March 13, 2024

Simplifying your meals: what can be prepped at the weekend to make the week ahead easier?

The logo of Delicious & Real Weekly Mean Plans in the middle of the image with a photo chopped vegetables on a cutting board on one side and a photo of potato wedges on the other side.

Planning and prepping go hand in hand: once you have createdyour plan, you can then work out which meals and ingredients to prep at theweekend.  

If I didn’t plan and prep my meals, we wouldn’t have home-cooked food every day of the week and our shopping bills would be a lot higher.

So, what are my top ten preps?

·        Chicken and vegetables - Roast some chicken pieces (the Marks & Spencer ones are really good value and quality) and vegetables ready for quick and easy lunches or dinners. Roasted vegetables also make a great addition to your breakfast plate.

·        Rice - Batch cook rice, freeze in portions, defrost and reheat thoroughly before serving.

·        Soup - I always have soup in my freezer: it makes an easy nutritious lunch or dinner and is a great way of using up all of those slightly bendy veggies from the bottom of the fridge! You can make it on the hob, or just throw everything in the slow cooker.

·        Meatballs and burgers - These can be prepped and popped in the fridge raw for 3-4 days: pop in a lidded container and separate layers with greaseproof paper (they can also be frozen).

·        Bolognaises, chillis and curries -  Made in advance and popped in the fridge for up to 4 days, I think they actually taste better! They can also be frozen and are perfect for batch cooking. I like to freeze in handy portions and love these soup cubes (which I also use for freezing my soup!) Once frozen, I pop out the cubes and store them in a silicone bag in the freezer.

·        Lunch – I tend to make 3 or 4 lunches at a time and whoever needs one, grabs it out of the fridge. Here are some of the recent ones that I have shared on Instagram: Chicken and lentils; Sweet potato and roasted cauliflower; Chicken pasta.  

And, here’s a link to the glasscontainers I use – they are one of my kitchen hero products!

I share lots of meal-plan and prep inspiration and recipes over on Instagram, so do give me a follow.

And, if you are interested in learning more about my membership, here’s 20% off making it it less than £1 a week to access all of my recipes, my online meal-planning tool and my automated shopping list.

Happy planning Claire x

A photo of author of the article Claire Gillies, holding a plate of food.

Planning and prepping go hand in hand: once you have createdyour plan, you can then work out which meals and ingredients to prep at theweekend.  

If I didn’t plan and prep my meals, we wouldn’t have home-cooked food every day of the week and our shopping bills would be a lot higher.

So, what are my top ten preps?

·        Chicken and vegetables - Roast some chicken pieces (the Marks & Spencer ones are really good value and quality) and vegetables ready for quick and easy lunches or dinners. Roasted vegetables also make a great addition to your breakfast plate.

·        Rice - Batch cook rice, freeze in portions, defrost and reheat thoroughly before serving.

·        Soup - I always have soup in my freezer: it makes an easy nutritious lunch or dinner and is a great way of using up all of those slightly bendy veggies from the bottom of the fridge! You can make it on the hob, or just throw everything in the slow cooker.

·        Meatballs and burgers - These can be prepped and popped in the fridge raw for 3-4 days: pop in a lidded container and separate layers with greaseproof paper (they can also be frozen).

·        Bolognaises, chillis and curries -  Made in advance and popped in the fridge for up to 4 days, I think they actually taste better! They can also be frozen and are perfect for batch cooking. I like to freeze in handy portions and love these soup cubes (which I also use for freezing my soup!) Once frozen, I pop out the cubes and store them in a silicone bag in the freezer.

·        Lunch – I tend to make 3 or 4 lunches at a time and whoever needs one, grabs it out of the fridge. Here are some of the recent ones that I have shared on Instagram: Chicken and lentils; Sweet potato and roasted cauliflower; Chicken pasta.  

And, here’s a link to the glasscontainers I use – they are one of my kitchen hero products!

I share lots of meal-plan and prep inspiration and recipes over on Instagram, so do give me a follow.

And, if you are interested in learning more about my membership, here’s 20% off making it it less than £1 a week to access all of my recipes, my online meal-planning tool and my automated shopping list.

Happy planning Claire x

A photo of author of the article Claire Gillies, holding a plate of food.
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