Whether the goal is to eat healthier, save money, or a little bit of both, meal prepping every week is a great way to make sure that you don’t go off the healthy path. Most people are conditioned to eat dairy, meat, and processed foods because they are readily available, and they may not be taught that they can cause health problems.
When you meal prep for the week, you’ll notice that you have a lot more time on your hands. Meal prep is a fantastic way to control your portions, while also delivering you the nutrients you need. The initial preparation takes some time, but the meal prep ideas we are suggesting today require minimal cooking. It’s important to have good quality containers (glass are best) to store your meals.
This meal prep follows a 1,200-1,500 calorie per day diet. If you need to eat more calories, you can add more containers and ingredients to this meal prep. The grocery list for this meal prep is below the instructions of how to prepare everything.
Start by cooking the quinoa and brown rice. While these are cooking, wash and chop all of your veggies, and put together your salads and snacks. If you don’t like certain ingredients in this meal prep, you are welcome to swap them out for similar ingredients.
Breakfast
You’re going to be having overnight oats. You’ll need a ½ cup of steel cut oats, ¼ cup mixed berries (blueberries & raspberries), 2 tsp. chia seeds, and ¼ tsp. cinnamon for each breakfast. Every night you’ll need to pour about ¾ cup unsweetened (or use our homemade recipe) almond milk in the oat container. This will make it edible in the morning.
Midmorning Snack
For your snack everyday, package about 8 4-inch long celery sticks with a little raw almond butter on each celery stick.
Lunch (M/W/F)
Each salad is going to consist of 1 cup of kale, ½ cup snowpeas, ¼ cup shredded carrots, ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper, cilantro, and basil, ½ cup edamame, ½ cup grapes, ¼ cup avocado, 1 Tbsp. salad dressing. Salad dressing for the whole week consists of 1 cup apple cider vinegar, ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil, ½ tsp. pepper, ½ tsp. salt, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, ½ tsp. paprika, and ½ tsp. dried oregano. Put that dressing in a bottle and take it with you for lunch.
Tip: When you chop your kale, remove the stems and squeeze the leaves in your hands. This relaxes it and makes it easier to digest.
Lunch (T/Th)
For each salad you’ll need 2 cups of raw spinach, ½ cup cooked quinoa, ½ cup sliced strawberries, 1 Tbsp. chopped almonds, and 1 Tbsp. dressing.
Midafternoon Snack
Pineapple is a great snack that is refreshing and filling. You’ll need 1 cup of pineapple for every midafternoon snack.
Dinner (M/W/F)
For each dinner you’ll need ½ cup black beans, ¾ cup tempeh, ¾ cup halve cherry tomatoes, with a ¼ cup chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, and drizzle 1 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil and 2 Tbsp. lime juice.
Dinner (T/Th)
For each dinner you’ll need ½ cup cooked brown rice, ¾ cup firm tempeh, ½ cup sliced onion, and 1 cup sautéed spinach. Drizzle with a little liquid aminos.
Tip: Cook your onions first in olive oil until they are browned. Add your spinach and cook until it wilts. After removing the veggies from the pan, cook tempeh cubes in the pan with a little more olive oil for a few minutes. Then combine with spinach and onions.
Grocery List
Fresh Fruit & Veggies
- 1 avocado
- 1 large or 2 medium red bell peppers
- 2 containers blackberries
- 2 containers blueberries
- 1 container strawberries
- 2 containers fresh raspberries
- 1 fresh pineapple
- 1 bag grapes
- 2 carrots
- 1 bag shelled edamame
- 1 bunch kale
- 2 onions
- 1 red onion
- 5 oz. snow peas
- 1 bag spinach
- 1 container cherry tomatoes
- 1 bunch basil
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 knob fresh ginger
Grains/Seeds/Nuts/Nut Butter
- ½ oz. sliced raw almonds
- 2 oz. chia seeds
- 1 jar all-natural peanut butter
- 4 oz. quinoa
- 4 oz. brown rice
Canned Foods
- 1 can black beans
Pantry
- Apple cider vinegar
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Liquid aminos
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Paprika
- Dried oregano
Good luck on your vegetarian meal prep and we hope you use this to benefit your overall health. Thank you to Beachbody.com for the inspiration.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
