A lot of people have good intentions of starting the week off strong and preparing a lot of school lunches ahead for the rest of the week. But while you’re doing it, it feels like the kitchen turns into a nightmare and everything is very stressful. And then on top of that, you still have to cook your regular meal for the evening.
This list goes over some foods that are absolutely worth that time and effort because they taste good every single day of the week. These are foods that aren’t going to degrade in texture.
So it’s about storing things properly so they can sit in small amounts in the fridge, using ingredients that specifically don’t go bad or don’t change the texture or taste after a few days, and some recipes that even taste better after they’ve had a little bit of time to sit and marinate together. And of course, something that reheats well if it’s a hot food.
All of that means the effort you put in at the beginning of the week feels absolutely worth it when you have something delicious on a weekday to just grab from the fridge, put in a lunch bag, and head out the door.
Not only is this going to save your sanity on that Sunday afternoon or evening when you’re trying to prepare everything at once in larger portions and portion it down into individual servings while your kitchen turns into chaos.
It also helps reduce food waste from throwing out things that have gone bad and never got eaten, and it saves you money when you would have ended up ordering something instead of eating the meals you already prepared.
1) Chicken Burrito Bowls
When it’s prepared and assembled properly, this is a meal that can stay good all week long, so even by Thursday or Friday it’s still fresh and delicious in your fridge. Putting rice on the bottom and beans and chicken on top, and making sure to separate the salsa into its own container, is the key to keeping the rice from becoming soup by Thursday.
Another tip is to make sure your rice is not overcooked. Actually a little bit undercooked is going to work a lot better for making something ahead, especially if it’s going to hold all the way to the end of the week.
Rice has a lot of starch that’s really going to absorb moisture, and it’s going to continue cooking once it’s been reheated, so you want it a little bit undercooked, a little bit al dente, and then you can reheat it if you want to.
The other nice thing is that this also tastes good cold, especially if you season the rice a little bit. That’s what I would do for this recipe. Add a little bit of cilantro and lime while the rice is cooking just to give it some flavor, and then the salsa brings in that moisture and it’s fine cold or hot.
It really helps if you don’t have a reliable way to heat something up, or if you’re headed to soccer practice for the evening, any of those things.
2) Sesame Peanut Noodles
This is one of those recipes where giving it a chance to mix together for a little bit longer actually plays to your advantage. This one is going to taste better the second day once you reheat it and have it ready to go.
After you’ve cooked the noodles, you immediately want to toss them with a little bit of oil and then rinse them with cold water. This is going to stop them from overcooking and stop them from sticking together. Once you have them a little bit cooled down and coated in oil, then you add your sauce to coat them evenly on the surface. Another note for our sauce, we want to make sure it is thinner than you would normally like it. So make it correct if you’re going to have one portion of it that evening.
And then for the rest of the leftovers that you let cool off before storing, you want to thin it with a little bit more water, because again that’s going to absorb into those starchy noodles. They’re going to take in that moisture and it’s going to make your sauce a lot thicker once it cools off and once it’s been sitting together with the noodles. That being said, it’s still delicious on the second day.
One thing to note with this one, if you are someone who eats in a public place with other people around, having something with peanuts might be a little bit of a risk if someone nearby you has peanut allergies. This is absolutely something that I ran into. I love sesame noodles like this with peanut sauce, but I was a public school teacher so we could not have those because I was someone who ate in my classroom.
A quick way to switch out that peanut butter would be to use sun butter or sesame butter, both of which are going to give that delicious savory flavor while being a little bit more allergy friendly for people nearby.
3) Mason Jar Chopped Greek Salad
The name of the game here is again going to be layering properly when storing, so that you have something that’s going to last throughout the rest of the week.
Greens are difficult to keep when you have the dressing stored in the same container, so that’s why with this one you want something a little bit heartier like chickpeas or more sturdy vegetables that can sit in that dressing, and then allow something to be a little bit of a buffer like feta cheese or your chicken before layering the greens on top in that mason jar.
