Discover a week’s worth of high protein meal prep ideas that are equally delicious and easy to prep. We’ve included the best meal prep recipes and even a meal prep grocery list for a complete 7 day high protein meal prep plan.
So, you’re looking for high protein meal prep ideas for the week?
Well, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together everything you need to make meal prep a breeze with a bunch of recipe ideas, a suggested menu and shopping list, and some tips and tricks to make things even easier.
In the chaos of daily life, it’s not always easy to make healthy food decisions, let alone hit your protein goals.
But protein has a high satiety effect on the body and keeps us full for hours without any blood sugar spikes making us feel more energized and productive throughout the day.
That’s where the magic of meal prepping comes in. By dedicated a couple of hours to prep food for the week, you make sure you always have healthy and high-protein food options on hand.
So let’s get into these high protein diet meal prep ideas.
The Benefits of High Protein Meal Prep
If you’re in pursuit of eating a balanced and nourishing diet, protein plays a huge role in satiety and muscle repair. It also supports your immune system and keeps cravings at bay throughout the day.
If you’ve been trying to eat a high protein diet for any amount of time, you know that it’s difficult to find good options at restaurants or as pre-prepared meals.
Meal prep is an incredible tool to make sure you always have healthy food options available. Plus, it’s one less decision you have to make at each meal time, especially if you’re experiencing hanger.
By setting aside just a couple of hours each week, you can prep meals for the whole week saving you time and energy three times a day for seven days straight.
Tips to Make Meal Prep Easier
Meal prep can feel like a laborious and time-consuming way to spend precious free time, but with a little forethought, you can make it feel almost effortless. Here are our best tricks to make meal prepping a breeze.
- Keep it simple. Choose only one to two recipes per meal and prep them in big batches. If you try to cook too many different things, you might get overwhelmed and the whole process will take way too long.
- Focus on the basics. It can be easy to get swept away with complicated recipes with fifteen different ingredients but when it comes to prepping, choose simple meals to save money on groceries and make the cooking process simple.
- Invest in the right tools. There are a couple of tools that make meal prepping so much easier. Investing in meal prepping containers or a multi-cooker like an Instant Pot can make the process much smoother.
- Clean as you go. No one wants to clean 10 pots and pans after cooking for two hours. Be strategic and find little pockets of time to clean up as you go. Future you will thank you.
- Only prepare what you need. When you think of meal prep, you probably think of a fridge stacked with twenty meal prep containers each with a perfectly portioned meal inside. While this is one way to go, you can also go with a more flexible approach by prepping a couple of the main ingredients and assembling later.
Creating a Meal Plan
The first step in meal prepping for the week is putting together a plan.
We’ve done our best to take all the work out of it and done the planning for you. But we also wanted to share our best tips and tricks to make future plans a breeze.
Step 1:
Map out your week. Take a look at your calendar for the week and note how many breakfast, lunch, and dinners you want to prepare. If you have plans a couple nights a week, make sure you skip meal prep for those days so you don’t let food go to waste. You may also want to check the weather. I know I’m much less interested in a salad when it’s cold outside.
Step 2:
Look for recipe inspo. Once you know how many meals you’ll need for the week, it’s time to start looking for recipes. If you’re like us, you’ll head straight to Pinterest where you can find lots of good inspo. However, we also like to keep things simple. We tend to pick one or two recipes and fill in the rest with simple food combos like protein + carb + veggie.
Pro Tip: If you find a great sheet pan dinner recipe, take a mental note that the oven will be full and try to find lunch recipes that you can cook on the stove or in the Instant Pot.
Step 3:
Make a shopping list. One you’re decided on your menu for the week, it’s time to put together your grocery list. Run down the list of recipes and sort the ingredients into the categories of where you’ll find things at the store. For example, put all meat together, all produce together and so on.
Pro Tip: To keep things simple and save on costs, consider making swaps or leaving certain ingredients out. For example, if one recipe calls for basil and the other cilantro, can you use one for both? Or just leave it out all together? This will help save time and money.
