Healthy 7-Day Meal Prep on a Calorie Deficit Diet— Tips & Recipes!
Want to Meal Prep?
As I’m sure many of you have heard, meal prepping is the new go-to when it comes to healthier eating and starting your weight loss journey.
For me, meal prepping was essential to finally losing weight. Meal prepping allows you to pre-plan how you will eat during the week. The benefits are endless: you save time during the week when you’re at your busiest, you pre-count your calories, and you make sure to actually eat the groceries you just spent a ton of money on. As an added bonus, at least for me, it saves you from spending money on a last minute, I’m-too-tired-to-cook fast food or restaurant meal. Overall, meal prepping is the best way to keep yourself on track during your weight loss journey.
My Best Meal Prep Tips & Tricks
If you are anything like me, you will be grocery shopping on a stricter budget. When pre-planning your meals for the week and doing your shopping, strategize ways to use the same ingredients across multiple meals. You don’t want to have leftover ingredients that you end up throwing away or not using! For example, if you need half a head of lettuce for one meal, try finding ways to incorporate the other half in a different meal or snack.
Pick a day to meal prep where you have the most time on your hands — leave yourself ample time to cook, wash dishes, and pre-count your calories (if you are tracking).
Pick recipes that will store well and that you’ll actually want to eat — if you know you like a particular recipe straight from the oven, this is not a meal that you’ll necessarily want to prep.
For those of you that are counting your calories, count the calories as you cook and write them down. I usually counted all the calories in a particular meal as I added individual ingredients, wrote the total on a Post-It note, and then slapped that Post-it on its corresponding container. It was so much easier than trying to add up the totals of ingredients in an app or journal during the week. Plus, knowing beforehand how many calories you are going to consume helps you decide when you can treat yourself to an added coffee or sweet treat!
Don’t over-prep — Remember, if you cook meat, it will only store well in the refrigerator for a few days! That means, don’t prep for the entire week in one go. I looked at my calendar and picked two days that I had extra time to prep; one at the start of the week (usually my Sundays) and one day in the middle of the week (usually my Wednesdays or Thursdays). This way, you’ll always have fresh and safe meals to eat.
Create space in your fridge to stack your containers — and get good containers that easily STACK!
Prep your snacks — meal prepping doesn’t just have to be breakfast, lunch and dinner. Prepping your snacks will also save you time and you can pre-count these calories too. Plus, for an on-the-go warrior, prepping healthy snacks so you can throw them in your bag before leaving the house is so helpful.
The best meal prep starts with the right essentials — take a look at my go-to meal prep items here.
7 Days of Meal Prep Recipes to Get You Started!
Here is exactly what I prepped for a week while I was focused on slimming down for the summer. I wanted to stick in a calorie deficit; for me, that was 1300 calories (I was doing minimal exercise and trying to save calories for the weekends; please add more calories if you have a more intensive exercise regime). This meal prep also takes into consideration that I was trying to save money — therefore, I tried to stretch the ingredients I had just bought to be multi-day meals.
Low and behold, this was how my week looked!
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Breakfast: Easy Egg Casserole (318 calories)
Ingredients
2 eggs, and 1 egg white (didn’t use the 3rd yolk)
Splash of coconut milk
1 oz. feta cheese
1/2 italian sausage link
3 cherry tomatoes, sliced
A handful of baby spinach
How to Make:
Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Cook your italian sausage on a skillet pan until all the way cooked.
Using an oven-safe glass container (find the exact ones I used in my here), mix in your eggs, coconut milk, feta, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and sausage.
Add some salt and pepper (to taste).
Once the oven has hit 375 degrees, put the glass container in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Store in the fridge with a lid
Redo this process for however many days you want to prep this breakfast (I prepped for three days!) — can also put different toppings in with the eggs to mix it up a little.
Lunch: Caesar Salad Wraps (352 calories)
Ingredients
Carb balanced & whole wheat tortilla wrap
2 cups romaine lettuce
2 tbsp. parmesan cheese (grated)
2 tbsp. croutons (crushed)
2 tbsp. light caesar dressing
Optional: 3 oz. pre-cooked grilled chicken (sliced)
How to Make/Prep:
Measure out all ingredients & cut romaine lettuce
Try to keep lettuce and dressing separate from other ingredients (I’ve noticed pre-putting croutons on my lettuce makes the croutons soggy); also, put dressing in its own container! We don’t want soggy lettuce — find my fav dressing containers here.