Having the height is really going to help with this recipe so that everything is in there. You don’t have to mess with another smaller container to put the dressing in, you just want to make sure that when you’re ready to go you put the lid on tight and give it a shake.
Another tip is to make sure that if you are putting them in a mason jar, have it be a wide mouth mason jar so that it’s easy enough to get your fork in and you don’t have to be fighting for every single bite.
One thing that I used to do with mason jar salads is actually bring another empty bowl or empty container, because it was much easier to just have one ready to go, dump the whole thing into that container, and then it’s the same really convenient meal, just with one more smaller dish to bring with you.
4) Baked Ziti in Single Portions
Meals that can be baked together and then divided are a really good way to work smarter and not harder when you’re preparing your meals for the week. This recipe absolutely follows that, and it’s a way that you can sneak in some unused ingredients as well.
You want to make sure that, like with our other recipes, the pasta should be a little bit undercooked, a little bit al dente, so that it can absorb a little more moisture from the sauce once it is reheated and stored. You can cook it all in one pan, you don’t need a million little small containers. Cook it all in the normal pan and the pro tip is to cut and divide it while it’s still warm.
That might mean it gets a little bit messy but it also means you don’t have a single thick layer of cheese that’s never going to melt nicely. Just make sure to add it to your container and try to keep it as much in one go as you can.
When you’re making your sauce for this one, this is a place where you can sneak in a bunch of extra vegetables, and kids and family members that are a little more picky will never be able to tell, because it’s just mixed in with the ground meat and the red sauce, and that tomato is such a strong flavor that it’s going to mask a lot of those more mild vegetables.
So something like carrots or even grated zucchini, bell peppers, any of those things can be grated. It could also be cooked first and then pureed just in a regular blender. Just cook it a little bit to soften it and then blend it and add it back to the sauce.
That’s another great way to get those vitamins and minerals in there from the vegetables without having them show for those picky eaters. And it’s absolutely delicious covered with cheese and pasta. No one can resist it.
5) Sheet Pan Turkey Meatballs
These are an excellent protein source that’s easy to prepare in a large batch and can turn into multiple different meals, which helps you not get tired of eating the same thing all week but is much less effort for the start of your week when you’re doing your meal prepping.
A large batch can go onto one tray, a 400 degree oven, for 18 minutes, where they still have a little bit of give and are not dried out.
A very lean meat like turkey is going to taste bad on day one if it’s overcooked. It’s going to be even worse on the rest of the week with those reheated meals. Make sure we take a little bit of time and attention, and then they’re going to be something that really shines throughout the rest of the week.
They really can be paired with just about anything. They can go with pasta, into a sandwich or a wrap, or just eaten on their own with some sauces and maybe a side salad.
This is really one where you can lean into a lot of different flavor profiles. The way you season them, or even if you rolled them in a coating, this is one that really can go a lot of different ways from just one base mix.
I would absolutely use this one to do some Greek turkey meatballs, have some chickpeas as well as a salad made with cucumber and tomato and onion with a little bit of lemon and salt. Those are going to keep those vegetables fresh overnight or even another day.
They’ve stretched really far for me before and it just tastes really bright and really fresh with all those veggies along with a nice good protein source.
It’s also versatile because you could pair it with rice, you could pair it with pasta, whatever you have left over from another meal. That’s what can go into the next day for lunch, and it feels like something new when you really did the work ahead of time.
6) Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
The chickpeas are doing all of the work here as they sit in a lemon and oil dressing. There is no cooking at all that needs to be involved, just some chopping to put everything together.
The one ingredient to pay attention to in this one is going to be the high moisture cucumbers. They need to be dried out with a little bit of salt and then they’re fine to be in the bowl for the rest of the week.
If you’re using fresh herbs, that’s another one to cut and add the morning of, but dried herbs could also be sprinkled on there and mixed in with the dressing if you want the seasoning and less effort the morning of.
