My Simple & Realistic Weekly Meal Prep
If you know anything about me, you know that I am the meal prep queen. I genuinely love the convenience of having home-cooked meals ready to go throughout the week — and I’m here to show you how I make it work.
One thing that makes meal prep easier for me is repeating meals. I know, I know — that sounds boring. But this exactly how you save money, time, and stress. The key is making meals you actually enjoy and switching up small things when you want something different.
For context, I meal prep for 3-4 days at a time, not the entire week. Here’s how I structure it:
Breakfast
Snack
Lunch
Dinner
Dessert
Let’s break it down.
Breakfast
My breakfasts are built around eggs, potatoes, and vegetables — simple, balanced, and filling.
My typical combinations include:
Eggs and egg whites with breakfast potatoes and vegetables
Sometimes I add meat like chicken sausage or bacon. Sometimes I swap regular potatoes for sweet potatoes, sometimes I mix both together. If I’m working from home, I’ll cook my eggs fresh so they’re perfectly yolky — my absolute favorite. If I have avocado on hand, it’s going on the plate.
These are simple sheet pan meals, which keeps both the cooking and cleanup easy. Check out my breakfast prep video here.
Snack
For my snack, I almost always make miso soup — and if you haven’t tried it, please do.
Miso soup has great gut health benefits, and when made with bone broth instead of water, it also provides collagen and extra nutrients. I usually drink it in the morning to support digestion, but sometimes I’ll have it later in the day when I want something warm and light between meals.
Curious about the bone broth? I shared my homemade bone broth process on Tiktok.
Lunch
Lunch rotates around four simple stable ingredients: rice, potatoes, ground chicken, and ground turkey. I mix and match depending on what I’m feeling.
This week I’m making ground turkey with rice. Last week it was ground chicken with potatoes. I’ll usually add a fresh yolky egg on top for extra protein, and avocado if I have it. Keeping lunch this simple makes prep quick while still giving me flexibility throughout the week.
Check out on of my typical lunch bowls here.
Dinner & Dessert
This where I get creative — and you should too!
Dinner changes based on what I’m craving, recipes I’ve saved, and what kind of week I’m having. Some recent dinners include:
Ground chicken chili
Chicken tinga tostadas
Stew chicken with sweet plantains
Rice & beans (with potato salad if I’m feeling ambitious)
For dessert, I’ve been trying to bake more as a hobby, so my goal is to make something sweet about once a week. Recent wins include double chocolate brownies, peanut butter walnut brownies, and rice pudding. Trying to keep it relatively healthy but also… brownies exist for a reason.
Why This Structure Works
Because breakfast, lunch, and snacks rely on the same staple ingredients, my grocery list stays pretty consistent every week. That means I’m really only shopping for one dinner recipe and one dessert — everything else I already know I need.
That consistency makes buying in bulk a no-brainer, which is why I’m a big fan of wholesale clubs. I wrote more about that in The Benefits of a Wholesale Club Membership.
I use Trello to track my grocery list too — you can read more about that in Apps That Keep Me Organized.
My Typical Cooking Schedule
I know it can feel overwhelming, so here’s exactly how I break it down:
The day before: grocery shop (start bone broth if you’re making it)
Cut all vegetables first so everything is prepped and ready
Start the potatoes — these take about an hour
Put rice on — about 20 minutes
Make the ground turkey or chicken — about 20-25 minutes
Make the eggs — about 15 minutes
After 24-48 hours, strain the bone broth and mix in dashi paste
From there, the combinations are honestly endless. Eggs and potatoes for breakfast, ground turkey with rice for lunch, miso on the side — and if you switch up your seasonings, you’ve basically unlocked a thousand different meals.
Why Meal Prep Is Worth It
Meal prep might seem tedious at first but it is genuinely worth it. You’re filling your body with nutritious, home-cooked meals while saving money and cutting down on decision fatigue during busy weeks. Your grocery list stays predictable, your budget stays consistent, and you’re not scrambling to figure out what to eat every single day.
You deserve well-balanced, nourishing meals. I hope this gives you a realistic framework to build your own.
Unlock the Unwavering
If this resonated, try this:
Write down 3 protein sources you enjoy: chicken, tofu, fish
Write down 3 carb sources you enjoy: rice, potatoes, quinoa
Write down 2 things you’ve been craving lately: Taco Bell, Cava
Mix and match protein and carbs for 2 meals
Cook 1 craving this week
Meal prep doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs a simple structure that works for your life.
