Meal Prep Plan: How I Prep a Week of Easy Low-Carb Meals in Just 2 Hours

If you’re following a low-carb diet, you know that planning and prepping your meals in advance is hugely helpful in sticking to your carb budget. That’s where this Power Hour comes in. Carve out less than two hours for prep on Sunday (or any day when you have a free chunk of time), and you’ll be set up with a week’s worth of feel-good breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Here’s how to do it.

This meal prep plan is for anyone following a low-carbohydrate diet and is looking for easy, well-balanced meals to fuel them through the week.

• Breakfast: A simple grab-and-go option that you barely have to think about (five days).
• Lunch: Options that are easy to pack and rely mostly on dinner leftovers (five days).
• Dinner: Satisfying meals that you’ll look forward to turning into lunch (four days).
• Nutritional Goals: Each meal clocks in at less than 15 grams of carbs per serving and is rich in protein, healthy fats, and vegetables.

• Feeds: Two people
• Prep Time: About 1 1/2 hours
• Meals Covered: About 75% (no Friday night dinner or weekend meals)
• Weeknight Cooking Required? Moderate (20 to 30 minutes of light cooking to bring dinner together)

• 3-Cheese Frittata Cups

• Greek-Style Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps
• Leftover Egg Roll in a Bowl
• Cilantro Lime Chicken Fried Cauliflower Rice

• Egg Roll in a Bowl
• Roasted Tomato Soup
• Cilantro Lime Chicken with Roasted Broccoli

This week’s shopping list is a combination of vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy, whole grains, pantry items, and a few snacks of your choice. It assumes staples like olive oil, salt, and pepper are already on hand.

• Produce: 1 bunch chives, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 1 English cucumber, fresh oregano, fresh thyme, 1 bunch fresh parsley, 1 bunch cilantro, 1 lemon, 4 limes, 1 head butter lettuce, 1 bunch scallions, 1 head garlic, 1 bag cruciferous slaw mix, 1 large yellow onion, 1 (12-ounce) bag cauliflower rice, 1 pound broccoli
• Meat & Seafood: 1 pound ground pork, turkey or chicken, 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Refrigerated: 1 dozen eggs, whole-milk ricotta cheese, whole milk, Fontina cheese, unsalted butter
• Pantry: 2 (5-ounce) cans oil-packed tuna, pitted kalamata olives, mayonnaise, Sriracha, coconut aminos, 2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, red pepper flakes, 32 ounces low-sodium vegetable broth

1. Make frittata cups: Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare frittata cups according to recipe instructions.
2. Prepare tuna salad: While frittata cups bake, prepare tuna salad according to recipe instructions and store.
3. Roast tomatoes for soup: Increase oven temperature to 425°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and roast tomatoes for soup (step #2). Transfer to a storage container once roasted and cooled. 
4. Make cauliflower rice: While tomatoes roast, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add cauliflower rice, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and lightly browned. Remove from heat, let cool, and transfer to a large storage container.
5. Cut broccoli: Chop the broccoli into bite-sized florets. Place in a zip-top bag.
6. Prepare lettuce cups: Remove large leaves from head of butter lettuce. Wash, dry, and place in a zip-top bag.

Warm a frittata cup in the microwave for 10 seconds and enjoy at home or take to go.

• Monday and Thursday, Greek-Style Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps: Divide tuna salad between two days and pack up a few lettuce leaves each day to use as wraps for the salad.
• Tuesday, Leftover Egg Roll in a Bowl: Pack up the remaining egg roll stir-fry from Monday’s dinner.
• Thursday and Friday, Cilantro Lime Chicken Fried Cauliflower Rice: Pack up the prepared chicken fried rice over two days.

• Monday, Egg Roll in a Bowl: Prepare egg roll stir-fry according to recipe instructions and eat half.
• Tuesday, Roasted Tomato Soup: Take out the roasted tomatoes from the fridge and proceed with recipe, starting at step #3, for tomato soup.
• Wednesday, Cilantro Lime Chicken and Roasted Broccoli: Preheat oven to 425°F and roast broccoli. While broccoli cooks, make chicken. Eat two chicken breasts with half the roasted broccoli. After dinner, cut leftover chicken into bite-sized pieces and coarsely chop remaining roasted broccoli. Add to prepared fried cauliflower rice, along with any juices leftover cilantro lime sauce. Stir to combine and divide among 4 packable lunch containers.
• Thursday, Leftover Tomato Soup: Reheat two bowls of roasted tomato soup.
• Friday: Take the night off and head to your favorite restaurant!

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Power Hour Meal Prep is the series where we help you put it all together. We show you how to eat well during the week with an hour or two of Power Hour prep over the weekend. Every plan is different; mix and match to find your own personal sweet spot.