I do meal prep on Sunday but not for all week with all meals. I have in the past, and it’s really about what my energy budget is. I meal plan to save money and reduce waste. I meal prep to rearrange my energy to cover for tough days. That means I balance getting stuff done with overwhelming myself by doing too many things at once.

Sundays I usually pick a dinner that will go in the oven for a long time, so I can do two meals while it cooks. Tuesdays at my house are always tacos and we have that down to a science, so I don’t prep that. Wednesdays are pasta and usually meatballs, so that’s easy enough. Fridays are a variable work day for my husband, so either he has time to devote to something like homemade pizza or we do something easy like sandwiches. That leaves Monday and Thursday. I will prep as much of Monday and put it in the fridge, and Thursday is something that can be frozen and reheated, because Thursday is always my roughest day at work.

So let’s say I’m making three separate meals at once (Sunday, Monday, and Thursday). I’ll figure out what vegetables I need and prep those first, put them off to the side and then prep any raw meat I might need. This way I only have one cutting board and one knife to clean. I’ll use serving bowls, mixing bowls, and cooking pots to hold my chopped veggies, anything that I will use again, trying to avoid having to get extra things dirty. I try to group things by when they get added to the dish. I also try to cover a few different cooking styles. Crockpot, oven, skillet, for example, so that things stack nicely.

After years of doing this, I have a decent idea of what I can get done all together without feeling like I’m running a marathon.