If you want to add a little bit more interest and a little more crunch, you can take some of those chickpeas. It doesn’t have to be all of them, you can prep half of them as normal ahead of time, but you could also take some of the chickpeas and toast them in the oven to get them a little bit crispy.
That’s going to give a crunchiness to the salad without having to add a lot of stuff like croutons or fried onions. Those crunchy chickpeas are really going to give it a really fun texture and mix really well with our vegetables and the softer chickpeas that have been in the dressing.
7) Shredded Chicken You Cook Once
This is another recipe that can really transform into a large variety of different meals without having to feel like you’re prepping and prepping and prepping food all day on Sunday, or having to stop and cook multiple times a week just to get some variety in the meals you’re preparing.
The slow cooked chicken can become the base of a variety of different meals. The key to having it retain moisture is to shred it while it’s warm, because cold chicken is going to be really stringy and not very appealing when you’re reaching for that lunch box in the middle of the week.
Make sure to also save any liquid that came from the chicken, whatever method you use to cook it, because that is another way that it’s going to stay moist and delicious throughout the week.
Toss it in a salad or sandwich. It can go with any type of greens. All you need is to make sure you have a dressing with you. You can use the mason jar method and have the dressing on the bottom, and then it will absorb into the chicken and marinate itself, just give it a shake. It can also go on sandwiches or wraps. All of them are very easy ways to have it prepared ahead of time to make your life easier during the weekday.
I really love this one because it also means you have that protein ready to go. You could throw it into a soup or something for dinner as well, to make sure you are stretching your food and using it up in time during the week.
8) Tuna Pasta Salad with Lemon and Parsley
The star for this recipe is really in the dressing, because instead of using mayonnaise, olive oil and lemon mean it’s really versatile and it can sit in a lunch box without having to worry about those eggs in the mayonnaise spoiling and making yourself sick later or giving you an upset stomach.
The heavy lifting in this recipe is going to be the herbs and the lemon. Both the pasta and tuna are pretty neutral on their own, but having those bright sharp flavors is going to really make it sing and make it feel really fresh even though it’s something you prepared ahead of time during the week. Add a little bit more lemon on the day of, because the pasta is really going to absorb that moisture.
Also, we want to make sure, as usual with pasta, if you’re going to intentionally make it into a pasta salad, rinse it with cold water when you’re cooking it and cook it a little less than you normally would, otherwise it’s going to be really soft and really mushy by the time you’re taking it out of the fridge in the middle of the day.
Using a smaller size of pasta like orzo is also going to help. If you don’t have utensils with you, then you can just scoop it up with a spoon, a lot easier to eat if you’re a little bit busy on your lunch.
9) Overnight Oats in a Jar
This is one of our most affordable options because it’s going to be less than a dollar for each of the jars.
Oats, milk, a little bit of yogurt, and whatever fruit you want to add as your filling, that is all it needs to be a good base and easily customizable for breakfast or lunch and easy to prepare ahead of time.
Any toppings that you want to have some crunch, just make sure to store them outside of the jar so they don’t mix with the milk and go soft, because otherwise they will join the rest of the oats and then you lose that special bit of crunch you wanted to have in each bite. Because you’re letting the oatmeal sit in the milk overnight anyway, a great way to add a little bit more fiber to something that is already very healthy is to add some chia seeds in with it.
Some people have really been enjoying chia pudding, and this is a chia pudding and overnight oats mixed together. It adds a little bit more fiber and it does actually give a little bit of texture with the crunch, similar to people who like kiwi or dragon fruit, those seeds are going to have a little bit of a crunch just like those chia seeds do.
If you have some fruit that seems like the texture might be going off by the time you eat it a day or two later, another option is to quick blend it in a blender, either with your immersion blender or food processor, and have it as kind of a smoothie with the overnight oats, and then it can just be stirred in and mixed in.
You still get all of those nutrients from the fruit and those really bright flavors without having to deal with a mushy strawberry or grape that has gone bad because it’s sat for a little bit longer.
