Meal Prep Recipes

Our best Meal Prep Recipes to get you through the week, plus meal prep and meal planning 101 tips! All vegetarian!

Hello friend, if you’re wondering if this post is for you, it definitely is. Maybe you’re curious about starting meal prep, or you want to get better at it, or you just need some new recipes. No matter what position you’re at in life, meal prep is definitely for you. I wanted to share my fav meal prep recipes with you. They are all vegetarian and gluten free, so feel free to customise to your liking. Best of all, they are ALL filling (yes!!). I also threw in a great dessert for you (double yes!!) read on for the recipes and some of my fav meal prep tips and tricks.

WHAT IS MEAL PREP?

So what exactly is meal prep/meal planning? It’s when you prepare your meals in advance, be it a week or even a month ahead of time. This could be preparing anything from full on recipes or sticking to prepping your veggies, proteins and carbs for your meals. Jessica in the Kitchen features a lot meal prep recipes. I love making meals ahead of time. Personally, and I know a lot of people who do the same, Sunday is that day that seems to slow down a bit and as such, is the perfect day to meal prep for the week ahead.

Why should you meal prep?

Personally, when I meal prep I feel in CONTROL of my life. It helps me with decision fatigue (one less decision to make). It gets pretty crazy sometimes, and I hate to say it but I often miss meals because I just don’t know what to eat, or the thought of going to prepare a full on meal when I only have an hour to do so is so daunting.

Other reasons for you may include sticking to certain eating lifestyle. Maybe you’re just so tired when you come home from work that it’s so much easier to order a pizza than cook a meal from scratch. Or, you want to bring lunch to work instead of all buying it. P.S. – I did an entire post on meal prep salad lunches . All of these reasons are why meal planning and prepping steps in to save us. Prepping all your meals/foods ahead means being able to stick to your plan/schedule/manage your crazy lifestyle. It means achieving balance.

Here are the recipes I consider the best meal prep recipes I’ve got. Speaking of, if you need a quick guide/cheat-list as to how to determine whether a recipe will be great for meal prep, use this:

Quick Guide/Cheat-List to choose Meal Prep Recipes

• Has a lot of servings – can easily last days
• Can be easily reheated AND will taste great
• Can be frozen. SO important if you want to prep ahead.
• Will keep fresh for at least a few days in the fridge.
• You can switch up the elements. This is why I adore bowl foods. Don’t be afraid to get creative! Switch out here and there for your fav recipes!

By the way, in my opinion, one of the easiest things to prep are roasted veggies. They go with any protein, last long, taste even better than raw veggies. I’ve included my grilled balsamic veggies but you could easily roast them instead. Enjoy and happy recipes!!

Meal Prep Breakfast Recipes & Snacks

Pumpkin overnight oats

7 Quick & Easy Banana Smoothies

Chocolate Raspberry Baked Oatmeal Cups

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies

Mexican Breakfast Burritos

Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Bites

Brownie Energy Bites

Meal Prep Lunches & Dinners Recipes

Loaded Sweet Potato Skins

Roasted or grilled vegetables (PERFECT for sides)

Creamy Coconut Spinach and Mushroom Quinoa

Coconut Chickpea Curry

Quinoa enchilada skillet

Vegan Quinoa Cauliflower Burgers

Black Bean & Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Tropical Quinoa Salad Bowl with BBQ Chickpeas

Nourish Buddha Bowl with Harissa Tahini Dressing

Cuban Quinoa Bowls with Pineapple Salsa

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad Bowl

Fajita Bowl

Chickpea & Beet “Meat” Balls

BONUS – Dessert!

Peanut Butter Cups

You’ll love to always have some of these in your freezer! Let it thaw a bit first before biting in.

BONUS TOPIC: How To Meal Prep and Plan – 5 Steps

1. Choose delicious meal prep recipes – see all the yummy recipes above.
2. Ensure you have the correct tools . All you really need are the tools to make the dishes, and the correct meal prep containers to store the food in. I use these tupperware containers for products going in the fridge, and these Ball plastic freezer jars for foods going into the freezer (the shape works for pretty much anything). You can also use zipped freezer safe bags for freezer items, such as the burritos.
3. Make it easy for yourself – prep on a light day. If that’s Sunday, do it then, if it’s another day, choose that. Make it customisable for you!
4. Cook/bake like products at the same time . Roast similar veggies at the same time in the oven, and if baking something else at that same temperature, stick it in also and just set different timers. Put foil or silicone mats on baking sheets for easy clean up. Also, if you’re doing it week by week (I recommend) choose recipes with similar products to save on expenses and to make life easier. For example, the coconut chickpea curry, spinach and quinoa skillet, quinoa enchilada skillet and the chickpea beet meatballs all use a combination of coconut milk, chickpeas and quinoa. This way you get variety, but you aren’t using a ton of different ingredients.
5. Lastly – eat ! Ensure to eat meals with the freshest ingredients first to avoid waste and to ensure you get the full nutritional value.

