How to Prepare 16 Healthy Meals in 40-Minutes

When you hear the word “meal prep” what comes to mind? I don’t know about you, but I automatically go to a dark, scary place – I think of stacks of Tupperware with carefully rationed portions. I think about giant amounts of bland chicken breasts, huge vats of brown rice, and tons of steamed broccoli. “The horror, the horror!”

For just a second, let’s suspend the perception of meal prep as the Tupperware-carrying physique competitor that you see at the gym gulping his protein shake. Instead, picture a much simpler, more realistic version.

Here’s a quick summary of my meal prep strategy:

You cook extra servings of various proteins and chop a bunch of core veggies to use in multiple dishes. This creates the base for most of your meals. To this, you can add a few select pre-made items (sliced turkey breast, bag of prepared greens, etc.) and boom – you have 80% of your meals for the week.

Now that doesn’t sound so hard, does it?

Meal Prep Made Easy

I’ve got some good news – I’m going to completely change your whole meal prep perspective. You’re going to learn some things that might surprise you. For example, it’s OK to use fat. In fact, fat is healthy, and it tastes great. Both cheese and avocado (examples of fat) are excellent ways way to make food delicious. Also, spices are your best friend, and don’t be afraid to use salt. As far as spices go, these 5 should definitely be in your kitchen arsenal.

The main point is that cooking healthy meals doesn’t have to be difficult. I know for some of you cooking is an overwhelming task and you might have no idea where to start.

That’s totally OK.

I’m no all-star chef, but I’ve mastered a few quick, simple, and healthy meals that also support my lean, active lifestyle.

You’re about to learn an easy way to prepare 16 meals in 40-minutes. Yes, you heard that right – 40-minutes of focused time in the kitchen will give you 16 healthy meals that are high in protein and loaded with tasty vegetables.

Here’s something that’s hard to argue with – the more meals you eat at home, the healthier and leaner you will probably be. There are of course exceptions to the rule, but for the vast majority of us, eating home-cooked meals often leads to improved body composition.

A time-crunched schedule is no excuse either.

All you need to do is prep once a week for 40-minutes and you’ll set yourself up to be a fat-burning machine.

The Ultimate Grocery-Shopping List

First things first, you’ll need to do some grocery shopping to pick up all the ingredients. Here’s your shopping list:

Basic Cooking Supplies

Meal Prep Instructions

Set up a timer for 40 minutes. Remove all of your groceries from your fridge and cabinets. Prepare yourself to make tuna salad, egg salad, baked marinated chicken, parmesan roasted veggies, and a roasted turkey salad.

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees, and heat a medium pot of water.

Step 2: Place the chicken breast in a large Ziploc bag. Add 2 tbsp of oil olive, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, and 2 tbsp Greek yogurt. Mix well so every breast is well coated in the marinade. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Step 3: Carefully place 8 eggs into the pot of (almost) boiling water. Simmer the eggs for about 8 minutes. Cooking tip: Placing eggs into hot water will make the peeling process much easier down the road.

Step 5: Transfer chicken from Ziploc bag into baking dish. Place chicken, broccoli and cauliflower into the oven. Set the oven timer to 20 minutes.

Step 6: Dice peppers, onions, cucumber, celery and carrots and set aside in separate small bowls.

Step 7: Place tuna into large bowl and add half the chopped onions and celery. Add 2 tbsp of Greek Yogurt. Add salt, garlic powder, black pepper, cumin, and cayenne powder. Mix well and place in fridge. Your tuna salad is done.

Step 8: Mix large bag of greens in a large bowl with chopped peppers, carrots, onions, and cucumbers. Chop turkey breast slices into 1-inch pieces and toss into salad. Set aside. Your roasted turkey salad is done.

Step 9: Remove the pot with eggs from the heat and run under cold water for 30-60 seconds.

Step 10: Peel eggs and mash them in a large bowl with the rest of the chopped onions and celery. Add 2 tbsp of Greek yogurt. Add salt, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne powder, and mix until well-blended. Your egg salad is done.

Instructions: • Pick your protein. 1) Chicken breast, 2) Egg salad, 3) Tuna salad, or 4) Turkey breast • Prep a large plate with the pre-mixed salad (from step 8 above). Place 6-8 ounces of protein on top of salad. Add ¼ of a large avocado. • Quick and easy dressing: Mix 1 TBSP olive oil with a splash of balsamic vinegar. Add the juice from a fresh lime or lemon and mix well. You can also spice up your salad with the following easy add-ons: Sunflower seeds, Feta cheese, Sliced almonds, Peanuts, Olives, Diced apple

Nutrition Information for Big-Ass Salad with Egg Salad

Calories

475 calories

Fat

30 grams

Protein

30 grams

Carbs

20 grams

Mix and Match For Different Meals

The best part about meal prep mastery is that once you have a solid foundation of the proteins and veggies, you can mix-and-match to find a winning combo that you love.

Maybe you’re feeling a sandwich, so you grab a fresh slice of bread to throw your protein on?

Maybe you want to add some tortilla chips to your salad?

Maybe you want some extra carbs, so you bake a huge potato to go with your pre-made protein and veggies?

The options are really endless.

As long as you’re eating protein and veggies with each meal, you’ll have a solid foundation to live a fit, lean lifestyle. This one rule alone will have a dramatic effect on how you feel, how you look, and how you think.