10) Macaroni Salad
Any cold pasta salad that’s prepared properly is going to taste amazing compared to leftovers that just didn’t make it to the microwave to get reheated.
The key here is that whatever pasta you use, do two less minutes for cooking so that it is a little bit underdone, and rinse it under cold water. This is going to help it not over absorb the hot water, and it’s also going to take in a lot of whatever dressing you want to add to your pasta salad.
It is going to take in a lot more than you expect, so make sure you hold back at least one third of the dressing per portion and stir it in the night before, so that you still have those really good flavors and a nice coating for all of your mix-ins by the time you are enjoying it as your lunch.
One of my favorite things to do with a pasta salad is to add a little bit of cabbage so that it’s almost like a coleslaw pasta salad. It is a great way to add a little bit of crunch as well as some more veggies mixed in, when normally it can get a little bit pasta heavy and make you feel not very full and satisfied after having it for a lunch.
11) Sweet Potato and Arugula Bowls
The star here is properly preparing sweet potatoes so that they’re still going to taste good later in the week. Add them to a 425 degree oven and get them a little bit more done than you think they should be. This is going to help them keep their texture a lot better throughout the rest of the week.
Before adding them in with greens to whatever container you’re going to store it in, make sure they are completely cooled so that the greens stay intact by the time you open it and want to add your dressing.
Make sure your dressing is not added the day of meal prep. Bring it with you the morning of, or bring it in a separate container, so that it doesn’t make the sweet potatoes soggy and start to wilt the greens.
A great topping to go with this would be some feta cheese as well as some candied walnuts and cranberries. It’s going to add a really festive crunch with those sweet potatoes and have those sweet and salty and savory flavors all go together really well.
If you don’t always have arugula on hand and don’t want to prepare it just for one meal to try it, a spring mix or spinach is another great option that is going to pair well with those sweet potatoes.
12) Enchilada Casserole Squares
This meal is one of the top contenders for the best tasting reheated food, and it can also recover from being in the freezer if it’s something that doesn’t get picked and the week goes sideways.
You can make shredded chicken especially for this or use some that is already pre-cooked to add as the filling. Either works fine because it will be cooked together again and really go together with those enchilada flavors.
When portioning it out you have to be brave and scoop it while it’s hot, because otherwise you are going to have a cheesy, hard, sticky mess that does not look appealing and does not heat up nearly as nice.
You can pair this with a little bit of sour cream, or a little bit lighter option would be to have some greek yogurt, as well as a wedge of lime. Both of those together plus a little bit of cilantro is going to give you a little bit of a fake lime crema sauce that is absolutely delicious with enchiladas.
This is one that’s also very easy to make into a vegetarian option. You can just use beans instead of chicken and then you have a delicious filling with all of that cheesy goodness and the tomatoey sauce.
13) Chicken, Rice, and a Green Vegetable
This one might be a little bit boring, but it is also the most reliable meal of all of these. I think anyone can say that they have had their fair share of chicken and rice and vegetables that have come along with them in some form when they’ve left the house carrying a lunch box.
Prep your chicken properly to make sure it doesn’t go stringy. Store it with a little bit of juice or sauce so it doesn’t dry out, and make sure to cut against the grain so it’s still tender by the time it goes into the microwave.
While it might not be a showstopper on its own, it can also have a lot of toppings and dressings or sides that go with it to really spruce it up. Adding a little bit of lemon or something like an Italian vinaigrette means that something that could be very boring gets changed up each day.
Sometimes with spicy mayo, sometimes with that vinaigrette, sometimes with balsamic. Those base ingredients can become a lot of different meals from just one preparation: one batch of rice, one batch of chicken, whatever vegetables you have that week that are going to hold on and be able to be reheated easily, means you have a lot of different meals. And as always, adding some cheese on top never hurt.
