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The best meal prep hacks, according to a pro

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We asked a pro meal prep blogger for her top tips. Check out her meal prep hacks for faster, easier prep.

Savoury ground meat lunch containers with boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and rice this for later
Source: Kristyna (Dupe)

Meal prep isn’t simple.

From choosing recipes to cleaning your kitchen afterwards, it can feel like quite the ordeal.

Meal prepping may seem like a chore, but it can make your workweek smoother, saving valuable time and money. Even saving ten minutes a night gives you almost an hour each week, and skipping takeout frees up extra funds for future fun.

In reality, most of us already know that meal prepping is a good idea in theory, but how do you make it a reality?

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be hard.

With a few helpful tricks up your sleeve, you can streamline the meal prep process to make it feel less stressful and, most importantly, achievable.

To get some insight into the meal prep hacks that really change the game, we reached out to Lauren Sampson, the creator behind Athlete Lunchbox, a blog dedicated entirely to meal-prep and easy recipes.

With a belief that a few good meal prep recipes can save you time and money — and provide an enjoyable (but healthy) experience — it’s clear that Lauren is a pro.

From snagging the best deals at the supermarket to finding the best containers, she shares plenty of helpful wisdom to transform your meal prep experience from a painful one into a pleasant one.

10 of the Best Meal Prepping Hacks

Jump to:

Time savers

1. Have a plan

Having a consistent plan with how you approach meal prepping each week can create a habit pattern that will make it quicker for you to prep each time. For example, I know I lose steam if I plan, shop, and prep all in the same day, which drags out the time. Therefore, I often plan what we're going to have the following week on  Friday, go grocery shopping on Saturday, and do my meal prepping on Sunday.

2. Mise en place

Mise en place means ‘everything in its place’, and entails having your ingredients, tools, and basic prep work (like chopping or peeling) done before you start cooking a recipe. Doing this can make a large difference, so you're not spending wasted time trying to catch up on recipe steps as you go, when you could have been organised at the beginning.

3. Create a recipe roster

Having a list of recipes you know and love to choose from for meal prep can save a lot of thinking time in the planning stage. Plus, if you're familiar with the recipe, it will often take you less time to do compared to a brand new recipe with complicated steps you're not familiar with.

Money-Savers

4. Shop the Specials

Shopping specials is always a good idea — and it’s something that will naturally get easier the more you meal prep. For example, if chicken breast is on sale one week, meal plan with meals that have chicken breast. You could also buy double what you need and freeze some for the next time you want chicken breast meals.

5. Opt for Seasonal Produce

Meal prepping with seasonal ingredients is a great way to pinch pennies. Seasonal produce is often cheaper because it's abundant and doesn't require expensive storage or transportation. You can do this by utilising Mediterranean produce (e.g., bell peppers/capsicum, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini) during summer and root vegetables (e.g., potatoes, pumpkins, carrots) during winter.

There's often a variation of a few dollars per kilogram between seasonal and out-of-season vegetables, so you can save a lot throughout the season.

Making Your Meal Prep Delicious

6. Add FLAVOUR!!!!

Food shouldn't just be sustenance. The more you enjoy the food, the more likely you're going to go back and actually eat it on days two, three, and four (and avoid the takeaway).

When I create meal prep-friendly recipes, I think of them in four components: protein, carbohydrates, colour (e.g., vegetables), and flavour. Sure, the flavour adds on some extra calories, but without it, you're probably going to turn your nose up by day three of plain chicken and rice.

Part of my inspiration for starting a meal prepping-focused blog was because I was tired of hearing that people thought meal prepping had to be boring, and it was just for ‘gym bros’ with their chicken, rice, and broccoli.

I enjoy turning my favourite takeaway recipes or restaurant dishes and turning them into something that is meal prep-friendly and that I look forward to — even on day four!

I want to show people that meal prepping and healthy eating don't have to be restrictive or repetitive. After all, cooking more at home and knowing what is in your food is always going to triumph over takeaway options — even if you need a little extra sauce to eat your veggies.

Clean-Up Hacks

7. Clean Your Kitchen First

Having a clean working space before you start meal prepping is pretty essential, so that you can get straight into prepping without having to worry about stopping and cleaning something up.

8. Clean as You Go

Cleaning as you go also helps. I'm still yet to learn this trick, but I sometimes have my partner run back up and clean at the same time as I cook. This approach can save time at the end of the process, so you can just get your food into the containers and relax on the couch, admiring your efforts.

Simplifying the Process

9. Have Some Go-To Ingredients

A few key ingredients can make the whole process easier.  

A bulk bag of rice (think the 10kg bags) is on my shopping list a couple of times a year. Whenever I am stuck on what to prep, I know I always have rice ready in my cupboard to add to whatever I make.

Other regular items on my list include:

  • Rolled oats: I typically have overnight oats for breakfast every day.
  • A whole chicken: This is the most affordable and versatile cut of chicken, and you can use it in a number of different ways (e.g., roast, salads, wraps, pasta bake).
  • Frozen produce: I stock up on frozen vegetables and frozen berries, which can be quickly added to meals to give them colour.

10. Invest in Good Containers

Having the right meal prep tools in your toolkit is a huge help — and one of the most essential tools = good containers.

If you're in the market for new meal prep containers, I highly recommend investing in glass containers with a clip on lid. Glass is preferable over plastic because it doesn't stain (think about the red tomato sauce in your clear plastic containers and how they're never the same again), plus they are microwave and oven-safe so they make reheating a lot easier.

I've had Ikea's glass meal prep containers (in various sizes) for over 5 years, and they are the perfect size for lunches and dinners, plus their lids are airtight.

Pyrex is also a good brand for glass containers, and they have larger sizes if you're making bigger batches, such as a whole chicken.

I have also heard really good things about Rubbermaid's collection of containers.

About the Expert

Lauren Sampson, Athlete Lunchbox

Lauren is the owner and operator of Athlete Lunchbox, where she shares meal prep inspiration and easy recipes to help lower the barrier and empower busy humans to cook more at home.

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