Meal prep for working people: a plan for the week

Sunday, 5 p.m., six empty containers on the worktop. Millet is simmering on the hob, a tray of carrots and fennel is roasting in the oven, a bunch of parsley is waiting on the board. Sounds like a lot? It is around 90 minutes – and after that the question «what am I eating at the office tomorrow?» is settled for five days.

Meal prep for working people: what does that mean in concrete terms?

Meal prep for working people means: once a week you cook several components in larger quantities in advance – a grain side dish, a protein source and two kinds of vegetables, for instance – and combine them into different meals on working days. Not five identical dishes, but a building set. The effort is bundled at the weekend, the benefit spreads over the week, when time is short and the appetite for decisions is small.

The decisive point is often overlooked: meal prep saves less time than you would think – above all it saves decisions. Anyone who comes out of a meeting at 12:15 and has a finished meal standing in the microwave does not have to weigh things up, queue or improvise. That is the real gain.

Why the reality of Swiss working life speaks for it

Eating during working hours is well researched in Switzerland. menuCH, the first national nutrition survey, provides data on the population's food consumption and on cooking and eating behaviour – collected by the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office.

Then there is the structure of paid work. According to the Federal Statistical Office, part-time employment is almost three times more common among women than among men. Anyone juggling a part-time workload, childcare and housework knows the problem: the cooking evening does not disappear out of laziness, but because there is no room for it in the diary.

That is exactly where cooking in advance comes in. It shifts the kitchen work into a time slot that actually exists.

The building-block principle: three blocks, five combinations

Instead of planning recipes, plan building blocks. Cook a larger amount per category and vary it with sauce, spice and fresh ingredients. That way Thursday does not taste like Monday.

The Swiss Society for Nutrition shows the proportions in the Swiss food pyramid – a useful yardstick if you would like to check whether your weekly containers really are put together in a balanced way. As a rule of thumb, appearance works: if mostly beige is looking back at you, vegetables are missing.

Sunday in four steps

1. Read the calendar, then shop. Two evening appointments this week? Then you need three meals, not five. Overfull fridges are the main reason precooked food ends up in the bin.
2. Run the oven and hob in parallel. Vegetables on the tray, grains in the pan, eggs boiling alongside. While you wait, prepare the raw vegetables.
3. Let it cool, then fill and label. Put the date on – even when you are sure you will remember. You will not remember on Wednesday.
4. Define two emergency meals. What do you eat when the container stays at home in the fridge? That answer should be fixed.

When the kitchen falls through: plan B instead of a kiosk roll

There are weeks when Sunday is fully booked. For those, a second track that needs no cooling is worth having. A shake is part of that for many people, from the Herbalife Formula 1 shake range for instance, because it can be prepared in the break room in two minutes and requires no preparation the evening before.

The Herbalife Formula 1 container is practical for that: you portion the powder at home and have it with you on the move, dust-free and sealed, without putting the whole tub in your bag. Anyone who regularly works away from home keeps a second container in the office cupboard or in the car.

The afternoon has its own dynamic. Around 3 p.m. people often eat not out of hunger, but out of habit and because concentration is fading. A warm or cold drink can fill this gap – the instant herbal drink with tea extracts, mango and dragon fruit flavour, for instance, which you simply top up with hot or cold water. If you need something to bite instead, you will find alternatives to the biscuit bowl in the meeting room under Herbalife snacks.

Five stumbling blocks that bring meal prep to a halt

• Too ambitious a start. Anyone who cooks five different recipes on the first Sunday does it exactly once.
• Always the same. After three days of quinoa, chicken and broccoli, the fourth portion does not taste any better either. Sauces and herbs save more than new recipes.
• Containers that do not fit. Leaky, not microwave-safe or too big for your bag – and the food stays at home.
• No breakfast plan. The morning is the most vulnerable meal; you will find ideas for it under Herbalife breakfast.
• All or nothing. Three prepared lunches a week is a success, not a half measure.

And one more observation from practice: meal prep most often fails not at the cooking, but at Saturday's washing-up. An empty sink on Sunday afternoon is the underestimated precondition.

Start with three containers

This coming weekend, take a look at your calendar, shop for three lunches and cook two building blocks plus a tray of vegetables. If that works for a week, extend it. That is how Meal prep for working people becomes a habit instead of a project.

If you would like to complement your weekly planning with shakes, snacks or drinks, get an overview of All Herbalife products – or write to us about what actually gets in the way in your everyday life. Usually there is a simpler solution for it than the perfect recipe.

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