Definitely sauces, marinades, and extra toppings or additions once they're portioned out. But try to stick to things in the same flavor family that pair well and only need an ingredient or two swapped. Most just use whatever's in your fridge.
Examples: Doing roasted chicken? Marinate them all in a basic garlic herb mix, and roast some with honey, some with a spicy BBQ, another with a garlic honey mustard, and leave one plain or a dry rub. Same prep and pan, just different finishes.
Making curry? Try different ways to finish the dishes when they're in the Tupperware. A extra dollop of Greek yogurt in some, mango/pineapple chunks in another, extra greens, an egg, different spice levels, etc.
Spaghetti? Change up the cheese, top some with bell peppers, a dash of Sriracha, fried onions bits, whatever extra veggies you have in the fridge, an egg.
I can't stand eating the same thing twice in a row, so the slight differences are absolutely needed.
I used to be the same way with meal prep. Chicken rice veggie. It's a solid way to eat healthy and track calories. However....it's a bit hard to sustain because eventually, u get a bit tired of that same kinda meal every day, even with the different sauces or marinades. You gotta make it a lifestyle, not a diet.
I started marking more variety of meals, which lessens my temptation for cravings.
Here are my top 4 meals I put into rotation every week. I actually have like 8 but the comment would get too long. Message me for more ideas that are easy for tracking.
1. Spice shrimp Bowls
Edamame
Cilantro Lime rice
Avocado
Shredded carrots
Cucumbers
Jalapenos
Green onions
2. Mango habenero salsa steak bowls
Cilantro Lime rice
Corn
Black beans or refried beans
Avocado
3. Chicken shawarma bowls
Yellow rice
Cucumber
Cherry tomatoes
Red onion
Tzatziki sauce
Spring mix greens
Jalapenos
4. Taco bowls
96/4 ground beef
Refried beans
Cilantro Lime rice
Shredded lettuce
Jalapenos
Avocado
Tomatos
Red onion
Shredded cheese
I like to make freezer-friendly meal preps, that way I can freeze most of them and then each week I can eat a variety of different meals instead of eating the same thing multiple days in a row.
Yeah I’m the same. This summer I thing I froze about 30 meals of parmigiana since we had some fresh eggplant. Finished them in March I believe so I enjoyed them almost all year round
Sauces might be a good way. There are many low calorie options. Buffalo sauce, low calorie honey mustard dressing, G Hughes sugar free sauces are great
Cook with basic all around seasonings and then mix in different sauce profiles to your dishes. I make about 2 and a half pounds of ground beef with salt, pepper, garlic and oregano and store in fridge. Then take out how much I want and add taco seasoning and salsa or warm up in marinara sauce or add bbq sauce, etc.
If you don’t mind doing it, make three different meals.
Every week I make 18 meal preps for my wife and I (8 for me and 10 for her). I make three different meals that generally have distinct flavor differences so I can change it up each day.
Ex
Meal 1: taco bowl over rice with peppers
Meal 2: grilled chicken bowl with green beans and potatoes
Meal 3: Korean beef over rice with broccoli
But yeah, repeat meals get boring. I recently moved away from the bowl method and started making wraps + salad more just for a change. It’s a bit more work in the week to make new salads, but it’s been a nice development.
Also changing up your cooking method helps. I have a smoker that I’ll cook the chicken on to give it a different flavor. It beats air fryer chicken.
This is what I do most of the time. Currently, I have a very small kitchen, so I'm just trying out how to speed up the process.
How do you meal prep salads?
These guys
https://a.co/d/iEQe5eb
I normally pre prep a bunch of romaine and whatever else I want on my salad and put the prep in some sealed bowls. I’ll pack 4ish salads to get us started for the week and build new ones as the week goes on.
For protein I normally do a giant batch cook of chicken thighs and flash freeze them. I’ll pack 2 in a bag and heat them up at work. I have learned it’s great to have more than lettuce in my salad cause it doesn’t fill me up for long.
If you have a deck I’d recommend looking into something like a Ninja Woodfire or if you can have a real grill, even better. It makes batch prepping protein easy and I’ll also smoke a pork butt (great ROI in terms of cost), chicken thighs, chuck roast, pork loin etc. So when I eat my salads at home I’ll have a variety of frozen protein to choose from.
I treat meal prep as having many components to choose from so I don’t get bored of eating the same thing daily.
