How to easily prepare healthy, whole food snacks that your family will appreciate for the week to come!
What is Meal Prepping?
Meal Prepping is getting everything you need for your meals ready for the coming week and dividing into individual containers. This includes all prep work, such as cleaning and cutting fruit/vegetables, portioning out food, and having everything ready for every single day in the coming week so all you have to do is grab your prepped meals for the day.
I feel like I need to elaborate on my definition of meal prepping. Let me put it to you this way… If you want to lose weight, meal prep. If you want to feel like you’ve got a solid plan for this week’s meals, meal prep. And if you want to feel like you are on top of the world, meal prep. Good intentions are just that – good intentions. You may want to be disciplined in the coming week and think you’ll not deviate from your intentions but the fast food drive-thru lines tell me otherwise.
So many people are stuck constantly spinning in the eye of the tornado, otherwise know as their chaotic, too busy, rushed lives that they can’t imagine carving out an hour of their time to meal prep for the coming week. But I promise you, meal prepping is part of the solution to your chaos! It will save you so much time in the coming week. Your weekday’s will be more enjoyable and less rushed! It really doesn’t take much time at all to get your food ready for the coming week. It saves more time than it takes to meal prep AND you’ll have peace of mind!
I actually use these ideas to cover my breakfast AND lunch! I eat the fruit for breakfast and the carrots for lunch.
What You Need to Make Healthy On-the-Go Meal Prep Snacks
- Strawberries & Kiwi (Or Strawberries & Pineapple)
- Baby Carrots
- Vegan Veggie Dip (Optional)
How to Make Healthy On-the-Go Meal Prep Snacks
- Clean and cut fruit and vegetables. (You can use any fruit you’d like!)
- Evenly distribute fruit between 5 meal prep containers.
- Evenly distribute vegetables between 5 meal prep containers.
- Using small individual containers for the veggie dip, evenly distribute to each container.
- Place the lids over the containers and store in the refrigerator.
Healthy On-the-Go Snacks You Can Meal Prep
- Monday –
- Strawberries & Kiwi (Or Strawberries & Pineapple)
- Baby Carrots & Vegan Veggie Dip
- Tuesday –
- Grapes
- Baby Carrots & Vegan Veggie Dip
- Wednesday –
- Strawberries & Kiwi (Or Strawberries & Pineapple)
- Baby Carrots & Vegan Veggie Dip
- Thursday –
- Grapes
- Baby Carrots & Vegan Veggie Dip
- Friday –
- Strawberries & Kiwi (Or Strawberries & Pineapple)
- Baby Carrots & Vegan Veggie Dip
Where to Find Meal Prep Containers
- I highly recommend the containers pictured. They are called ‘Mainstay Meal Prep Food Storage Containers.’ You can buy a pack of 5 at Walmart for less then $5. However, it is important to not that I only use these containers for cold food. I do not use them to reheat food in the microwave. They are microwave and dishwasher safe (top shelf), but their durability is best for cold food only.
- And, the little disposable dipping cups are called ‘Plastic Portion Cups with Lids.’ You can get them from Amazon.
Tips for Meal Prepping Healthy Snacks
Here are some important tips to keep in mind when meal prepping:
- Keep it Simple – Don’t overthink it! You can use whatever fruits and vegetables you’d like. And you don’t have to make the veggie dip, you can buy it instead if you’d like.
- Save Time While Cleaning/Cutting Fruits & Vegetables – When I clean and cut my fruits and vegetables, I put a large cutting board over the garbage disposal side of my sink, leaving a crack available to push the stems, peelings, etc through into the sink. I clean and cut all of the fruit into a large bowl. For example, clean and cut all of the strawberries into a bowl. Then evenly distribute into the containers. Next, cut all of the kiwi and evenly distribute into the containers. I basically create an ‘assembly line’ for myself.
- Make Additional Snack Containers – I always get extra fruit and divide between additional containers to keep in the refrigerator. Then I have fruit already cut and clean for my husband and son’s lunches for the week. This idea also works great for after school snacks!
- Plan Your Menu & Write It Down – First, plan your menu/ideas. Then, separately, write out what you are going to pack for each day. Just as I have done below. Your chances of following through on meal prepping for the entire week are much greater if your plan is written out and right in front of you as you prepare your meals.
- Slight Variations – You’ll notice with the ideas in this post, the food is reused throughout the week. There are just slight variations. You want to minimize the variety in your meal prepping. This makes the prep go a lot faster AND it saves a lot of time while still giving you a little variety throughout the week. And you won’t waste any food.
- Mark Your Calendar – Seriously, if you don’t, the day will come to meal prep and you’ll think of every excuse possible not to meal prep. The best day and time to do it is very early Sunday morning. Then it’s done and out of the way for the day!
- Plan Ahead – Get your groceries ahead of meal prep day. Don’t grocery shop and meal prep on the same day, you’ll be exhausted. You want to stay motivated to follow through on your intentions every week. Taking on too much at once is just going to burn you out. So plan ahead!
These ideas are meant to give you a starting point. Sometimes inspiration comes easier when you see someone else’s ideas, rather than starting from scratch. Then you can spin off with your own ideas and preferences! The fruit pictured isn’t always in season, either. So you may have to get creative and improvise!
For More Meal Prepping Ideas, Check Out:
- Meal Prep Ideas for Breakfast To-Go
- Healthy Breakfast Ideas You Can Meal Prep
- How to Meal Prep Grab & Go Smoothies
- Easy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Breakfast Cups
Healthy On-the-Go Meal Prep Snack Ideas
Healthy On-the-Go Meal Prep Snack Ideas, how to easily prepare healthy, whole food snacks that your family will appreciate for the week to come!
Ingredients
- Strawberries & Kiwi (Or Strawberries & Pineapple)
- Baby Carrots
- Vegan Veggie Dip (Optional)
Instructions
- Clean and cut fruit and vegetables. (You can use any fruits/vegetables that you'd like!)
- Evenly distribute fruit between 5 meal prep containers.
- Evenly distribute vegetables between 5 meal prep containers.
- Using a small individual containers for the veggie dip, evenly distribute to each container.
- Place the lids over the containers and store in the refrigerator.