A Guide to Meal Planning Workweek Lunches

As a health coach and chef, the topic of food comes up a lot with my clients. Eating is a critical part of our wellness journey that we cannot avoid, and most would agree it has room for improvement. One of the most common obstacles my clients report is not having enough time to prepare food each day so they can eat healthier. They are working 10-hour days, carpooling their kids around, checking on their parents—the list goes on.

Time is not only a luxury; it is a necessity. It is the secret ingredient that gets ignored as we mindlessly power through each day. But what if you could change that with an actual plan that would not only support your desire for healthier eating but also allow you to do something extra?

Imagine a 10-minute walk on your lunch break after eating a grab-and-go lunch prepared by you, not by a commercial kitchen that sacrifices health for lower costs. Maybe it’s five minutes of meditation that you really needed to shake off the meeting that left a knot in your chest. Or a call to that friend who can always make you smile. Saving even 10 minutes can catapult you toward habits that improve your overall well-being.

Convincing yourself that you need to meal plan and prep is one thing, actually doing it is another. We have established the “why,” but now we need to dive into the “how” so you can go from intention to implementation.

First, determine what your workweek looks like. For ease, I will outline what a meal planning and prepping schedule might look like for someone working Monday through Friday, but adjustments can be made as necessary.

Schedule for Planning and Prepping Lunches for Monday–Friday

Thursday: Plan your meals by gathering recipes and deciding what you want to make for the following week. Not a fan of eating the same thing every day? Change up the flavor profiles with spice blends or different ingredients throughout the week. Maybe Greek bowls have cucumbers and chickpeas, whereas Tex-Mex bowls have pickled jalapeños and black beans, but both share a base of chicken, tomatoes and brown rice.

Friday: Finish gathering recipes. Determine what you already have and what you still need, then make a shopping list. Do you have containers for each day of the following week? If not, add them to the list.

Saturday: Grocery shop for ingredients—plan it, do it, make it fun. It’s not a chore if you add something you love (a good playlist, a scenic route, a frivolous stop, or a friend or family member to keep you company). Begin meal prep by washing produce before putting it away. This is like laying your clothes out the night before: it might take a few extra minutes now, but it pays you back tenfold the next day.

Sunday = Prep Day: Carve out one to two hours to make the food you need. Decide whether there is someone who would be a helpful assistant to make things go faster. Or maybe listen to a podcast or watch a movie that requires little attention (perhaps one you’ve already seen). Once everything is made, individually package it so lunch is ready to grab on your way out the door each day. If you work from home, all you need to do is pull it out of the refrigerator.

One last word of advice: now that you have successfully planned and prepped your meals for the week, write down one intention each day for how you will use the newfound time you have added back into your schedule.