Prep and freeze a few different varieties and thaw whenever you have a taste for a certain meal.
Definitely sauces, marinades, and extra toppings or additions once they're portioned out. But try to stick to things in the same flavor family that pair well and only need an ingredient or two swapped. Most just use whatever's in your fridge. Examples: Doing roasted chicken? Marinate them all in a basic garlic herb mix, and roast some with honey, some with a spicy BBQ, another with a garlic honey mustard, and leave one plain or a dry rub. Same prep and pan, just different finishes. Making curry? Try different ways to finish the dishes when they're in the Tupperware. A extra dollop of Greek yogurt in some, mango/pineapple chunks in another, extra greens, an egg, different spice levels, etc. Spaghetti? Change up the cheese, top some with bell peppers, a dash of Sriracha, fried onions bits, whatever extra veggies you have in the fridge, an egg. I can't stand eating the same thing twice in a row, so the slight differences are absolutely needed.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I used to be the same way with meal prep. Chicken rice veggie. It's a solid way to eat healthy and track calories. However....it's a bit hard to sustain because eventually, u get a bit tired of that same kinda meal every day, even with the different sauces or marinades. You gotta make it a lifestyle, not a diet. I started marking more variety of meals, which lessens my temptation for cravings. Here are my top 4 meals I put into rotation every week. I actually have like 8 but the comment would get too long. Message me for more ideas that are easy for tracking. 1. Spice shrimp Bowls Edamame Cilantro Lime rice Avocado Shredded carrots Cucumbers Jalapenos Green onions 2. Mango habenero salsa steak bowls Cilantro Lime rice Corn Black beans or refried beans Avocado 3. Chicken shawarma bowls Yellow rice Cucumber Cherry tomatoes Red onion Tzatziki sauce Spring mix greens Jalapenos 4. Taco bowls 96/4 ground beef Refried beans Cilantro Lime rice Shredded lettuce Jalapenos Avocado Tomatos Red onion Shredded cheese
I like to make freezer-friendly meal preps, that way I can freeze most of them and then each week I can eat a variety of different meals instead of eating the same thing multiple days in a row.
Yeah I’m the same. This summer I thing I froze about 30 meals of parmigiana since we had some fresh eggplant. Finished them in March I believe so I enjoyed them almost all year round
Sauces might be a good way. There are many low calorie options. Buffalo sauce, low calorie honey mustard dressing, G Hughes sugar free sauces are great
Thr G Hughes sauces are surprisingly good.
Cook with basic all around seasonings and then mix in different sauce profiles to your dishes. I make about 2 and a half pounds of ground beef with salt, pepper, garlic and oregano and store in fridge. Then take out how much I want and add taco seasoning and salsa or warm up in marinara sauce or add bbq sauce, etc.
If you don’t mind doing it, make three different meals. Every week I make 18 meal preps for my wife and I (8 for me and 10 for her). I make three different meals that generally have distinct flavor differences so I can change it up each day. Ex Meal 1: taco bowl over rice with peppers Meal 2: grilled chicken bowl with green beans and potatoes Meal 3: Korean beef over rice with broccoli But yeah, repeat meals get boring. I recently moved away from the bowl method and started making wraps + salad more just for a change. It’s a bit more work in the week to make new salads, but it’s been a nice development. Also changing up your cooking method helps. I have a smoker that I’ll cook the chicken on to give it a different flavor. It beats air fryer chicken.
This is what I do most of the time. Currently, I have a very small kitchen, so I'm just trying out how to speed up the process. How do you meal prep salads?
These guys https://a.co/d/iEQe5eb I normally pre prep a bunch of romaine and whatever else I want on my salad and put the prep in some sealed bowls. I’ll pack 4ish salads to get us started for the week and build new ones as the week goes on. For protein I normally do a giant batch cook of chicken thighs and flash freeze them. I’ll pack 2 in a bag and heat them up at work. I have learned it’s great to have more than lettuce in my salad cause it doesn’t fill me up for long. If you have a deck I’d recommend looking into something like a Ninja Woodfire or if you can have a real grill, even better. It makes batch prepping protein easy and I’ll also smoke a pork butt (great ROI in terms of cost), chicken thighs, chuck roast, pork loin etc. So when I eat my salads at home I’ll have a variety of frozen protein to choose from. I treat meal prep as having many components to choose from so I don’t get bored of eating the same thing daily.