ThePrep: The Best Base Recipes to Meal Prep for Endless Lunch Options
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Seems as if you liked the meal-prep lunch recipes from last week, yes? I had some sweet emails from readers come Monday morning—thanks to those of you who wrote in! I love reading your messages.
This week we’re covering a new meal-prep approach for lunch, in which we make a few simple base recipes (think a whole grain, a protein source, a veggie and a dressing) and use them in different ways during the week. This is an especially helpful form of meal prep if you’re the kind of person who gets bored eating the same thing day after day. Combine those base recipes with a few other components and you get a unique lunch every day!
Your Meal Plan
The Edamame & Veggie Rice Bowls, Citrus Lime Tofu Salad and Easy Brown Rice & Veggie Wrap are delicious examples of how to do this kind of prep. These recipes were created to go along with one of the first meal-prep articles I ever wrote—How to Meal-Prep for a Week of Vegan Lunches—and are still some of my favorites to date! They all use the base recipes in different ways and combine with simple add-ons, such as fresh herbs, pumpkin seeds and avocado, so each one has a totally different feel.
Here’s how it's done:
Step 1: Make the Soy-Lime Roasted Tofu (or use any protein, like chicken or canned beans).
Step 2: As the tofu roasts, cook up a batch of the Easy Brown Rice (or use precooked rice).
Step 3: While those two recipes cook, chop the veggies and get the Colorful Roasted Sheet-Pan Veggies in the oven.
Step 4: Mix up the Citrus-Lime Vinaigrette and the Creamy Vegan Cashew Sauce to add some flavor variety to your week of lunches.
Step 5: Pick the add-ins and assemble lunches!
Looking for something different? Give one of these other meal-prep lunch recipes a try this week:
Let me know if you try this type of meal prep or what else you’re doing to prep ahead for a healthy week! Email me at ThePrep@eatingwell.com. If you have a question or requests for future newsletter topics, I’d love to hear those too.
Dinners for the Week
Believe it or not, these easy dinners really only take 15 minutes to get to the table. The secret? Healthy convenience items, like canned soup, jarred sauce and precooked rice.
Get the Plan: 15-Minute Dinner Plan for the Week
We're making shopping easier with a list of all the ingredients you need to make this week's recipes. You can print it out, or just keep it on your phone when you hit the store. As always, I swapped in ready-to-use ingredients on the shopping list where possible to keep your week as easy as can be. Get the shopping list for the 3 lunches here and the shopping list for just the dinners and dessert here.
Treat Yourself
Slathered with nut butter and topped with mini chocolate chips, salted pistachios (or whatever you have on hand) and a drizzle of honey, this fruit-forward treat will surely satisfy your sweet tooth.
Get the Recipe: Apple Mini Fruit Pizzas