Let me know how this works out for you. Drop me a message in the comments below.

35Comments

Debbiesays:

June 20, 2016 at 2:39 pm

I love this and I am heading to the grocery store this evening. However, after its all prepped, what is a serving size of the tuna and egg salads? 1 cup?

Great article. I bet some whole lettuce leaves for tuna salad lettuce wraps would be great with this recipe.

A few additional tips I've picked up over time, may be helpful to a few others. -To save on vegetable prep, microwave bags are fairly quick also, they steam in about 3 minutes. -Conversely, you could also head to a local store (such as a chinese restaurant) and ask for an order of steamed veggies. You can get a large portion for a low price and portion out accordingly. - For carbs, the micrwaveable rice cups (brown rice) are an alternative (be mindful of contents). They're already portioned out to a cup so no measuring and in 60 seconds in the microwave you've got a source of complex carbs. Hope those small tips help someone the way they helped me.

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Nicksays:

June 27, 2016 at 3:44 pm

Thanks Anthony, good tips - especially the one about ordering large portion of steamed veggies as take-out, that's a great move!

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Chadsays:

June 24, 2016 at 12:45 am

I just did this! Followed every step and now my fridge is full, and I am exhausted. Took me 2 hours though, not 40 minutes, what with cleaning and chopping the veggies. I am a little meticulous in the kitchen, so that could have increased the time a bit. Still not bad for 16 meals :) Thank you for this idea!

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Nicksays:

June 27, 2016 at 4:01 pm

Hey Chad, full fridge with real food is always a good thing. Glad you enjoyed. Yeah, I think buying some of the foods pre-chopped and pre-washed might help cut down on the time. I bet the the next time around you'll shave off a bunch of time off..keep me posted!

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Chadsays:

June 24, 2016 at 2:13 am

Just did this this evening. Everything is delicious! The marinating on the chicken is something I rarely do, but even marinating for the short amount of time is very effective. Thanks for these tips!

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Arielsays:

June 27, 2016 at 3:14 pm

did this last night but took me quite a bit longer than 40 minutes... double that i think. still totally 100% worth it though! i think if i do this routine every week it will start going more quickly for me. i couldn't NOT take this meal prep advice though! the first paragraph had me rollin! i felt that exact same way! thanks for showing me that it's not so bad! =D i honestly feel that a big reason i still haven't reached my fat loss goal is due to not prepping healthy meals beforehand - so i'm very excited to have completed this not-so-bad task this week! tip: if it's hot in your house (summer time!) do not heat up your oven until you're actually ready to throw the chicken & veggies in! by the time my oven preheated i was still madly chopping away at the broccoli and cauliflower, and my chicken had only been marinating like 3 minutes. everything tastes so good! i especially love the spices in the egg salad and the simplicity of having the pre-prepared green salad! i usually don't want green salad unless it's loaded with tons of goodies.. and who has time to always be chopping a million different things every time you want a big ass salad? not me! spending an hour or so one day per week getting everything chopped and tossed into the leaves and back into a bag is so simple and easy! very excited about all of this! thank you for keeping it so simple!! love it.

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Nicksays:

July 1, 2016 at 9:44 am

Thanks for the comment Ariel! Yeah, it can take longer than 40 the first few times you do it, but it's well worth it for sure. I hope this helps you get closer to your fat loss goals.

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Mikesays:

July 4, 2016 at 6:57 am

Thanks for this meal prep tip tried it and everything came out great my question is now what are your meal break down for the day I hear everyone say you should eat 4 to 5 small meal per day.

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Nicksays:

July 6, 2016 at 5:47 pm

You bet Mike, glad it worked out well for you. I wouldn't worry too much eating 4 to 5 meals per day, unless than works well for your schedule. The whole mantra of eating small meals throughout the day came from old studies that showed you could burn more calories but doing so (using the thermic effect of eating). Most of these studies have been debunked and there is plenty of research that supports eating as little as 1 meal per day. Check out Intermittent Fasting if you want to learn more about that. It really doesn't matter in my opinion. Personally, it depends on the day for me. Most days, I'll eat 2 full meals. Maybe on a really active day, I'll bump it up to 3 or 4. Hope that helps you Mike.

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Michellesays:

July 5, 2016 at 5:43 am

When you have the calorie content - is that for all 4 meals? eg chicken tacos says 650 cals, 20 gms fat etc is that for the full 4 meals - ie divide the mixture by 4 to get the macro counts? Great idea - can't wait to try it out this weekend. Cheers

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Nicksays:

July 6, 2016 at 5:58 pm

Hey Michelle, no the 650 calorie count is for 3 chicken tacos. That of course includes the shredded cheese and 1/2 an avocado. You could reduce the cals by eliminating the cheese or avo, that could be a good lower cal option. I would say without the cheese and avo, you're looking at around 400 cals. Enjoy!

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Debra Gartlandsays:

July 11, 2016 at 8:14 pm

Great prep outline. Thanks. I did this tonight and it worked out great

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Aleeshasays:

October 17, 2016 at 4:04 am

This was a life saver and super awesome! I am newly trying to get into shape, eat right, and change my lifestyle overall. Hopefully you make more instructionals like this! You have a solid follower with me. Thanks!

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Marksays:

October 24, 2016 at 5:25 pm

This all looks great and i'm eager to try it out, however i am unable to eat chicken/turkey as i have Eosinophilic esophagitis. What would you recommend instead?