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17 Ways to Prep Healthy Meals and Snacks in 15 Minutes or Less

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Healthy Meal Prep - How to prep food on the weekend

Let’s talk about ways to prep healthy meals and snacks more quickly and easily.

Because the reality is that prepping and cooking real food takes time – much more time than heating up processed food or picking up dinner at a drive-thru window. Which leaves us wondering, where in the world will we find the time?

To Prep Healthy Meals and Snacks – Break it down

The answer is to break healthy food prep down into small, manageable tasks that you can do in small chunks of time. You probably can’t take an hour every day to prep healthy meals and snacks, but you can devote 15 minutes to it. (includes affiliate links)

Maybe even 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. And over time, those 15-minute efforts can make a big difference in the quality of your family’s meals and snacks.

Ready to give it a try? Here are 17 ways to break it down so you can prep healthy food in 15 minutes or less:

• Make a meal/snack plan for the week.  This is my #1 tip for eating well and feeding your family well. When you don’t have a plan, fast food, takeout meals and unhealthy snacks are more likely to creep into your family’s diet. Use your calendar and create a plan that works with your schedule. My free ebook – The Busy Woman’s Guide to Healthy Family Meals – includes 24 simple meals to help you get started.

• Clean out and organize your refrigerator or pantry.  Just 15 minutes of organizing, getting rid of old stuff and putting “like things” together saves you time and money and lets you know what you already have on hand.

• Bake several large chicken breasts. Pop them in the oven and do other things while they cook.

• Shred baked chicken breasts.  Shredded chicken is great to have on hand for making chicken tacos, chicken salad or barbecue chicken sandwiches. Or use it to turn a large salad into a meal. Once the breasts are cooled you can get the kids involved in shredding while you do something else.

• Wash fruits and vegetables your family will eat over the next several days. This is much more efficient than washing fruits and vegetables every time you need them. I use a bowl of white vinegar in water for this job.

• Prep fruits and vegetables you’ll use in the next 2 or 3 days.  For example, cut carrot sticks and orange slices for snacks, cut up bunches of grapes into little “trees,” or chop onions to use in recipes.

• Prep vegetables once that can be used in twice during the week.  For example, chop onions and peppers once, then divide them to use in spaghetti sauce and chili, or omelets and tacos.

10 Healthy eating tips for busy women

• Package the snacks your family will need for the next few days.  Make individual bags or small containers of granola, nuts, trail mix, cheese cubes, crackers, baby carrots, grapes or other healthy snacks. Keep them together in the refrigerator or in a drawer or bin, so family members can grab them easily.

• Mix two jars of natural peanut butter.  If you love natural peanut butter, but hate the fact that it’s hard (and messy!) to mix, try this. Buy two large jars, dump them into a bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer or the paddle of a stand mixer. Then scoop the peanut butter back into the jars and refrigerate. Yes, it’s messy, but it pays you back with perfectly mixed peanut butter. And you don’t have to do it again for a long time.

• Make your own peanut butter crackers. Use whole grain crackers and natural peanut butter. Package them so they’re ready to grab and go.

• Double a recipe and freeze half .  Doubling takes just a few minutes, and it pays you back many times over. For example, I always make double batches of shredded pork barbecue, Spicy Italian Beef and Family-Friendly Butternut Squash Soup, because I love having a “back-up plan” (or 2 or 3!) in the freezer.

• Bake several sweet potatoes and/or winter squash. Serve them as side dishes during the week, either plain with just a bit of butter or whisked with butter, brown sugar, and a little bit of cinnamon.

• Peel very ripe bananas and freeze them in a Ziplock bag. Use them as a base for smoothies. (I buy extra bananas for this purpose.)

• Brown a double batch of ground beef, one to use for a meal this week and one to freeze for another meal.

• If you have an InstantPot, put it to work for you. An InstantPot does everything in half or a third of the time. So use it to quickly cook chicken breasts, a whole chicken, dried beans, soup, or just about anything else. I use it to boil eggs, because of some reason eggs cooked in an InstantPot peel very easily – no sticking shell (even with fresh eggs).

• Cook oatmeal in the Crockpot overnight. This is an easy way to have a healthy  breakfast ready in the morning. My friend Christina at Juggling Real Food and Real Life has a great recipe for Crockpot oatmeal (as well as other quick ways to make oatmeal).

• Make a double batch of pizza dough and freeze half.  I’ve started making a double batch, and sometimes two double batches, of the pizza dough my family loves. It takes almost no extra time, and let’s me make pizza for dinner on days when I don’t have time to make dough.

When you invest just a little bit of time to plan and prep healthy meals and snacks, your efforts pay big healthy eating dividends – and wave time and stress. Try it this week, and let me know how it works for you.

Comments

  2. Karen G says

    Wonderful suggestions. Will be pinning and sharing on my FB page. Love your suggestions. The only one I don’t do is the peanut butter crackers. I have switched to other nut butters which are better for you. Plus I rarely eat crackers, but I totally can see how this is a great idea for those that are just moving to real foods. I believe small changes are what stick.

