds, canned salmon, feta cheese, and a homemade vinaigrette |
a fast-food egg sandwich | egg muffins made with broccoli, mushrooms, and goat cheese served with fresh fruit |
a cheeseburger and french fries from the local diner | a homemade spinach chicken burger served with baked sweet potato fries |
a chocolate-covered snack bar | a bento box made with sliced apples, natural peanut butter, and a few pieces of dark chocolate |
Although it’s a good idea to prepare many of your meals and snacks from scratch, using some premade foods such as turkey sticks, hummus, whole grain crackers, salad dressings, and more can help make your life much easier and save time when meal prepping.
SUMMARY
When prepping weight-loss-friendly meals and snacks, it’s important to design balanced meals that contain protein, fiber, and healthy fats to promote satiety and provide the nutrients your body needs.
Foods to eat and a healthy meal prep shopping list
As mentioned above, any healthy diet should comprise mainly whole, nutritious foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and healthy proteins and fats.
When planning meals for the week ahead, it’s helpful to create a shopping list. Grocery lists can help you stay organized while at the store and may even help you make healthier choices while shopping (14Trusted Source, 15Trusted Source).
Think of your list as the first step in your meal planning. You’ll want to pick up healthy foods but also have a plan to use them so they don’t go to waste. Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables last longer and are typically less expensive.
Here’s an example of a meal-prep and weight-loss-friendly shopping list:
- Fruits: blackberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, and grapefruits
- Non-starchy vegetables: spinach, peppers, onions, cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, zucchini, lettuce
- Starchy vegetables: sweet potatoes, potatoes, and butternut squash
- Proteins: canned salmon and tuna, frozen shrimp, chicken breast, lean ground beef and turkey, and eggs
- Beans: chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, and lentils
- Grains: oats, brown rice, whole grain pasta, and quinoa
- Frozen foods: frozen mangoes, sprouted-grain bread, frozen cherries, frozen broccoli, and frozen spinach
- Dairy and non-dairy substitutes: milk, unsweetened nondairy milk, cheese, Greek yogurt, and plain yogurt
- Nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, pistachios, almonds, natural peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, and cashews
- Condiments and pantry: salad dressing, salsa, marinara sauce, mustard, spices, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, garlic, etc.
- Oils: olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc.
- Other healthy fats: avocado, hummus, and tahini
- Beverages: sparkling water, coffee, and tea
- Snack foods: dark chocolate chips, turkey sticks, nut butter packets, whole grain or seed-based crackers, whole-food-based bars, popcorn, plantain and bean chips, etc.
This is simply a suggested shopping list. Your shopping list will change weekly depending on the meals and snacks you choose to meal prep.
SUMMARY
Focus on consuming whole, nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, and fish. Fill your refrigerator and cabinets with healthy, meal-prep-friendly foods and make a plan to prep them into healthy meals and snacks.
Helpful meal-prep tools
In addition to a well-organized shopping list, having some kitchen tools on hand makes meal prepping easier.
Having a variety of durable containers in a number of shapes and sizes is critical for meal prepping.
Try keeping glass and stainless steel food storage containers on hand.
Shop for glass meal-prep containers, which are available in a variety of sizes, online.
It’s nice to have containers in different sizes and even try some with multiple compartments, both for snack boxes and keeping foods separate.
A well-designed lunch bag or transport tote is important for meal preppers as well. A good choice for a food transport tote will be insulated and have a place for ice packs to keep your food cool.
Shop for an insulated lunchbox or larger lunch tote online.
Consider how many meals you’re planning on prepping and taking with you on a daily or nightly basis. If it’s just one meal and a snack per day, a smaller lunch bag will suffice. If you’re prepping multiple meals, consider buying a larger tote.
SUMMARY
Having a well-stocked kitchen can help you meal prep, and a few key tools, such as storage containers and lunch boxes, can be very useful.
Should you avoid any foods while meal prepping for weight loss?
A healthy diet tends to be low in nutrient-poor, ultra-processed foods and added sugars. These include foods and beverages like fast food, candy, sugary baked goods, sweetened cereals, deep-fried foods, soda, and other highly refined items.
Reducing consumption of these foods is essential for everyone, not just people who want to shed excess body weight. However, it’s especially important to cut back on these foods if you’d like to promote fat loss.
This is because research shows that diets high in ultra-processed foods and added sugars are associated with weight gain and obesity, as well as a number of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
If your diet is currently high in ultra-processed foods and added sugar, cutting back can help you lose weight and improve your overall health.