14) Lentil Soup for a Thermos
Knowing that this soup is going to be eaten the next day means the lentils don’t need to be soaked ahead of time and they’re not going to fall apart by the end of the week. That means your soup is not going to become sludge by the end of the week.
While it waits overnight in the fridge it’s going to thicken up and take in a lot of moisture and broth, so you want to make it much looser and thinner than what you actually want to eat the next day.
The key here for it tasting good in the morning is to preheat that thermos with boiling water. Make sure to let it sit for a few minutes so it has fully heated up.
Dump the water out and then add your soup as hot as you can possibly make it, so that by the time you’re opening it up at lunch it’s going to be the correct temperature to eat. Any tender vegetables like spinach you can add directly to the warm soup in the morning, and by the time you open it up at lunch they are going to be delicious and not overdone.
If you want to try this technique with hardier vegetables you want to make sure the size is quite small, so for something like carrots or onions make sure to shred them or slice them very thin so that they can absorb the moisture and take in the heat quickly.
15) Turkey Chili
Chili is one of those foods that goes beyond normal comprehension. It is absolutely better the next day, and the next day, and the day after. Using a lean meat means you have to pay special attention when you’re preparing this one. Make sure your pan is large enough that it’s not overcrowded, or you can split your batch into two separate batches.
Using the same pan means less dishes, but it also makes sure your meat is properly cooked. The goal is to brown, not just steam. This is another one that can freeze easily. Just make sure you give a little bit of extra room in the container so that when you reheat there’s a place for the steam and you have some space to stir it so you don’t get any random hot spots.
Warm and spicy chili is the perfect way to hide some extra vegetables in, especially if you want to blend them up. That is my number one tip for making sure you’re using up something that seems like it’s not quite bad but it’s not quite perfect anymore either.
You can’t go wrong with the classic toppings of cheese, a little dollop of sour cream, or greek yogurt. If you like something a little bit spicier you can go ahead and add some jalapenos. Something a little bit less spicy would be if you have some serrano or poblano peppers.
Those extra toppings, just make sure you store them in a separate container and then you can grab them when you are reheating the rest of the warm chili.
16) Marinated Tomato, Cucumber, and Feta
Cucumber and tomato aren’t picky, they just need to be cut into a similar size. Add a little bit of salt and let them rest for about 20 minutes before the liquid is drained off. Skip that step and you have a bowl of tomatoey pickles instead of a delicious side salad. Once the extra moisture has been drained off it will keep for three days.
The feta is going to be absolutely transformed when it sits in the oil mixture, making it into a delicacy instead of just something you threw in because you thought you should be healthier.
Olives and red onions are an excellent thing to mix in with this salad as well to add a little bit of variety. Another thing you can do is add some chickpeas, that’s going to give a little bit more protein if you want this to be your main food for the day.
17) Cheesy Chicken and Spinach Bake
Having just one dish to clean and one setting for the oven can save you a lot of time for this one, and you get a delicious and interesting lunch that’s different than what we would normally do.
This is a great way to use some of our pre-cooked chicken and add a little bit of interesting flavor and some health benefits with that green veggie. Just make sure the spinach is completely squeezed dry or the entire thing is going to be a soup instead of a bake.
A great way to give this a delicious finish would be to turn the oven up for one or two minutes at the end to broil, to get that cheese really bubbly and get those pieces of spinach crispy. Just make sure to keep an eye on them and keep the oven door slightly open so we don’t have any of those corners catching and scorching. The reward is going to be bubbly cheese with juicy chicken hiding underneath.
18) Roasted Vegetable Grain Bowls
This is going to be a sheet pan dump meal. Anything that is about to go bad in the fridge, take it, prepare it, put it on one pan. Set the oven to a roasting temperature, have harder root vegetables start cooking first, then add something a little bit softer, to find that sweet spot where the edges are roasty and have some color but don’t turn into charcoal.
Don’t be afraid to add a little bit of oil, because that’s going to be the difference between pale, sad vegetables that don’t have any color or flavor and a delicious deep roasted flavor that turns all of them a little bit sweet and a little bit smoky.