    Reply

  3. Jeanne Herko says

    In my early years of marriage, I had a really hard time cooking for two. I came from a family of 10 so I cooked “army style,” for a larger group of people naturally. Now at my 45th year of marriage, with 13 grandkids and daughters arriving with their husbands, we make a LARGE group. I can cook ahead for two or for 21! I was blessed with some great mentors to learn much about food prep over time. Whatever you can do ahead, it will be a great time saver. Hubby and I have been migrating to a Paleo diet and there are many things to prepare ahead of time. We shop together, he fishes and provides fresh meat and poultry that we put up for when we need it. It all works to save time and eat healthier. You just have to take the initiative. Time is a precious commodity at any point in your life, but with family you really need to be super conscious with all the demands on your time. Thanks for all the valuable timesaving tips to eat well and to manage your home in todays world. Our culture makes for s busy lifestyle . Every day can be a fresh start so you can begin anew with implementing some changes that will eventually add up to a big difference.

    Reply

    • GC says

      Thank you so much, Jeanne. I loved reading about how your food prep has had to run the gamut from big to small and back to big again. You’re right – eating well really requires taking initiative, and that’s hard when everyone is so busy. Each person has to decide to make it a priority, but I’m hoping that our Real Food Experience posts will provide some tips and tricks for making it a bit easier to eat well.

      Thanks so much for stopping by.
      Gaye

      Reply

  4. 'Becca says

    This is wonderful advice. I do most of these things, except the meat-related ones because we don’t eat any meat other than fish at home. Regarding hummus, did you know you can freeze it? That makes the effort of whipping up a batch and cleaning the blender seem more worthwhile because you can make months’ worth of hummus in the time it would take to make a week’s worth–and if you are using canned garbanzos, you also can save money by buying a #10 can instead of small cans.

    Here are my top 3 kitchen time-savers.

    Reply

    • GC says

      Thanks so much, Becca. No, I did not know that you can freeze hummus. That is a great tip! I love anything that makes a mess once and allows you to enjoy it for a long time!

      Gaye

      Reply

  6. Natasha says

    These are some great tips! I always feel that I should only cook just enough for the meal, but it’s a good idea to cook more than needed so that it would be easier for the next meal that you cook. And the oatmeal in the crockpot – genius!

    Thanks so much for sharing on Turn It Up Tuesday! We love having you! 🙂

    Reply

    • GC says

      Thanks so much, Natasha. I love cooking extra and having it for another meal, a lunch or the freezer. Saves me lots of time.

      Thank you for stopping by.
      Gaye

      Reply

  10. April (@100LBC) says

    We are about to move into our new home and when we FINALLY do, I will be making sure that we are eating healthy foods. We didn’t eat that much processed before, but I want to take it out, since I can. Thanks for sharing Gaye and linking up with Countdown in Style! Don’t forget to come back on Friday to see if you were featured!

    ~~April~~
    100lbCountdown.com

    Reply

    • GC says

      Thanks for stopping by. I know it’s not really simple, but just want to convey the idea that it’s do-able. I will definitely stop by the hop this week.

      Gaye

      Reply

  12. Brittnei says

    You make it sound so easy! I definitely do some of these things already, but I pinned this just in case I need more ideas in the future. I’ve found that making my own peanut butter is so easy and has less sodium and crap in it. I have a pinned recipe for that as well because hubby and baby love it! Thanks for sharing this with us on Countdown in Style! Don’t forget to come back on Friday to see if you are featured! xo

    Reply

    • GC says

      Hi Brittnei – No, I know it isn’t easy! I just want to help people see that it’s possible. Thanks for reminding me about making your own peanut butter. I am going to give that a try over the holidays.

      Gaye

      Reply

  14. Britni Newton Vigil says

    Great ideas! One of my favorite things to do is just cook chicken breasts in a crockpot and then shred them to use in all sorts of recipes for the week. Thanks for sharing on the weekend re-Treat link party!

    Britni @ Play. Party. Pin.

    Reply

    • GC says

      Hi Britni – Yes, I love doing that too! Yesterday I cooked chicken breasts in the Crockpot that are going into chicken tacos and chicken noodle soup this week. Love getting double use out of a little bit of work.

      Gaye

      Reply

  18. ZeeMommy says

    I’ve been storing my extra jars of natural peanut butter (buy several when on sale) upside down on the shelf. When I open them up it seems like all that oily stuff has migrated through the jar instead of sitting in a greasy puddle under the lid. Takes a few weeks, but works. I think my kids would love to lick out a mixer bowl of peanut butter though! Messy but fun snack!

    Reply

    • GC says

      I have heard that about storing the jars upside down, and even tried it once. It didn’t work, but I only did it for a few days. I’m going to get an extra jar and just put it away upside down for a few weeks. Thanks for the idea.

      Gaye

      Reply

  19. jugglingrealfoodandreallife says

    Hi Gaye! Stopping in from Let’s Get Real. These are great ideas. I think I need to clean out my refrigerator this weekend. I do many of these things when I am on my “A” game, but I appreciate the reminders so that I don’t fall back into old ways. I love the “make your own peanut butter crackers” idea. I never thought to do this. My kids each take snacks to school and this is a perfect idea to add to the rotation. I need to substitute almond butter because they are in a peanut free classroom, but that is easy enough. Thanks for including me in your post also. You are so good at that. I need to get better at it to return the favor. I will be pinning this and sharing on FB.

    Reply

    • GC says

      Thanks Christina. It’s hard to be on our “A” game all the time, isn’t it? (She says as she sits at her desk eating Subway for lunch!) I love homemade peanut butter crackers because they are easy to make and so much healthier than the packaged ones.

      Thanks so much for sharing.
      Gaye

      Reply

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