If you are going to make the chicken yourself, do so during prep. However, if it is microwavable, pre-cooked chicken (what I usually use), then wait to cook until day of use.
On the day you want to eat a wrap: microwave chicken and mix with all other ingredients; wrap it up in the tortilla wrap.
Redo for however many days you want to prep (I did three days)
Dinner: Creamy Sausage Orzo (484 calories)
Ingredients
3 1/2 italian sausage links
2 spoonfuls minced garlic
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup orzo
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups baby spinach
1 tbsp. dried thyms
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt
How to Make:
Pour olive oil into large skillet and cook sliced italian sausage links until cooked through
Add in minced garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, or until fragrant.
Add in the dry orzo into the skillet with the sausage and garlic. Stir for about 30 seconds
Pour in the chicken broth, heavy cream, soy sauce, and seasonings — mix well.
Bring the orzo mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down. Cover and let the orzo mixture simmer for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the orzo is cooked (tender and most of the liquid is absorbed), stir in the spinach leaves & parmesan cheese.
Divide into 3-4 containers, dividing the calories accordingly (should be around 484 calories per meal if divided into 4 portions).
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Breakfast: Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Overnight Oats (310 cals)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 tbsp. chia seeds
3 tbsp. chocolate chips
2 tbsp. peanut butter (or almond butter)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups coconut or almond milk
Optional: for added protein, add a scoop of protein powder
How to Make:
First mix all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, and then add wet ingredients
Divide mixture into the portions you want (I made 3 batches and put them in jars). Find my favorite containers to use for overnight oats here.
Lunch: Turkey Pinwheels/Wraps (187 cals)
Ingredients:
1 carb balanced & whole wheat tortilla
1 tbsp. plain cream cheese
2 oz. turkey deli slices (about 3 slices)
1/2-1 cup baby spinach
Any added fruits/veggies you want to add to lunch (the pinwheels alone are not likely to fill you up)
How to Make:
Spread the cream cheese on the tortilla, making sure to spread it all the way to the sides
Lay down the turkey meat on one side of the tortilla, leaving about 1/3 of the tortilla open (this empty side, with the cream cheese, will act as the “glue” for the pinwheels)
Place spinach in a line down the middle of the tortilla
Starting from the side with meat on it, roll the tortilla together tightly together (try to make it as compact/tight as possible — if the spinach tries to run away from you, just press it back in with your fingers)
If you want pinwheels, cut the wrap now into small sections. Or, you can just leave it as a wrap
When meal prepping, I would pre-cut any fruit/veggies/extra food that you want add with the pinwheels
Dinner: Super Easy Teriyaki Chicken w/ Sweet Potatoes & Broccoli (544 cals)
Ingredients:
1 Ib. chicken breast
2 tbsp. pre-made teriyaki sauce
1 Ib. sweet potato
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 cups broccoli
Salt & pepper to taste
Optional: sesame seeds
How to Make: (Teriyaki Chicken)
Warm up some olive oil on a skillet
While this is warming, cut the chicken breast into smaller cubes
Cook the chicken cubes on the warmed skillet until almost done
Poor the teriyaki sauce over the chicken until the sauce thickens and the chicken is glazed with it
How to Make: (Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Broccoli)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Cube the sweet potatoes, placing them in a larger bowl
Pour some olive oil over the cubed sweet potatoes with just enough to coat them
Sprinkle salt and pepper and mix ingredients all together
Lay out the sweet potatoes evenly on an oven-safe pan and cook in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until soft and golden brown
While those are cooking, I just heated up a frozen bag of broccoli to add some more veggies to the meal.
Meal Prep:
Divide the chicken, sweet potatoes, and broccoli into your desired portions (again, I did 3 portions), separating into meal prep containers.
Sunday
Sunday is my re-set day. This is the day where I go grocery shopping for the upcoming week, cook the bulk of my meals, etc. To make sure I’m not wasting any food, either, I use Sunday as my “scrounge” day. I.e., I scrounge around for any left over ingredients/food in my pantry or fridge to feed myself. Ran out of everything? Why, this might be the perfect excuse to treat yourself to brunch/lunch/dinner out on the town.
Extra Prep
Snack Option: Cottage Cheese w/ Veggies (about 120 calories)
Ingredients
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 tsp. everything bagel seasoning
Half cut cucumber (or any other veggies that you want)
How to Make:
Cut veggies
Measure cottage cheese out and sprinkle seasoning over it
