How to make meal prep quick and easy

Weekly Technique

By Weight Watchers

Published 5 September 2022

If you ever wished you had a personal chef—same. The next best thing: finding ways to simplify your planning, prepping, and cooking.

Try This!

Don’t have time to prep and cook a full meal? Lean on quick- or no-cook foods and recipes. Pick up cooked proteins (rotisserie chicken, frozen shrimp, burger patties). Buy pre-chopped veggies—you can even add them to takeout meals. Are you missing ingredients when you do have time to cook? Write a grocery list while planning meals for the week, and get everything in one run. Consider ingredients you already have when planning. Choose recipes that use five ingredients or less. (Think pastas, stir-fries, and salads.) Just don’t want to cook every. single. day? Designate one day to batch-cook. Chilies, soups, and stews freeze and reheat well; store in individual portions. Roast a large chicken, beef roast, or other protein to use later in no-cook meals. Universal Time-Savers • Tacos, salads, egg dishes, and burgers come together quickly. • Keep your kitchen stocked with ready-to-go ingredients (cooked brown rice, canned beans, frozen veg). • Use tools like the microwave (it cooks frozen fish and veg in a flash), a pressure or slow cooker, and a food processor (it makes chopping and grating a breeze). • In the WW app’s Recipe section, scroll to categories like Freezer-Friendly Foods and Easy Weeknight Dinners.

Let’s dive a little deeper...

Whether you like playing chef or prefer the role of diner, science says eating more home-cooked meals helps save Points® and keeps you on track. OK, cool. But as most of us know, life also has a say in everything. Work, family, the desire not to cook—these things often have plans for your time other than shopping for food, chopping, sautéing, and babysitting the stove.

Plot twist! You can have other plans too. By relying on time- and energy-saving shortcuts and quick and easy recipes, you’re likelier to whip up more healthy, tasty meals at home and stay within your Points Budget. Yes, even when faced with a busy or unpredictable schedule.

These tips may not get you cooking at home every night—and that’s OK. With WeightWatchers®, all foods are on the menu. Your goal isn’t to become a five-star chef; it’s to make nutritious meals as simple, fast, and convenient a choice as possible. Do that and it’s easier to avoid in-the-moment decisions that tend to slow progress, and you’ll have more time to focus on everything else, including your success.

Week four of our monthly theme, Time-Saving Solutions