You know meal-prepping will save you time (and money) in the long-run, but life is busy and you likely don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. Today, I'm sharing some tips to get your meal-prepping as efficient as possible so that you don't have to stress about not having enough time while still creating healthy meals. Plus, I’ll include some no-cook dinner ideas for a quick and healthy meal for later tonight.
To start, build your meals around your main dish. Try switching it up so that you don't feel like you're eating the same thing every day and build the rest of the meal to complement your main dish. For example, you can make chicken with steamed veggies and brown rice for one meal-prep batch and teriyaki salmon bowls for another. This will make the thought process behind meal-prepping go a lot quicker while using most of the same ingredients.
Instead of meal-prepping, try ingredient-prepping. Sometimes, packaging ready-to-go meals a week in advance can leave your food looking soggy and a bit unappetizing. Plus, you might change your mind as to which ingredients you want to eat with what. Instead of creating an entire meal, prepare the individual components. Pre-wash and chop different vegetables, cook a batch of brown rice or quinoa, and wash and portion your fruits. Then, you can mix up the meals and season them with whatever you're in the mood for. The washing, cutting, and cooking take the longest when you meal-prep, so if you do that all in one go, the rest of the week should be smooth sailing.
Always make enough for leftovers. Most of us don’t want to spend more time in the kitchen than we have to, but we all have to eat. If you're already cooking, double the portion sizes so that you can have some leftover for another meal or two. If your dinner doesn't seem like a convenient meal for packaging and food-prepping, then double-up the individual ingredients. For example, if you're making rice, make double, eat half for your dinner and store the other half of it away for your meal prep. If you're already chopping up some sweet potato to roast in the oven, add a few extra. This will save you a lot of time.
Switch up your sauces and dressings. This is the best tip for preventing your meal-prep from becoming boring and bland. When you do your meal prep, you can leave the ingredients unseasoned unless you have to marinate in advance. On the day of, you can quickly add whatever dressing or seasoning you want. You should also prepare your sauces and dressings in advance so that you don't have to throw on some store-bought condiments that usually contain a lot of artificial preservatives and sugar. Homemade hummus has a long shelf-life and is so versatile. You can also make a massive jar of different salad dressings or even pasta sauces, which should last you the whole week.
Okay- now that you have some meal prep ideas for the week, let’s dive into some simple examples of actual meals you can quickly get onto the table without any cooking involved.
No-cook dinners are great solutions on those hectic days you don't have time or energy to cook. They're also refreshing on hot summer days -- not having to heat up the house by using the oven and eating something crisp and refreshing is the perfect meal on a summer evening.
no-cook dinner ideas that will help you put nutritious food on the table that your whole family will enjoy.
Spring Rolls
Vietnamese rice paper wraps only need to be dunked into water to soften first. Then you can fill them with fresh vegetables and any leftover chicken, tofu, or seafood that you have to make spring rolls. If you have creamy peanut butter, you can make a dipping sauce with the addition of honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, tamari, garlic, and water as needed to adjust the consistency.
Sandwiches
The possibilities are endless when it comes to sandwich fillings. Use whatever you have on hand that would make a great sandwich, and pair a side salad for some extra nutrients. Use up leftover hummus or pesto to smear onto your bread to give your sandwiches an upgraded restaurant taste. Remember to add colorful veggies to make your sandwich healthy!
Wraps
Wraps also offer infinite combinations. Take your leftover baked salmon from last night and wrap it up with kale and Caesar dressing. Use your curry leftover from the weekend and add it to a wrap- stuffed with spinach, red pepper and this is one of my favorites. Using wraps can help you tie up loose ends with leftovers of all kinds to make unique meals.
Salads
The right kind of salad can be a filling meal on its own or with leftover soup. Try adding drained and rinsed white beans to a caprese salad to give it more substance, create a cobb salad, or take your Asian leftovers to put atop a salad. If you have some chicken, salmon or beans cooked up already - toss them on for protein.
Raw Pad Thai
If your zucchini needs to be used up, spiralize it and make it the base for a raw version of Pad Thai. This zesty dish will have crunchy textures and loads of flavor that make eating vegetables enjoyable.
Stuffed Avocados or Tomatoes
While avocado toast is easy enough, it still requires cooking. But if you stuff your avocados with tuna salad, egg salad, or other leftovers, you'll be putting them to good use without turning on your oven or stove. The same goes for tomatoes. Hollow them out and fill them with your filling of choice.
Pasta Salad
When you have leftover cooked pasta, it's best to keep it separate from the sauce when stored in your fridge. This keeps it from getting mushy and gives you an easy way to throw together a pasta salad in a pinch. Use up dressings, veggies, shredded rotisserie chicken, and anything else in this simple, no-cook meal.
Even on the busiest days- it’s important we eat healthy and nourishing foods. But with limited time and energy, that might not happen as much as we would like. With these no-cook dinner ideas, you and your family will still be able to eat well, even on the busiest of nights.
Stock up your fridge and your pantry to get organized with health and simple meals for the week ahead!
For more support and motivation to get cooking and eating healthier at home, join me inside Nourish For Life where I give you meal plans, recipes and motivation to get started. Click here to join us inside: Nourish For Life
