Meal prep: a week of lunches
Built as components rather than five finished boxes: a grain, a protein, something roasted, something raw and a dressing. Assemble in the morning, not on Sunday.
30 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- The shopping
- A grain: rice, couscous, orzo or quinoa
- A protein: chicken, chickpeas, eggs, tofu, feta
- Roasting vegetables: squash, peppers, broccoli, red onion
- Raw crunch: cucumber, carrot, radish, cabbage
- Leaves, bought late in the week rather than early
- Something acidic: lemon, pickles, capers
- Nuts or seeds for texture
- Bread or wraps for two of the days
- The prep evening — 45 minutes
- Oven on, vegetables chopped and roasting first
- Grain on the hob
- Protein cooked while both are going
- Eggs boiled in the same pan as something else
- Dressing made in a jarThree parts oil to one part acid, mustard, salt. Shake. It lasts the week.
- Raw vegetables cut and stored dry
- Everything cooled before the lids go on
- Building a good box
- Grain at the bottom
- Protein and roast vegetables next
- Raw and leaves on top
- Dressing separately, always
- Something salty or pickled, or it tastes flat
- Something crunchy, added in the morning
- Making the week work
- Five containers you own and that stack
- A small jar or two for dressing
- A fork that lives in your bag
- Fruit and a snack, or you will buy one
- One day off — plan to buy lunch on FridayA five-day plan fails on Thursday. A four-day plan finishes.
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- Why not make five finished lunches?
- Because by Thursday you are sick of it and it goes in the bin. Five components assembled differently costs the same evening and gets eaten.
- What keeps a salad from going soggy?
- Dressing in a separate jar, leaves on top rather than underneath, and anything wet — tomato, cucumber — added in the morning.