Meal prep can help you lose weight by setting you up for success. When you have a healthy plan in place, you're less likely to grab takeout and processed foods on the run. Here are EatingWell's best meal-prep ideas for weight loss that are rich in veggies, fruits, whole grains, healthy protein and fat to help you reach your goals in a healthy way.
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Green Veggie Bowl with Chicken & Lemon-Tahini Dressing
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For this healthy 30-minute dinner, treat your veggies like pasta and cook until al dente, or just done. If you have a little extra time, double or triple the lemon-tahini dressing and use it to quickly dress a salad or as a sauce for steak or shrimp.
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Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl with Cauliflower Rice
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This easy-to-make and meal-prep burrito bowl is even better than takeout! You'll never miss the carbs in this protein-packed, super-flavorful meal that replaces the cilantro-lime rice with cauliflower rice. We love this with chicken, but it would be just as delicious with shrimp.
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Spicy Slaw Bowls with Shrimp & Edamame
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The quick 10-minute Spicy Cabbage Slaw serves as the low-carb base in this veggie-packed lunch recipe. Topped with high-protein edamame and shrimp, this satisfying lunch will help you power through the afternoon.
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Meal-Prep Roasted Vegetable Bowls with Pesto
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Your co-workers will be jealous when you pull out this healthy lunch of roasted veggies and brown rice. Put together four lunches when you have time, and you will have packable lunches (or ready-to-eat dinners) for several days—just grab a container on your way out the door in the morning.
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Creamy Blueberry-Pecan Overnight Oatmeal
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These overnight oats with Greek yogurt, blueberries and pecans are an easy, on-the-go breakfast. If desired, reheat the oatmeal before adding the toppings.
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Peanut Butter Protein Overnight Oats
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Powdered peanut butter is a handy pantry staple that makes a great vegan protein booster for oatmeal and smoothies. Double or triple this recipe to meal-prep breakfasts for the week or to have breakfast ready for the entire family.
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Edamame & Veggie Rice Bowl
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The ingredients in this vegan grain bowl recipe can be prepped ahead for an easy lunch to pack for work. The tangy citrus dressing is a refreshing flavor with the sweet caramel of the roasted sheet-pan veggies.
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Meal-Prep Falafel Bowls with Tahini Sauce
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These quick couscous bowls come together in 20 minutes thanks to healthy convenience items like frozen falafel and steam-in-bag fresh green beans. Whisk together the simple tahini sauce while the other ingredients cook.
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Meal-Prep Cilantro-Lime Chicken Bowls
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Prep all four servings of this easy recipe at once for ready-to-eat dinners or packable lunches for the rest of the week. If you don't like a lot of heat, try using mild chili powder and leave out the jalapeño from the rice.
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Miso Cup Soup
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This miso soup is packed with gut-healthy ingredients like miso, a fermented paste that may improve digestion plus reduce gas and bloating. The base of the soup is prepared in advance and stored in separate containers. When you’re ready to enjoy it, simply add the broth and heat it in the microwave. If you don’t wish to travel with vegetable broth or don’t have access to a microwave, you can use reduced-sodium bouillon instead and just add hot water. Cover and let the soup stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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Meal-Prep Curried Chicken & Chili-Lime Chicken
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Save time and maximize your efforts by mixing up two separate chicken marinades and cooking multiple recipes at once. This simple but flavorful meal-prep chicken dinner idea lets you cook ahead and not be bored with your choices by midweek. Both recipes are roasted together on a baking sheet; a foil barrier keeps them separate. Make this base chicken recipe and use it to create the Meal-Prep Chili-Lime Chicken Bowls & Meal-Prep Curried Chicken Bowls for lunch or dinner this week.
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Easy Brown Rice
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Here's the only recipe you need to make perfect brown rice every time! This healthy whole grain is great on its own as a side dish, or use it in your favorite recipes calling for cooked brown rice.
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Creamy Vegan Cashew Sauce
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You'll never guess this creamy sauce is completely vegan and actually made from pureed cashews. To keep it gluten-free, use tamari.
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Make-Ahead Smoothie Freezer Packs
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Smoothies are a great healthy breakfast for kids, but busy parents know there's no time for all that chopping and measuring in the morning rush. Make these easy DIY smoothie packs ahead of time and stash them in your freezer until you're ready to whir up a fruit-filled meal or snack kids will love. This makes enough for a workweek's worth of smoothies!
