All of our best Healthy Meal Prep Ideas, plus tips and tricks, are compiled together below! Enjoy gluten-free and dairy-free options for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks as well. These healthy recipes contain our personal favorites that we make all the time. You’ll also find my 4 main ways to meal prep and tips for how to find what meal-prepping style works best for you.
Meal prep is the single biggest thing we ever did to start eating healthier! There’s no doubt eating food you prepare yourself does take some time. But it doesn’t need to take ‘too’ much time or be complicated.
There are 4 main styles to meal prep listed below. And I think all four ways have many benefits depending on your schedule.
With a little experimenting, you can find what works best for you. My main tip for healthy meal prep ideas is to start small!
There’s no need to prep every single meal you need all week to get started. My encouragement would be to prep something… anything at all ahead and see how your week goes.
From there, make adjustments to prep more as needed.
4 main styles of meal prepping
- Prep all or most of your meal beforehand – this works best for anyone with a super-packed schedule.
- Prep individual pieces from the recipes you’ll make that week – for instance, prepping some veggies, sauces, etc.
- Prep 1 or more recipes on hand – like my Granola, Energy Bites, or a batch of Zuppa Toscana.
- Bonus meal prep option – make more than you need each time you cook and enjoy the leftovers.
We have found a mix of 2, 3, & 4 to work best for us. I try to have something prepped for the pantry or freezer, like my Granola or Energy Bites.
From there, we’ve found having something healthy prepped for lunch really helpful. In the summer, I grill a large batch of meat and vegetables. Then we’ll eat the leftovers cold or heated up for lunch. Or make one of our favorite salad recipes listed below.
In the colder months, I almost always have a batch of soup made ahead to reheat. Then when I cook dinner, I always make more than we need to reheat for lunches and dinners.
I also love to prep sauces or dressing ahead of time to use for a quick salad or even as a marinade.
My Dairy Free Ranch or the Greek Yogurt Dressing pictured above are favorites for healthy snacking with veggies like carrot sticks or celery.
Now, let’s dive in and talk about my best healthy meal prep recipe ideas!
Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas
- Overnight Oats + 10 Flavors
- Sausage Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
- Healthy Breakfast Salad – use my make-ahead option
- Air Fryer Sausage Links
- Turkey Breakfast Sausage
- Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits
- Homemade Granola
- Mexican Sweet Potato Bowls
- Meal Prep Egg Muffins 3 Ways
- Sweet Potato Sausage Apple Hash
- Meal Prep Sweet Potato Avocado Toast
We love these recipes for breakfast, but also some of them make great snacks. I make the Air Fryer Sausage Links almost every week to have in the refrigerator for a quick protein snack. The Turkey Breakfast Sausage is another favorite for a quick afternoon pick me up and good energy.
If you like oatmeal for breakfast, I highly recommend out Overnight Oats Recipe because there are 10 flavors to choose from and they’re so tasty.
Meal Prep Snack Recipes
- No Bake Energy Bites + 10 Flavors
- Coconut Chia Pudding
- Peanut Butter Granola Bars
- Coconut Chips
- Rosemary Almonds
- Paleo Honey Mustard Trail Mix
- Paleo Zesty Ranch Trail Mix
- 3 Easy Apple Slice Snacks
- Slow Cooker Applesauce
The No Bake Energy Bites are our most-made healthy snack ever! They’re so easy to make and taste like cookie dough.
They keep well in the fridge and freezer so we almost always have them on hand. But don’t overlook some of the pantry options as well like the Coconut Chips, Rosmeary Almonds, and both trail mix recipes go with us hiking all the time.
Meal Prep Lunch Ideas
- Healthy Tuna Salad
- 15 Healthy Adult Lunchables
- Turkey Taco Salad
- Curried Chicken Salad
- Healthy Chicken Salad
- Spicy Tuna Salad
- Greek Chicken Meal Prep
- Thai Lettuce Wraps
- Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
- Italian Sausage Butternut Soup
- Creamy Taco Soup
- Chicken and Broccoli Soup
The healthy lunches are so easy to make, and I highly recommend hopping over to that recipe for the make-ahead and budget-friendly options!
And as I mentioned above, we’re all about the salads in the summer and a big batch of soups in the winter. Every single recipe I listed above is a longtime favorite we make often.
Easy Meal Prep Dinner Recipes
- Instant Pot Egg Roll in a Bowl
- Garlic Herb Chicken and Asparagus
- Korean Ground Beef Bowls
- Carnitas Burrito Bowls or Barbacoa Burrito Bowls
- Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
- Slow Cooker Whole30 Chili
- Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
- Creamy Taco Soup
- Slow Cooker Salsa Beef
- Creamy Broccoli Chicken Soup
- Sheet Pan Lemon Chicken Asparagus
We rarely prep a dinner recipe ahead of time. But I always make at least twice what we need of these recipes so we can reheat them for dinner. Or for a healthy lunch option.
FAQ’s
What are the healthiest foods to meal prep?
I have found the healthiest foods to meal prep are the ones you’ll eat! Rather than going all out with meal prep for every meal, try prepping a few veggies ahead of time for the recipes you’ll make that week. We prep our protein ahead to have on hand, like cooked chicken breasts and hard-boiled eggs. Meal prep some healthy snacks and lunch options to have on hand. Then, experiment to find what works best for you.
Is it ok to meal prep for 5 days?
Not all foods will keep for 5 days in the refrigerator, so it’s best to prep a dish you know will keep that long. Also, foods like hard-boiled eggs will keep all week if you peel them as you need them. Other great things to prep are sauces, dressings or marinades.
Tips & Tricks
- It’s worth saying twice to start small, even just one thing prepped ahead! I love prepping ahead, like these seasonal meal prep photos when we have really busy weeks. But my mainstay for healthy meal prepping is to prep just one thing per week to help me stay on track.
- Prepping certain basics ahead can go a long way! Hard-boiled eggs are a mainstay because they’re the perfect grab-and-go option. My Instant Pot Crispy Potatoes are also prepped every single week in our house. With the potatoes cooked, you can pan-fry them quickly for breakfast or dinner.
- If you’re new to meal prepping, try prepping one of these recipes that doesn’t spoil for months like granola, coconut chips, or one of the trail mixes. I store them in sealed Mason jars in the pantry. See how you enjoy having something on hand, then add something new from there.
- Expanding my tips on the #2 way to meal prep from above, I like to prep things like homemade dressings or marinades ahead. Or prep individual ingredients: grate some cheese you need, or cut up veggies like onions, bell peppers, or broccoli that will keep for 2-3 days.
- Cook your own beans from scratch on the stove or Instant Pot like chickpeas, black beans, or pinto beans. These can be on hand for Taco Bowls, or freeze for the future. You can also cook some grains ahead as well for easy healthy meal prep. Quinoa is great cooked ahead to reheat or make into salads. I also like to cook rice ahead of time to make a quick fried rice with the leftovers.
Seasonal Meal Prep Ideas Recipe
- Spring Meal Prep Ideas
- Summer Meal Prep Ideas
- Fall Meal Prep Ideas
- Winter Meal Prep Ideas
- How to Meal Prep for the Week
For all of my meal prep recipes, head on over to the meal prep category for more recipe inspiration!
I really hope you enjoy these Healthy Meal Prep Recipes! If you do get a chance to make these recipes, I’d love to hear from you.
