Meal Prep Made Easy: 7 Quick and Healthy Recipes

As I have gotten older, I have really recognized the importance of healthy food decisions. The food I eat really affects my mood and energy levels. I also find that when I get busy, tired, or stressed, I tend to slip up and eat unhealthily and it just becomes a vicious cycle. To combat this, every weekend I dedicate half a day towards meal prepping for the week with my mom. I meal prep with a few priorities in my mind: tasty but healthy, filling, and efficient. Efficient because I want this to be a half day activity and not anything longer. I also learned that I can't try to go hard and make something dull but very healthy like chicken and rice as I will not eat it. My older sister refers to me as a vacuum because I eat all the food in the house, but because I can't spend all day everyday eating, my food also needs to be protein heavy and filling. Without further ado, I will share my favorite recipes for quick and healthy meals during the week!

Azra and her mom!

All recipes are my own and my mom's. We probably originally got our ideas from a cookbook or a cooking site but have adapted them to our tastes!

I don't usually do any meal preparation for breakfast because this is the meal where I usually make it on the go. If I am really rushing, I will quickly have a bagel and some vanilla Greek yogurt. However, if I have time, my absolute favorite breakfast is a smoothie! Here is the recipe:

Mixed berry smoothieMixed berry smoothie

• ½ cup frozen raspberries
• ½ cup spinach
• ½ cup blueberries
• ½ banana
• ¾ cup water
• *Optional* ½ cup of plain or vanilla 0% Greek yogurt

Throw it all until a blender and blend until smooth.

This healthy breakfast usually takes about 10 minutes to make. The fruits chosen are my preference, but any assortment of frozen fruits works quite well.

Finding a microwave and having time to warm up my lunch is one of the biggest struggles I have. However, I have adapted to this and have three SUPER simple staple recipes that I use. Here are the recipes:

Chickpea sandwiches

• 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ¼ cup red onion, diced
• ½ red pepper diced
• 1 celery stalk diced
• 1 teaspoon dill
• 4-6 slices of bread

Add a little bit of water, chickpeas, lemon juice, and mayonnaise, and blend until smooth. If you don't have a blender you can also mash the mixture. Move mixture into a bowl, add vegetables and dill. Spread mixture onto slices of bread.

This is the simplest version, but there are all sorts of different recipes available online with different add in-s and flavourings.

Bean Salad Recipe

• 1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 can of kidney beans drained and rinsed
  (The above are just my preference, but any mix of beans can be used)
• 2 celery stalks chopped
• 2 carrot sticks chopped
• 1/2-1 onion chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
  (Again, just my preference for veggies in my bean salad, and other items such as apples or avocado can be added as well)

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Chopped cilantro to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the salad ingredients together and mix the dressing ingredients together in separate bowls. Add in the dressing to the salad and then chill in the refrigerator!

My favorite part of this recipe is that it can be adapted to anyone's taste by adding a different mixture of beans or different vegetables, or changing the dressing, or even not having any dressing. Whatever you want really, and I swear this is recipe takes under half an hour.

Tuna Salad Sandwiches Recipe

• 1 can tuna
• 2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
• 2 stalks of green onions chopped
• 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• Lettuce
• 4 slices of bread

Flake tuna with a fork, add Greek yogurt. Mix, add cilantro and onions. Line bread with lettuce, and spread the tuna mixture on the bread slices.

Dinner is when I am my most hungry. This is the time of day when I think of foods I can easily make in a larger quantity. I also have more flexibility when it comes to dinner as I have a microwave at home, more time, and I am not worried about knocking my food over in a lecture hall.
Here are my three staple recipes:

Ground Turkey Stir Fry

• About 0.5kg ground turkey (but really, eyeball it. Think about how much you eat and how long you would like to eat it/if you want leftovers)
• Olive oil (About 2 tablespoons)
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 teaspoon of ginger minced
• 3 cups broccoli florets
• 1 thinly sliced red pepper
• 1 thinly sliced green pepper
• 1 stalk of celery chopped
• 1 onion diced

(Once again, the vegetable choices are my preference, but really any can be used)

Seasoning:

• ¾ cup of water
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons of ginger minced

Prepare the seasoning by whisking together water, soy sauce, cornstarch, and ginger until blended. Set aside. Heat oil in a medium sized skillet. Mix in ginger and garlic into turkey, and add turkey to the skillet. Stir and cook until turkey is browned. Remove turkey from skillet when cooked. Add more oil to the skillet and heat. Add broccoli, carrots, and celery first. Stir fry until crisp (3-4 minutes) then add peppers and onion. Stir fry for another couple minutes. Add in cooked turkey and stir in soy sauce mixture. Stir fry for another couple minutes until sauce is thickened. You can add in noodles, serve with white or brown rice, or eat it on its own.

Ground Beef and Pasta

• About 375g of pasta (How much pasta would you like to eat? How long would you like to eat it for?)
• 0.5 kg ground beef (Again, eyeball it.)
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 5 mushrooms sliced
• 1 carrot stick, chopped
• 1 can pasta sauce
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon minced/crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced/crushed ginger

In a separate pot, boil pasta. Cook minced beef on the stove with garlic, ginger and salt. Once done, chop small onions, sauté, add some chopped carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Add pasta sauce, oregano, basil, and boiled pasta. If you want to make this healthier, add in more vegetables!

Ground Beef Chili

• 0.5kg ground beef
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tomato (blended)
• Few cilantro
• 1 cup of water
• 1 can of kidney beans, washed and drained
• 1 can of black beans, washed and drained
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ cup frozen corn (optional)

Mix coriander, cumin, ginger, and lemon juice with beef in a small bowl. In a medium sized pot, cook on the stove until browned. Remove beef from pot, add a tablespoon of oil, and sauté onions until browned. As you do this, sprinkle a teaspoon of salt. Then, add blended tomato to the mixture. Let it cook for a few minutes, then add kidney beans and beef back to the mixture. Add a cup (or more) of water. If desired, add in corn. Stir and let simmer for at least half an hour until it appears cooked. If desired, when it is finished cooking, add some cilantro.

Meal preparation for me is all about trying to ensure that I eat healthy, home-cooked food for most of the week. I also try make a few different recipes each week so that not only will I have enough food, but I also won't get bored of the food. My favorite part about these recipes is you can adapt everything to your own preference and tastes. Food (especially food made with meat) tends to start being suspicious after a few days, so I try every couple of weeks to make extra food to store in my freezer in case I have no other time to cook for the last couple days of the week. I have found that the pasta and chili freeze quite well and make for excellent contingency food. If you don't like to meal prep and prefer your food fresh, these recipes are also good when you're swamped with work and only have time to whip up something quickly.

Need more recipe ideas? Check out our post where we share some more healthy food recipes!