Meal Prep – Made Easy

Efficient time management and good organization are the key to a relaxed daily routine – especially in the kitchen. Who doesn’t know it: Planning and preparing healthy meals every day can be a real challenge. Meal Prep offers an intelligent strategy to successfully meet these challenges through targeted advance planning and preparation

Meal Prep stands for “Meal Preparation”. It’s about planning, pre-cooking, and storing meals or individual components in advance, portion by portion. This method allows for optimal time management, reduces your daily effort, and ensures you have targeted control over your diet.

Efficient use of time: By targeted preparation, you invest time once, but save valuable minutes daily during preparation.

Healthy eating in focus: You determine the ingredients in advance and ensure that your meals are balanced and healthy.

More calm in everyday life: Structured planning ensures less effort, more overview, and serenity with your daily meals.

Step 1: Clear weekly planning

Decide which meals you want to prepare.

👉 Extra tip: For optimal planning, also read our article on “smart weekly planning”.

Step 2: Stock check

Meal Prep Boxes
Airtight glass boxes are best (sustainable, easy to stack, and easy to reheat). Alternatively, BPA-free plastic boxes also work.

👉 Extra tip: Which Meal Prep boxes are ideal for Meal Prepping? Read our additional article on “Meal Prep Boxes”.

Zip bags
For cut vegetables or portioned meat that you freeze.

Labeling material
Labels or a waterproof marker to clearly label the boxes.

Step 3: Specify quantity planning

Precisely calculate the quantities of ingredients you need for the planned meals. Use your already created shopping list for this. Or create a structured shopping list – sorted by categories.

👉Extra tip: Use our template “Shopping List 2.0” as a PDF download.

Step 4: Plan cooking process

Consider what you will cook in what order, based on the shelf life of the food:

Longer shelf life: Rice, pasta, potatoes, legumes, vegetables (e.g., carrots, broccoli), meat dishes that are frozen.

Shorter shelf life: Pre-cooked fresh vegetables, sauces, salads, cut fruit.

Brief overview:

🍽️ How long does your food last? – At a glance!

📅 Refrigerator

🥩 Meat dishes (cooked/fried):
✅ 2-3 days

🍗 Poultry dishes (cooked/fried):
✅ 2-3 days

🐟 Fish dishes (cooked/fried):
✅ 1-2 days

🥚 Hard-boiled eggs:
✅ 1-2 weeks

🍞 Bread:
❌ not recommended

❄️ Freezer

🥩 Meat dishes (cooked/fried):
✅ 4-6 months

🍗 Poultry dishes (cooked/fried):
✅ 4-6 months

🐟 Fish dishes (cooked/fried):
✅ 2-6 months

🥚 Hard-boiled eggs:
❌ not recommended

🍞 Bread:
✅ 1-3 months

Step 5: Practical pre-cooking portioning

Cook the ingredients in the planned order. When you’re done, proceed as follows:

• Divide the cooked ingredients into portions suitable for your recipes.
• Store them directly in prepared boxes or zip bags
• Clearly note the preparation date and intended use date on each box.
• Store them directly in prepared boxes or zip bags.

Step 6: Optimal storage

Store the prepared meals according to their shelf life in the refrigerator or freeze them to ensure maximum freshness. Divide the cooked ingredients into portions suitable for your recipes. Store them directly in prepared boxes or zip bags.

Step 7: Everyday use

Daily, specifically take out the prepared ingredients and quickly assemble your planned fresh dishes according to the daily schedule in the weekly plan.

This way, you optimally use your prepared meals or ingredients, always have a healthy meal ready, and avoid food waste.

The digital K.B. Kitchen Assistant “Kati” supports you optimally:

• ✅ Automatic weekly plans according to your dietary goals
• ✅ Detailed shopping lists
• ✅ Structured nutrient overviews per family member
• ✅ Everyday recipe suggestions

Once you get into the routine, you won’t want to miss it: You decide what you eat, gain time, and make your everyday life easier. Meal Prep is the way to a conscious, healthy, and predictable diet – without any complexity.

🔗 Your next steps:

Download our structured shopping list

Plan your balanced week with our nutrient table.

Test “Kati” for automatic suggestions and practical implementation.

The information in this article is for general guidance and does not replace individual nutritional advice.

Sources used:

• German Nutrition Society (DGE)
• Own experience practical tools