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Soy-Lime Roasted Tofu
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Here, we marinate tofu cubes in soy sauce and lime juice with a touch of toasted sesame oil, then roast them—perfect tofu every time.
Turmeric-Roasted Cauliflower
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Roasting cauliflower transforms it into a crispy, tender vegetable. A sponge for other flavors, cauliflower can absorb any spice mix or marinade you add, like this warm and toasty combination of turmeric, cumin and garlic. Serve as a simple side dish, or stir it into salads or grain bowls to add more plant power.
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Vegan Freezer Breakfast Burritos
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Having a stash of flavorful bean burritos in your freezer means you'll always have a satisfying plant-based meal ready for a grab-and-go breakfast on a busy morning or to take to the campsite for an easy campfire meal. Our vegan breakfast filling—made with tofu and prepared to mimic scrambled eggs—is tossed with beans, veggies and salsa for a delicious and ultra-satisfying meal.
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Sheet-Pan Roasted Root Vegetables
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One pan is all you need for a heaping pile of nutritious, tender and colorful roasted root vegetables. Whip up this recipe at the beginning of the week to use in easy, healthy dinners all week long.
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Blueberry Almond Chia Pudding
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Switch up your morning oatmeal routine with this so-easy chia pudding recipe. It's made just like overnight oats—combine chia and your milk of choice, let soak overnight, then top with juicy blueberries and crunchy almonds and dig in!
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Basic Quinoa
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This foolproof recipe for perfectly cooked quinoa is fast and easy! Use cooked quinoa as a simple healthy side dish, in a salad or as a base for a delicious main dish.
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Chopped Cobb Salad
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This single-serving recipe for Cobb salad swaps chicken in for bacon, which makes it a great source of protein for lunch. If you prefer another salad dressing, feel free to use that instead of our honey-mustard vinaigrette.
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Vegan Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bowl with Creamy Green Sauce
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In a vegan riff on green goddess dressing, cashews provide a creamy base with tons of flavor from herbs and apple cider vinegar. Drizzle it all over this bowl of quinoa and roasted vegetables to make a satisfying vegan dinner or easy packable lunch that is ready in just 30 minutes.
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Muffin-Tin Quiches with Smoked Cheddar & Potato
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Potatoes, cheese and greens make this mini quiche recipe delicious and satisfying. Bake up a batch over the weekend and you'll have breakfast available in a hurry for the rest of the week.
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Apple Cinnamon Chia Pudding
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Switch up your morning oatmeal routine with this so-easy chia pudding recipe. It's made just like overnight oats: Combine chia and your milk of choice, let soak overnight, then top with the classic flavor combo of apples and cinnamon, with pecans for added crunch.
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Meal-Prep Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs
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Cook up six servings of chicken at once with this quick and easy meal-prep recipe: You'll have recipe-ready cooked chicken in the fridge for throw-together lunches and dinners throughout the week. This simple sheet-pan chicken thigh recipe gets an easy burst of flavor from dried oregano and a clove of garlic.
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Slow-Cooker Vegetable Soup
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This weight loss vegetable soup fills you up without a lot of calories, plus it's an easy way to eat more vegetables.
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Quinoa & Chia Oatmeal Mix
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Make your own hot cereal mix with this healthy recipe. Keep it on hand and just cook up the amount you need when you're ready for a hot breakfast. One serving of the warm cereal contains 6 grams of fiber—almost a quarter of your daily quota.
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Chickpea & Quinoa Grain Bowl
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It seems grain bowls have as many variations as there are stars in the sky, and there is no wrong way to build one! But we prefer to keep things classic and simple with hummus, quinoa, avocado and loads of veggies!
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Meal-Prep Chili-Lime Chicken Bowls
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Skip takeout and whip up these equally delicious and easy-to-make burrito bowls at home. They're great for a fast and easy dinner or a healthy meal to pack for work throughout the week.
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Chile-Lime Turkey & Spaghetti Squash Meal-Prep Bowls
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Set yourself up for a week of super-satisfying lunches with these veggie-packed meal-prep bowls. The chile-lime seasoning blend adds a lot of flavor easily, and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and queso fresco finishes the dish.
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Sheet-Pan Eggs with Spinach & Ham
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Making a big batch of eggs has never been easier with this one-pan oven-baked eggs recipe. Whether you are making brunch for a crowd or just want to meal-prep healthy breakfasts for the week, you'll have 12 servings ready in just 45 minutes.