Healthy Lunches – Meal Prep Monday

Tips and ideas for creating healthy lunches in advance for the entire week. Meal Prep made simple so you look forward to lunch.

As a stay at home mom, I always thought that meal prep was geared more towards people who had to bring their lunch to work or school. I was wrong.

Every week I plan our family’s meals, including lunch, but I normally didn’t really “prep” anything in advance.

As a result, I often found myself starving by lunch and rolling my eyes when I saw that my scheduled lunch for that day was something that required lots of chopping, grilling or baking. Since I was too hungry by that point to prepare anything, I’d just eat whatever was on hand and ready to eat. Definitely not a healthy and balanced lunch.

PS – If you are looking for a great resource for meal planning, The Gingered Whisk shares her weekly meal plans organized by month.  A great source recipe and meal inspiration!

My Adventure into Lunch Meal Prep

One week I decided to practice what I preach and prep my lunch for the entire week on Sunday. I picked a healthy recipe that sounded good and made 5 servings (enough for Monday thru Friday). I bought glass containers at Ikea that made storing 5 lunches in the fridge easy.

Typically I don’t eat the same thing for lunch all week long. However, I decided to give it a try and see how it turned out. Surprisingly, I actually looked forward to lunch every, single, day.

I loved the fact that my lunch was already prepared and portioned out in the fridge. It made that part of my day so simple and easy. It was refreshing. I didn’t get bored of having the same thing everyday.

Tips for Creating Healthy Lunches in Advance –

• Pick a recipe that is well balanced – lean protein, healthy fats, lots of veggies, full of flavor
• Find a recipe that sounds really good but that holds well in the fridge
• Go beyond salads, try fried rice, stir-frys, spiralized noodles, burrito bowls, etc
• If dressing is included in your recipe, make a batch and keep on side until just before serving. Nothing worse than soggy lunches
• If you can’t eat the same lunch 5 days in a row, pick two recipes and alternate days

It’s now been 5 weeks of weekly lunch meal prep and I couldn’t be happier with how easy it has been!

Here have been my top favorite recipes to make (all pics are my own) –

Rainbow Power Salad with Roasted Chickpeas from Pinch of Yum

This salad is so flavorful! The Magic Green Sauce is to die for and the crispy chickpeas are so filling. Vegetarian, making it perfect for Meatless Mondays.

Greek Chicken Rice Bowls from Eazy Peazy Mealz

So easy to prep and delicious to eat! Filling and fresh.

Spicy Peanut Noodles from What’s Gaby Cooking

The peanut sauce in this salad had me licking the bowl! So full of fresh veggies and so much flavor. Also vegetarian and perfect for Meatless Mondays.

Mediterranean Protein Bowl (my own recipe)

A protein packed salad with so much flavor and fresh veggies! Perfect for Meatless Mondays since it’s 100% vegetarian.