5 easy meal prep recipes

I’m sick of spending money going out to eat. I love the idea of meal prep, but I’ve never tried it. I thought, “New job, new me,” and invested in some knockoff Tupperware containers. It’s time to start preppin’.

Confession: I don’t really like cooking, but I love eating, so easy, fast, few-ingredient meals are my jam. I came across a section of Foodie Internet that highlights five-ingredient recipes, and I decided that’s how I should enter the world of meal prep. Any more ingredients or higher degree of difficulty might be too much and scare me away.

To start off my meal prep journey, I chose a few recipes for which to gather ingredients and try out. Only a couple of them ended up working out, so I started to get experimental with chicken, condensed soups, and cauliflower rice.

I’ve used each of these recipes as a meal prep for the week and they’ve all been delicious, so I thought I’d record them for my own future use, and yours, if you’re into meal prep.

Tater tot casserole

My boyfriend wowed me with this super-simple recipe and before he left for school, I made him tell me how to make it. You’ll need:

• Tater tots

• Ground beef

• Cream of mushroom soup

Cook the ground beef and mix in the cream of mushroom soup. Spread it evenly in a casserole dish, top off with a layer of tater tots, and cook!

Chicken & mushroom cauliflower rice

I’m proud to say that I developed this one on my own! You’ll need:

• Cauliflower rice

• Chicken

• Cream of mushroom soup

• Canned mushrooms

Cook the chicken and rice and mix everything together. My cooking motto is “when in doubt, mix it out.”

Mock chicken pot pie

This is one I adapted from my college days. Comfort food. You’ll need:

• Brown or cauliflower rice

• Chicken

• Mixed vegetables

• Cream of chicken soup

Cook the rice, cook the chicken, and then mix it all together. My cooking motto strikes again.

Pulled pork/chicken parfaits

When I found this recipe, it was for pulled pork, but I substituted pulled BBQ chicken, and it was amazing. You’ll need:

• Pulled pork or chicken

• BBQ sauce

• Mashed potatoes

• Loose corn

Once all is cooked, I added the potatoes, then chicken, then corn to my containers. That’s literally it, and it was so good that it made me look forward to my lunch every day.

Nuts & berries salad

I kind of (and by “kind of” I mean “definitely”) took this recipe from D’lite here in Phoenix. You’ll need:

• Your choice of greens

• Strawberries

• Blueberries

• Goat cheese crumbles

• Walnuts

• Blueberry pomegranate vinaigrette

Rinse all fruit and chop the strawberries. Mix it all together, and you’re good for the week!