Foods and Things You Absolutely Should Meal Prep

The below list is everything you may have overlooked as meal prep-able. From soup bases to cold noodle bowls; you can find some exciting new things to spice up the idea that meal prepping has to be solely naked chicken breasts and veggies. 

1. Your dressing and sauces. Sprouted Kitchen says she keeps sauce prep simple. Stating point-blank, she puts everything in a mason jar and shakes it-- but you’re welcome to bring out the mixer if you want. She gives three dynamic recipes for everything from your burrito bowls to salads. Find Sprouted Kitchen’s Meal Prepped Sauces by clicking here. 
2. Prepped, but not cooked, one-skillet meals. Pick your favorites from The Girl on Bloor’s list of throwing-it-all-in-the-skillet recipes. Gather fresh ingredients, chop them, and stuff them into some Tupperware to fry up later in the week. 
3. Grain breakfast bowls. Feasting at Home uses common and ancient grains to create her make-ahead breakfast bowls. Honestly, this list has all the variations you could ever dream of prepping. 
4. Smoothies. Are you a smoothie nut who needs goddess juice to get the day going? Well, according to Wholefully.com, there are three ways to meal prep a smoothie and save you time throughout the week. We recommend storing cut fresh fruits in jars for the beginning of the week and storing cut fruit in bags to be placed in the freezer for the second half of the week. Tip, don’t put your protein powder in until you’re ready to drink it. 
5. Cold noodles. Store your noodles separately and in a shallow, airtight bowl or baggie. This ensures they stay fresh longer. You can prep and toss the remaining ingredients, store in a separate container. Your cold noodle bowl ingredients should stay well for 3-5 days. Try out one or five of these 21 cold noodle salad recipes from Bon Appetit.com. 
6. A “I don’t feel like cooking what I meal prepped for tonight,” meal. Sometimes you don’t want to stand and watch your food fry, even if you already did the tedious chopping. Your fall back meal according to Brierley Horton, RD could be cold entrees like chicken salad or soba noodles. 
7. Snacks. Cottage cheese, edamame, and yogurt are great in small snack proportioned containers. The idea with prepped snacks is you don’t over-eat, so don’t leave them in their originally packaging. Top your cottage cheese with peaches or chopped bacon. Season and roast your edamame ahead of time. You could even try more savory meals like small dishes of tuna salad and pita chips. 
8. Soup bases. We stumbled upon a great soup base article, and we felt should share. The idea here is you have three variations of soup bases you can make and prep for the week. Once you have the base you can throw in your left over meatballs, some couscous and wham you have a great hearty dish. Check out the Instructables Cooking guide here. 
9. Granola, chips, and crisps. We could have put this under snacks but we love homemade granola for breakfast. Chips, like homemade tortilla chips for loaded, homemade nachos. Crispy kale chips pair perfectly with a simple turkey sandwich. And that leads us perfectly to our next meal prep suggestion...
10. Side Dishes. Prep flexible side dishes ahead of time to give variation to give a chef like spruce up to left-overs. The options here are endless. Try several of these 50 make ahead side dishes from Taste of Home. 
11. Tofu. You can press and season your tofu one to two days ahead of time. If you buy tofu at all you know sometimes it can sit in the bottom of your fridge for what seems like forever before you remember it’s there. Prepping, seasoning, and getting it ready to be a part of a tasty stew or sandwich is a great way to actually cook the tofu you buy.