Step 4:
Mise en Place. Mise en Place is a fancy french phrase for getting everything set up and in place before cooking. Get all your ingredients and tools out. Make sure your space is clear and clean. We recommend taking it one step further and setting the scene with some nice music and setting the lighting just right.
Pro Tip: Keep a bowl near your cutting board for all packaging and food scraps. That way you’re not constantly reaching for the trash.
Step 5:
Time to chef it up. Take a moment to review your recipes and mentally start thinking about the right order to cook things in. Think about what takes the longest to cook, if it goes in the oven or is cooked on the stove top. A little forethought goes a long way.
Step 6:
Start a cleaning party. Cleaning the kitchen is fun for some people but not everyone considers it a hobby. At the end of the day, it’s all about attitude. Treat your clean up as a little cleaning party. Put on a good song and get to work.
7-Day High Protein Meal Prep Menu
Meal Prep Recipes
These high protein recipes are included in the meal plan above. They each link out to the corresponding easy meal prep idea. Plus, all the ingredients are compiled in the meal prep grocery list below.
- Protein Chia Pudding Cups
- Greek Salad with Chicken
- Avgolemono Soup
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Garlic Butter Salmon with Asparagus & Potatoes
Meal Prep Grocery List
To make your high protein meal prep as easy as possible, we’ve compiled a meal prep grocery list that includes all the ingredients you’ll need to make the above 7-day meal plan.
Meat
- Chicken Breasts (4)
- Rotisserie Chicken (1)
- Salmon Filets (3)
Produce
- Iceberg or Romaine Lettuce (12 cups)
- Tomatoes (4 cups)
- Cucumber (2 cups sliced)
- Fingerling Potatoes (1 pound)
- Asparagus (2-3 bunches)
- Celery Ribs (2)
- Red Bell Pepper (1)
- Green Bell Pepper (1)
- Orange Bell Pepper (1)
- Yellow Onion (1)
- Red Onion (1 small)
- Garlic (1 head)
- Lemons (3)
- Lime (1)
- Fresh Dill
- Fresh Parsley
Pantry
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Chia Seeds (21 tablespoons)
- Chocolate Protein Powder (14 tablespoons)
- Cocoa Powder (7 tablespoons)
- Maple Syrup (3 ½ tablespoons)
- Vanilla Extract (1 teaspoon)
- Kalamata Olives (½ cup)
- Low-Sodium Chicken Broth (4 cups)
Dairy
- Butter
- Unsweetened Almond Milk (5 ¼ cup)
- Feta Cheese (½ cup)
- Eggs (2)
Freezer
- Cooked White Rice (1 ½ cup)
Bread
- Tortillas (6-9)
Spices
- Dried Oregano
- Cumin
- Chili Powder
- Chili Pepper Flakes
- Cayenne Pepper
- Garlic Powder
High Protein Meal Prep Ideas
We’re obsessed with healthy and delicious food so we have tons of resources with meal prep recipes inspo. If you’re not 100% on the suggested menu, feel free to make your own choices with some of these curated recipes lists with easy high protein meal prep ideas.
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
We hope you found these high protein meal prep ideas for the week helpful!
With these easy meal prep ideas in rotation, you’ll be fueling your body and hitting your goals.
If you liked this 7 day high protein meal prep menu put it on rotation. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every week. Whether you make the same meals every week or rotate through a couple of different weekly plans, this guide will always be here for you to come back to.
Plus, we’re working on a couple more so keep an eye out for new menus.
Let us know if you try any of the recipes in the comments below!
Bon appetit!
A small note to my readers – Over here at VLHhealth, we occasionally include affiliate links in our posts. This means that if you purchase using our links, we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
More ideas you’ll love:
- 11 Healthy & High-Protein Crockpot Chicken Recipe Ideas
- 17 Healthy High Protein Low Calorie Recipes Under 500 Calories
- 17 Filling High Protein Low Carb Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner Ideas!
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