Food Planning and Prep 101 (August 2025)

Do your busy weeks get in the way of thinking about what you want to eat? Do you find yourself making impulsive food choices because you waited too long to eat and then ended up extremely hungry? Here’s a question: Have you ever thought about preparing your meals for the week?

Food planning and prepping is a frequent conversation with clients. I started making grocery lists myself when I was in college—and my mother provided me with my first set of Tupperware.  As the years have passed, I have realized that having a game plan for the week is important if you want to be successfully in charge of meals instead of just winging it.  

So what does food prep look like? First and foremost, I recommend making a staple shopping list of items that are not “time sensitive.” In other words, they won’t spoil quickly. Items that are great to have on hand include:

• Precooked vacuum sealed packets of rice or frozen rice or grains, 
• Boxes of pasta
• Frozen protein options
• Canned fish
• Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables
• A variety of spices, seasonings, oil, marinades and salad dressings

Having these staples makes it possible to “throw” a meal together instead of feeling like you need to make a fully “from scratch” meal from a recipe, which can sometimes feel like too much mental work after a long day.

I like to bake or grill chicken breasts, veggie burgers, tofu, and fish on the weekend to have ready during the week. Fish will last two to three days and poultry, veggie burgers and tofu can last five days. I also like to hard boil some eggs, as they last longer than buying eggs already hardboiled and peeled in the bag. 

You can cook or reheat some pasta, rice or another grain, add your cooked protein and some sautéed or roasted vegetables. These can be fresh veggies, but I made a point to include canned and frozen produce, because I know many people feel anxious when they buy fresh produce because they’ve had to toss a lot of unused fruits and vegetables in the past after they rotted in the fridge or on the counter. 

Then, to mix things up, use different sauces (such as marina, vinegarette, Asian dressing) to add some diverse flavors to these simple meals.

If you have different sizes of glass Tupperware containers, you can “plate” your meals ahead of time by putting  your carbohydrate, protein and fat in the containers—rounding it out with cut up fruit at meal time. This sort of efficient weekend planning can help improve your time management all week. 

Let’s face it: no one likes to make a meal from scratch after a long day of work or school. If you feel like you’re in survival mode during the week, thoughtful meal planning and prepping on the weekends can mean your busy body and brain get the nourishment they need.