My Fav Meal Prep Recipes Products

Turn on your JavaScript to view content

If you try any of these, or have any more questions, definitely ask and let me know! Happy Meal Prepping and Eating! Please let me know in the comment section below, or tag me on instagram with the hashtag #jessicainthekitchen ! For more exclusive recipes follow me on Instagram AND on Snapchat: jessinkitchen.

Bored of your lunch or want some new exciting ideas? Here are 5 Mason Jar Salads To Meal Prep for a Week of Lunches you can prep in just one hour for your entire week ahead! Plus tips for making the perfect mason jar salad.

Happy Wednesday! Hump Day seemed like the perfect day to share these recipes with you. I’ve been making meal prep salads for well, forever, but when I discovered Mason Jar salads, it kind of pretty much changed the salad game for me. It’s not even about being “hipster” – putting your salad in a mason jar can bring about a world of possibilities:

1. You can meal prep them ahead of time, as in, like a week ahead of time with fresh ingredients. They last very long!
2. Your dressing won’t make your green soggy. Properly layering a mason jar salad means they never touch until you’re ready to them, keeping everything fresh and crisp.
3. They are easily portable and grab and go convenient. They take up very little space both in your lunch kit and your fridge, and being see through means you can just open your fridge, grab what you want, and go! I’m sharing my top 5 favourite salads for a Mason Jar salad with you.

Now if you’ve never meal prepped before, you should check out my Meal Prep 101 Post: my best meal prep recipes . Meal prep makes a world of differences, saves you so much time in the long run and helps to keep you on track. I know for me, when I’m hungry and there isn’t any prepared food or good snacks, it’s a bad situation. I’ll pretty much eat anything. Meal prepping solves that – already prepared food is sitting in your fridge, just waiting to be devoured.

Pictured: Balsamic Vinaigrette , Avocado Dressing and Harissa Tahini Dressing

So on to these Mason Jar Salads. Even though I work at home, stopping to cook lunch can kill so much time so having food already prepared is a life saver. If you work in an office, these are even better for you! You can prep all of these meal prep salads on Sunday night for the entire week of work lunches. You can even make more to carry over into dinner, or check out some of my favourite meal prep dinner recipes too. Either way, you’ll be surprised how little rush there will be in the morning, and how much money you’ll save on lunches. Now, I have just a few small tips before I give you the recipes for the salads, and they will help with just how great your salads turn out.

1. Choose the containers that best suit your needs. I’m kind of a Mason Jar addict, I have them in every kind and for every purpose. I found that the pint jars from Ball work best for me and my salads. If you want something a bit bigger, you can purchase the Quart jars. Now, I’m not counting out tupperware here at all. I think it’s perfect for if you want to assemble your salad the morning you leave (totally fine too). Cut up all the veggies and portions needed for the salad, place into your tupperware containers (I love labelling them). and then divvy it up in the morning. I don’t necessarily stick to just one brand when it comes to these, but I do love the Rubbermaid Stackables and the Glad containers.
2. Layer your jars properly. This will make your jar or ruin it. Jar layering is a science…just kidding. It’s super easy. Start with non-absorbent/thick & hard veggies (think cabbages, tomatoes, carrots), then your soft veggies (chickpeas, beans), and end with your leafy greens at the top. If you’re using cheese, I like to put it a layer below the veggies, and if using nuts, I like to put them on top. P.S. – these are my three favourite dressings that work for all of these jars.
3. FRESH INGREDIENTS. Friends! This is so crucial. Fresh ingredients make all the difference with how long your Mason Jar Salads taste and how great they taste. I like to go to the farmer’s market on Saturday. (P.S. FREE and printable for you) and then meal prep the next day.

Nourish Buddha Bowl with Harissa Tahini Dressing

Find the recipe for this salad here.

Apple Pecan Feta Salad with Maple Apple Dressing

Find the recipe for this salad here. P.S. Here’s my recipe for vegan cheese

BBQ Chickpeas Quinoa & Avocado Salad

Find the recipe for this salad here. I used the Avocado Dressing in place of sliced avocados because it can double as a dressing, and lasts longer than sliced avocados.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Find the recipe for this salad here. P.S. Here’s my recipe for vegan cheese

Roasted Sweet Potato Quinoa & Black Bean Salad

Ingredients

Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Bean Salad

• 3 tablespoons Creamy Vegan Avocado Dressing
• 1/3 cup roasted sweet potato cubes*
• 1/4 cup seasoned black beans , I just heat them in a pan and stir with cumin, garlic, salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup purple cabbage
• 1/3 cup cooked quinoa
• 2 cups mixed salad greens , washed, torn and dried

Instructions

Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Bean Salad

• Layer the ingredients in a mason jar once cooled and place in fridge as follows from bottom to top
• Dressing
• Purple Cabbage
• Black Beans
• Quinoa
• Sweet Potato Cubes
• Mixed Salad Greens Last.
• If you want to reheat some of the layers, simple separate them in a plate and reheat separately.
• Enjoy!

Notes