8 Healthy Meal Prep Bowls in 1 Hour (2024)

FAQs

How long should meal prep take? ›

How Long Does it Take to Meal Prep? This depends on how many meals you're making and how many people you're cooking for. A week of lunches and dinners for two adults can take about 2 hours. Add breakfast or a really diverse menu and you could make it to 3 hours.

soups, my broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, Beans, rice, corn, sweet potato, quinoa, oats, roasted vegetables(freezer friendly) but avoid tomatoes always prep them on the day or for day after. Boiled eggs, turkey, grilled chicken, pork. Beef. acidic or wilting foods are best made fresh.

While you definitely want variety for your meal prep, you should limit your recipes to two or three per week, and for five days ahead of time max. Being prepared is great, but you also want to make sure you're eating meals with fresh ingredients even if prepared ahead of time.

One important note though: as long as you cook meals properly, food will be perfectly safe to eat within seven days. However, by day five, it might not be as tasty. If there's one number to remember from this cheat sheet, it's four. Most meals are good (safe AND tasty) in the fridge for up to four days.

Make a meal plan of about four days of safe storage in the fridge and about four months of safe storage in the freezer. Watch for changes (smell, color, texture, and mold) to your meal prep food as a sign that it's gone bad. If you're unsure if food has spoiled: when in doubt, throw it out.

The only food which comes close to being something you could survive on long term as a sole ingredient is the potato. The fact that the potato has Vitamin C means that scurvy is not a risk like it would be with almost any other food source lacking in this nutrient.

When you're prepping, focus on choosing easy-to-cook, bulk-packaged foods that store well. My recommendation is to mix and match from these categories and go to town: Protein: Chicken breast, lean ground beef, pork tenderloin, flank steak, lean lunch meat (turkey breast, ham, or roast beef) and low-fat beef jerky.

If you have a busy schedule and limited time for cooking during the week, meal prepping can be a convenient and time-saving option. By preparing meals in advance, you can ensure that you have healthy and nutritious meals ready to eat throughout the week, which can also help you save money and reduce food waste.

Carbs from veggies: All leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, vegetables like artichokes, swiss chard, sweet potato, green banana are all healthy carbs that pack plenty of fiber, vitamins and complex starch that keeps your meal prep nutritious.

The Shelf Life of Refrigerated Meal Preps

Typically, refrigerated meal preps last between 3 to 5 days, depending on the ingredients used. However, this relatively short window can be a challenge for many people, as it requires diligent planning and scheduling to ensure that all meals are consumed before they spoil.

Is meal prep food good for 5 days? ›

Meal-prepped soups and stews can last up to four days in the fridge. Chicken and rice can last up to five days in the fridge. Meal prep salads can last up to three days in the fridge. Meal prep food can also be stored in the freezer.

Although it's nice to be able to knock out all of your meals in one go, don't be afraid to prep more than once per week if it suits your lifestyle better. Kerkenbush told Insider that for tastier meals, and possibly better food-safety practices, a good rule of thumb is to aim for prepping twice a week.

You can typically expect most meal prep recipes to last for 3-5 days. It does depend on the ingredients used though. Here's a general guide: Meats and chicken have about a 5 day shelf life.