However, that’s not to say that you should completely avoid your favorite foods. A well-rounded, sustainable diet should always leave room for you to enjoy your favorite foods on occasion.
Just remember that the majority of your diet should be made up of nutrient-dense whole foods like the ones listed above.
SUMMARY
Even though a diet low in ultra-processed foods and added sugars is best for overall health, a balanced diet should leave room for you to enjoy your favorite foods.
How to get started
If you’re new to meal prep, you may want to start gradually by preparing just a few meals a week. Once that becomes a habit, add a few more meals.
It’s also a smart choice to prep meals that you seem to have the most trouble with in terms of making healthy choices.
For example, if you typically resort to a fast-food lunch because there are very few options near your worksite, start prepping lunch at home. If you have a habit of grabbing a donut and coffee on your way to work, start with prepping breakfast.
Once you’ve decided on how many meals you’d like to prep, pick a day that you have time to prep and set aside an hour or two — depending on the number of meals you’re making.
Browse the internet for meal-prep-friendly recipes and take screenshots or print out the recipes and ingredient lists. Use these recipes to create an organized grocery list.
Go grocery shopping a day or two ahead of your meal prep day so you have everything you need to create healthy meals for the week ahead.
It may seem like a lot at first, but you’ll get better at meal prepping the more you do it, and you’ll figure out recipes and strategies that work for you.
Simple weight-loss-friendly meal and snack ideas
Now that you’ve decided to take on meal prepping to create healthy meals to support weight loss, you may want a few meal and snack ideas to get you started.
These meals and snacks are all easily made in advance, and many rely on staples that are easy to keep on hand, like eggs, oats, peanut butter, sweet potatoes, and rice.
Here are a few weight loss and meal-prep-friendly breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack recipes that are tasty and simple to make.
Breakfast ideas
- Mushroom goat cheese frittata cups. Serve these with a piece of fresh fruit and sliced avocado.
- Peanut butter overnight oats. Top them with fresh berries and chia seeds.
- Chickpea and sweet potato breakfast hash. Add a hard-boiled egg or tofu for more protein.
Lunch and dinner ideas
- Turkey stuffed sweet potatoes. Serve these fiber- and protein-loaded sweet potatoes with crispy roasted Brussels sprouts.
- Grain bowls. Grain bowls are a great choice for meal prep. Simply top a cooked grain of your choice (e.g., quinoa or brown rice), with a protein (e.g., tofu or chicken), your favorite vegetables, and a sauce or dressing. Here’s an idea for a Mediterranean-style grain bowl.
- Burgers. Burgers are perfect for meal prep because they are easy to store and pair well with just about anything. Try out this spinach feta salmon burger recipe or Mediterranean chicken burger recipe and pair them with baked potato wedges and a green salad.
- One-pan recipes. One-sheet-pan recipes, including this balsamic chicken and veggies recipe or this salmon and veggies recipe, make meal prep a breeze.
Snacks
- Bento boxes. Fill a multi-compartment food container with your favorite snack foods like fresh fruit, veggie sticks, hummus, nut butter, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and nuts. Add a variety of foods for flavor, and aim to include protein, fiber, and a healthy fat.
- Energy balls. Energy balls are a portable snack option that can be prepped in large quantities and frozen ahead of time. Try out this simple lime coconut energy bite recipe.
- Premade snacks. Keep healthy, premade snacks handy to help save time. Think hummus, whole-food-based snack bars, whole grain cereal, whole grain crackers, and mixed nuts — these make perfect snack additions to fresh ingredients like fruits and veggies.
There’s no doubt that meal prepping could help promote weight loss. However, meal prepping is only a small part of a larger puzzle that makes up healthy weight loss.
If you want to lose weight, there are a number of factors to consider, including getting enough sleep, proper hydration, stress reduction, and engaging in enjoyable and consistent physical activity.
Weight loss can be difficult and takes time, lots of self-love, and patience. It’s often helpful to build a support system that includes a registered dietitian, a therapist, and trusted loved ones like friends and family to support you through your journey.
SUMMARY
If you’re a meal prep newbie, start gradually by prepping just a few meals a week. Stick with nutritious, yet simple recipes like the ones listed above to save time in the kitchen.
Meal prepping for weight loss doesn’t have to involve calorie counting or complicated low calorie recipes.
Instead, a weight-loss-friendly meal plan should be high in nutritious, filling, and delicious foods and involve preparing recipes that appeal to you using foods that you enjoy.
Remember, if you’re new to meal prep, don’t go overboard. Start by preparing a few healthy meals per week to create a sustainable habit that can help you lose weight in a healthy way.
Meal Prep for Weight Loss: 8 Ways It Will Make You More Successful
Meal-prepping can help you shop smarter, cook ahead, save time and reach your weight-loss goals. It’s a win-win for heal