This is another meal that can be eaten cold or hot. A great topping could be pesto or any sort of vinaigrette that’s going to give a really bright acidic flavor to the deep roasted vegetables.
This recipe also means you can empty out whatever grains you have the most of at the time, or something you won’t need for another recipe.
My family absolutely loves to do Turkish bulgur because it has a really wonderful texture. It reheats well or can be eaten cold with salads, and it adds a little bit more fiber than doing a brown rice while not sacrificing anything for flavor or texture. It doesn’t hurt that bulgur also cooks up really fast and easily and doesn’t take a lot of time standing by the pot making sure it’s under or overcooked.
19) Ham and Cheese Sliders
This is another recipe where once you have your storage technique down for the cooked food, you are never going to consider turning into the drive-thru and wasting your time or money sitting in line when you could have something fresh and delicious just from reheating it at home.
You can bake an entire tray on Sunday and then have them hot for the rest of the week however you need them. Just make sure that after baking you let them cool on a wire rack so they don’t collect any moisture before you wrap them up individually.
You can easily take the entire thing of rolls and have half of them with one type of topping and half with another to add a little bit of variety if you have a larger volume you are preparing.
Some could be with pesto, some could be with barbecue, change up the type of cheese you’re using, and then you have something for all week long that feels fresh and new every single time.
20) Cowboy Caviar
Every single ingredient is easy to store, and it gets much better the more you let it sit and come together.
This one is great because it can be packed as a side, or a larger portion with a little bit of extra protein can be added as the main dish. Packed full of veggies and grains, just make sure you pack your chips separately so they don’t get soggy. Nothing in here is going to wilt and the citrus is going to help keep everything fresh and bright all week long.
If you have some family members who might be skeptical of this one, have them try just one bite and they will be convinced. It’s bright, hearty, and fresh, and anything tastes good with tortilla chips.
21) Pumpkin Bread Slices
This one can stay good for up to four days, if it lasts that long. With minimal preparation, you can have a little sweet treat in each meal for the whole week. The key here is to let your loaf cool completely before you wrap the individual slices. If you want to freeze it, do a layer of plastic wrap as well as parchment paper so that it doesn’t get freezer burnt.
You can pack the slices right from the freezer, put them in a lunchbox, and by the time you’ve finished your main meal, they’re ready to eat for dessert.
If you’re looking for something a little bit healthier, there’s quite a few swaps you can make while still having a soft and delicious loaf. The pumpkin is going to naturally help it hold moisture, so you can reduce the oil and go instead with some greek yogurt or sour cream so it has a little bit more fiber, instead of doing milk.
Because it has that delicious soft texture, this is also another place where if you swap half of the flour for whole grain flour or oat flour, no one is going to notice because the rest of the bar is still so soft and gooey. Mixing in some almonds or cashews is a great way to get some healthy fats as well as a little bit of protein.
22) Cottage Cheese with Berries
The principle is solid. It’s the same as a yogurt parfait, just a little more savory and much higher in protein. When you’ve run out of ideas for the week, you add any toppings you have at home, any frozen berries that are still making their way out of the freezer, and you have a delicious snack.
Those frozen berries will thaw slowly and stir in beautifully two days later. For picky eaters like me, the cottage cheese could be blended so it has a smoother texture, as well as adding some jam so it has some sweetness more like yogurt.
23) Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites
These are easy to make as a slice and bake mini cookie, and then it’s like you have two little treats instead of one guilty decision. Shorten your baking time until just before they start to turn golden and they’ll stay soft all week. A huge batch can also be made ahead and put in the freezer so that they stay good.
One base dough can also have a lot of different mix-ins and fillings. The plain vanilla dough can have something like cranberries and white chocolate, lemon zest and almond, or some festive cinnamon and walnuts to get you in the mood for fall. One easy thing can make you more excited for the end of your healthy meal each week.
