Weekly Meal Prep

RecipesMeal Prep
Written By Madison Coyne

How I Meal Prep as a Dietitian & Why

As a dietitian, I believe meal prep should make life simpler, not more stressful. Its all about focusing on nutrient-dense basics…so meeting your nutrition goals feels easy and realistic. No more skipping breakfast on busy mornings, wasting money on overpriced lunches out of office, and overthinking ‘What’s for dinner?’ every night. It’s all about simple prep, a stocked kitchen, and foods that make you feel good.

My food prep formula typically includes 1 grab & go lunch, 1-2 balanced snack, 1 high-protein breakfast, 2-4 vegetables, 1 basic protein, and 1 fiber-rich carbohydrate.

This formula works really well for be because it has a couple ready to eat options AND also basic carbs, protein, and veggies to build out a variety of meals and snacks throughout the week. Working 9-5 in corporate wellness, I need ready prepared options for breakfast and lunch save me energy and time. But I don’t always want the same thing, so ingredient prepping gives me some flexibility to be creative. Here’s an overview of what I prepped this week:

‘You Pick Two’ Soup & Salad

Even though Halloween is this week, we’ve still been getting some 70-80 degree days in Iowa. The sporadic hot and cold days have been leading me to crave both hot and cold foods. So, cue a soup and salad lunch combo inspired by good ‘ole Panera Bread “You Pick Two” lunches. I had some squash from the farmer’s market, so I decided to make a roasted kabocha squash soup. For my salad, I prepped my “glow-to” salad with apple cider vinaigrette in mason jars.

Banana Oat Cups

My banana oat cups are easily one of my most loved recipes, and understandably so. One muffin packs 6 grams of protein and almost 4 grams of fiber. They are versatile making the perfect quick snack topped with nut butter, as an addition to a breakfast yogurt bowl, or served as dessert with some ice cream. You can make them any just about any flavor you’d like. This week I made my OG with frozen wild blueberries.

Beet Hummus

While whipping up your own homemade hummus may sound like a lot, its actually very easy and simple. All you need to do is add chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic to a blender, food processor, or immersion blender. This week I didn’t have two cans of chickpeas, so I swapped one for white canelli beans. I added beets to my hummus for extra antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Hard-Boiled Eggs

Did you know you can make PERFECT hard or soft boiled eggs in the air fryer? Goodbye to the days of waiting for your pot of water to boil. I plan on having smoothies or eggs with sides as my breakfast this week. I’ve been craving hard-boiled eggs instead of scrambled, so prepped half a dozen.

Parboiled Potatoes

One thing I’ve noticed about weeknight dinners since transitioning from grad school to full-time work life is that I eat dinner much later. This often leads to me reaching for quicker to cook carbohydrates like rice and pasta. While these are certainly great choices, it’s led me to eating significantly less potatoes. Both regular potatoes and sweet potatoes are both great sources of potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, antioxidants, and fiber. AKA I need to get more of these nutrient rich carbs into my diet! To have quicker cooking potatoes on weeknights, I par-boiled or partially cooked them. This technique of cooking and cooling potatoes also creates resistant starch. Resistant starch acts like soluble fiber with some potential benefits being improved insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar levels, reduced appetite, and various benefits for digestion. Here is an article to learn more about the parboil technique.

Additional Meal Prep Resources

Looking for more resources and support for meal prepping?

Madison Coyne
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Hard Boiled Eggs