Featured Recipe: Meal-Prep Curried Chicken Bowls
When it comes to weight loss, most people know the benefits of meal prep: cooking at home helps you control what you eat and manage your portions. Those are two of the best ways to shed pounds.
However, people with the best healthy-eating intentions are frequently tripped up when they try to put those decision-making principles into action without a plan.
“When life does exactly what life does-you know, throws something unexpected in your path, presents tempting treats that aren’t in your plan, dangles a spontaneous workplace happy hour in front of you-it’s easy to stray away from your best intentions,” says Kristen Wilk, M.S., R.D.N. “That is, unless you’ve prepped meals and snacks ahead of time.”
Wilk says meal-prepping for weight loss-that is, making meals ahead in batches for your week-is the key for meeting your goals and healthy-eating aspirations.
“Having a healthy dinner waiting for you in your fridge makes it far easier to pass on the mozzarella sticks and hot wings at happy hour,” she says. “Knowing you spent time prepping nutrient-packed ingredients makes grabbing takeout far less enticing.”
Here, eight ways meal prep helps people eat better for weight loss and other healthy goals.
Meal prep tones down temptations

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When you’ve had a long day or have been stuck in a lengthy meeting, it’s easy to convince yourself you should just run down the street and pick up a quesadilla or order in a bowl of mac and cheese. But if you have a healthy meal waiting for you in the fridge, you can defeat the temptation. Your ready-made meal is closer and faster.
“Meal prep takes the guesswork and potentially bad decisions out of food,” says Monica Auslander Moreno, M.S., RDN, LDN, founder of Essence Nutrition in Miami. “When you’re hungry at 12:30 p.m., you’ll order or eat the first thing that crosses your plate. Having a prepped meal cuts back on food anxiety and insecurity, and ensures proper food decisions.”
A ready-to-eat meal also makes the wait in a take-out line or at the drive-thru less appealing.
“Choosing your meal ahead of time also removes the element of impulse purchasing,” says Kelsey Peoples, M.S., RDN, owner of The Peoples Plate in New Jersey. “Even if you’re having a particularly stressful day at work, you won’t be tempted to grab a cheeseburger with fries if you already have your meal ready to eat. Research supports this concept that people have overall healthier meals when they preselect their food in advance.”
You can control what you eat

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It’s no secret that restaurant food, even healthier options like those from trendy fast-casual restaurants, just isn’t as healthy as cooking at home. Restaurant meals are consistently higher in sodium and calories. If you eat out day after day, the extras can really add up.
With meal prepping, you can weigh and measure your portions. This can help you keep tabs on exactly what you’re eating, and that makes tracking calories or other nutrients easier. Plus, you control the ingredients and can make sure your calories are coming from mostly nutrient-dense whole foods.
“Eating out tends to include higher-sodium, higher-fat and higher-calorie dishes due to the ingredients, recipes and sauces that food-service establishments frequently use,” Wilk says. “It’s also known that oversized portions have become the norm at restaurants. By cooking at home, you can serve yourself more reasonably.”
You can stave off morning hunger

Featured Recipe: Peanut Butter Protein Overnight Oats
Meal-prepping isn’t just for lunch or dinner. It can make a huge difference for people who have busy mornings, too.
“Overnight oats are an excellent breakfast that can be prepared the night before,” says Kelly Krikhely, M.S., RD, CDN. “You simply mix oats with Greek yogurt and almond milk or any milk of your choice, and store it in the fridge overnight.”
The next morning, you can add nuts, nut butter or fruit to boost the nutrition value and add flavor.
“If you prep overnight oats the night before, you have a filling healthy breakfast you can eat on the run instead of grabbing the croissant with eggs, bacon and cheese, or the sugar-laden muffin you’re used to getting from the corner deli,” Krikhely says.
You can cut out takeout lunch

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Meal prep makes taking lunch to work or school easy and appealing. You don’t have to worry about rising early to chop or mix, spread or slice your day’s lunch before you leave. Premade meals can be stored in individual grab-and-go containers and are ready to go when you are.
“Meal-prepping helps you avoid the temptations of takeout foods, ‘ready to eat’ or ‘grab and go’ foods or processed foods,” says Lisa Garcia, M.S., RDN, LD. “All of these can include more calories than you may want to eat and ingredients you may want to limit or avoid.”
Garcia adds, “Instead of spending lunchtime standing in line at a take-out place, you could go for a walk.”
Meal prep improves variety

