Meal prepping is a great way to reduce the time you spend in the kitchen each week. It’s especially useful on busy weeks when you won’t have much time to prepare nourishing meals on the fly.
However, it’s no secret that meal prep itself can be time-consuming. To simplify your prep, all you need are some simple and quick meal prep ideas. That’s exactly what you’ll find in this roundup of tasty recipes.
Whipping up a quick meal is easy with Pacific Foods. We offer a wide range of ready-to-serve soups, chilis and more that can be prepared in minutes.
For example, you can serve our Organic Chicken & Wild Rice Soup with a delicious salad. Or prepare a baked potato and top it with some of our hearty, organic and plant-based Harvest Black Bean Chili. Of course, you can also enjoy our soups and chilis on their own!
Looking to prep your meals for the week ahead? Let’s dive into some simple and quick recipes.
This dish is quick to put together and can be prepped in advance for a delicious, last-minute solution. It features tasty yellow onion, zucchini, corn and black beans. Plus, the addition of Pacific Foods Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Broth and Pacific Foods Organic Creamy Tomato Soup makes the preparation faster.
View the full recipe: Weeknight Tortilla Soup
Pacific Foods Organic Herb and Roasted Garlic Creamy Plant-Based Broth forms the base of this perfect quick-prep meal. Onions, garlic, button mushrooms and thyme combine with the broth to make a dish that can be prepped in five minutes.
View the full recipe: Creamy Mushroom Pasta
This recipe can help you create a rich meat-and-potatoes dinner for you and your family with Pacific Foods Organic Beef Broth. With flank steak, baby red potatoes and asparagus, this recipe can be prepared in 30 minutes.
Always make sure to cook steak to the recommended temperature to avoid foodborne illness. While this recipe is not right for preparing in advance and reheating, you can shorten the cooking process by having the individual ingredients prepared in advance for fast cooking.
View the full recipe: Flank Steak Sheet Pan with Summer Vegetables
If you own a pressure cooker, this recipe allows you to sauté vegetables, pressure cook, sauté chicken and simmer without having to clean every pan in your kitchen.
Using Pacific Foods Organic Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup and Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth, this dish provides the comfort you’d expect from something with “pot pie” in the name. You can prepare this soup in advance and reheat it easily.
View the full recipe: Pressure Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Onion, tomatoes, chickpeas, eggplant, zucchini and red bell pepper create amazing depth and breadth in every mouthful of this vegan dish.
Featuring Pacific Foods Organic Coconut Unsweetened Original Beverage and Pacific Foods Organic Zesty Ginger and Turmeric Creamy Plant-Based Broth, you can prepare this stunning curry in just 10 minutes.
View the full recipe: Warming Vegetable and Chickpea Curry
This recipe combines zucchini noodles with green onion, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, white miso and Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth.
Placing the soup in individual mason jars has multiple benefits. First, it’s a stylish and entertaining way to set the meal apart. Second, it allows you to prepare all the ingredients in advance and refrigerate them.
View the full recipe: Mason Jar Miso Zoodle Soup
Huli Huli sauce, sometimes called Hawaiian barbecue sauce, is made with ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Our recipe’s version includes green onion, pineapple juice, orange zest and Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth.
The chicken does need time to marinate, so this is a pre-prep option, rather than a last-minute meal choice. As with the steak recipe, it’s important to cook the chicken to its safe recommended temperature of 165°F.
View the full recipe: Hawaiian Grilled Huli Huli Chicken and Rice
Hoisin, soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce, chili paste and Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth form the flavor base of this sublime dish.
With ground chicken breast, cashews, basil leaves and mango, you get a unique and marvelous combination of flavors and textures. Plus, this meal takes just 15 minutes to prepare!
View the full recipe: Thai Basil Chicken Bowls
The most obvious benefit of meal prepping is the time savings you’ll experience each week. By prepping your meals in advance, you can enjoy delicious lunches and dinners without the need to spend a ton of time in the kitchen.
Another major benefit is that it allows you greater control over the ingredients and serving sizes of your meals if this is important to your lifestyle. You can easily calculate the calories and nutrients contained in your meals in advance.
Finally, meal prep can help you avoid falling into a recipe rut. We all have fallback options that we gravitate toward when pressed for time. Prepared meals allow us to keep things interesting throughout the week.
Almost any food can be used for meal prepping, depending on your timeline. However, you must consider how long you’re meal prepping for and how long your food will last in the fridge or freezer. This food safety chart gives you an excellent picture of how long your meals may last.
Depending on the ingredients, some foods can last for months in the freezer, just waiting to be heated and served. Other foods can’t survive more than a few hours in the refrigerator without losing their appeal.
With proper planning, you can have five or more days’ worth of meals prepared in advance and waiting to be enjoyed. The USDA guidance on leftovers is that cooked meals should be kept in the refrigerator for only three to four days before being thrown out. The key to longer prep is the freezer, where many foods can be kept for 1-3 months.
The best food comes from the best ingredients. At Pacific Foods, our products are made with the utmost care and attention from field to table. Our organic and plant-based options can help you turn quick meal prep ideas into your everyday reality. Shop our range of products today for wholesome, delicious options to keep stocked in your pantry.