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Research shows that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables every day can reduce your risk of chronic diseases and help you better manage your weight.
When you have time to plan, shop and cook in advance, you can be more intentional about what you put on your plate. That means you can make room for more of those vegetables, fruits, whole grains and healthy fats.
“We always hear-and say, as health experts-that eating a variety of foods is important. That’s because when you switch up the fruits and vegetables that you’re eating, the grains that you cook, or the proteins that you purchase, you’re likely getting a wide variety of vitamins and minerals,” says Brierley E. Horton, M.S., RD. “So if you put together a weekly meal plan that’s varied in healthy food choices, you should get a good mix of nutrients.”
You can customize meals to your needs
Whether you’re trying to lose weight so you feel better, or you need to lose weight because of a recent health diagnosis, meal-prepping can help you match your diet goals-something that is very difficult to do with restaurant food.
“You can customize your meals and snacks to your tastes, preferences and energy needs,” Wilk says.
If you live in a household where people are following more than one diet-think a Paleo-eater and a vegan cohabitating-meal prep makes it doable to get two different meals to the table on busy nights and mornings. If you prep cauliflower rice and quinoa ahead with a mix of veggies, sauces and proteins, everyone can build their own bowls and meals to enjoy. If nothing is prepped in advance, getting dinner on the table, let alone making customized meals, can feel like an impossible endeavor.
Meal prep removes the stress of cooking

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After a stressful day at work, the last thing you need is to worry about how you’ll cook dinner when you don’t even know what you have in the fridge. That’s why many people turn to fast food or takeout. That’s one less thing you have on your to-do list.
Remove those worries by bulk cooking on the weekends or one day per week. This will eliminate the post-work worry and guarantee you won’t be tempted by the grab-and-go options at the corner deli.
“If you’re not a meal planner already, it might feel like a lot to get started-all that time planning what you’ll eat for a week and then shopping and prepping,” Horton says. “But if you were to add up the time spent every day thinking about what’s for dinner, and then making multiple grocery store trips each week, I bet doing it all in one fell swoop and before the week gets busy is going to save your stress level.”
If the first week is tough or confusing, keep going. “The more you flex that meal-planning muscle, the easier it gets,” Horton adds.
Try These: Healthy Meal Prep Recipes
You can eat cleaner meals
Premade foods are often filled with preservatives, salt and other ingredients you wouldn’t necessarily want to eat if you had the choice. Meal prep gives you that choice.
“When you meal prep, you inevitably eat ‘cleaner,'” Wilk says. That’s because you can control what you put on the plate and into your body. Whole foods like lean protein, grains, and fruits and vegetables are among the healthiest-and cleanest-foods you can eat. Meal-prepping makes eating those convenient.
Four Keys to Successful Meal Prep

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Whether you’re a first-time meal-prepper or an experienced one looking to make the process easier after several months of cooking ahead, these four tips from meal-planning experts can help you enjoy the activity more and make better decisions.
1. Start with a master list
“Take a few minutes to sit down and write out all the meals you typically cook and your family enjoys,” says Amanda Nighbert, M.S., RD. “Having this master list will make planning your weekly menu so much quicker and easier each week.”
Nighbert suggests you should then check what you have on hand, in the fridge, freezer and pantry, and use those ingredients to finalize your choices for the week. Your master list will help you recall family-favorite recipes, and then you can add recipes that can help you use up ingredients and save money when you need to do something new.
2. Set aside a day to cook

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“One of the biggest barriers I hear from clients is that they are too tired in the evening to wash and cut vegetables after a long day at work,” Krikhely says. “Many want to eat healthier, but find that preparing dinner from scratch is often a roadblock.”
Prepping ahead, however, helps you meet and beat that barrier.
“An effective meal-prepper does a chunk of the work at one time,” Nighbert says. “For example, once I return from the store each Sunday, I begin my meal prep. I spend one to two hours in the kitchen chopping and cooking as much as I can ahead of time to reduce the amount of time to get a meal on the table each night.”
3. Start small
If meal-prepping for a week feels daunting, don’t think about seven days. Focus on three or four instead. This way, you still only need to cook twice in a week, not every single day.
“Start with just prepping for two or three days or meals,” Garcia says. “Beginners especially can get so focused on ‘meal planning’ that they get overwhelmed and never get to do the actual prepping. By thinking about only two or three days instead of seven, you’re learning to walk before you try to run.”
4. Repeat

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You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every week. Instead, get into a cycle of planning for a week’s worth of meals and repeating it later.
“Save your weekly meal plans for a few months so that you can go back and recycle an entire week’s plan on weekends when you’re short on time,” Horton suggests.