Meal Prep Plan: How I Prep a Week of Whole30 Meals for 2

If you’re curious about giving Whole30 a try this January, or you’re coming back for another round, this meal plan is a great place to start. Having completed a couple of rounds myself, I’ve learned that meal prep is one of the most important tools to make Whole30 a success. Getting a head start over the weekend means minimizing your time in the kitchen during the week.

This week’s meal prep plan will set you up with a week of easy, satisfying, and wholesome Whole30-approved meals, and you can prep it all in just about two hours. It keeps weeknight cooking to a minimum, requiring no more than reheating or light cooking, so you can have dinner on the table in 20 minutes or less.

Find more Whole30 meal plans: Here Are 4 Weeks of Whole30 Meal Plans

• Breakfast: Two fully cooked breakfast options that can be eaten warm or cold, and at home or at work (five days).
• Lunch: A cozy and filling make-ahead lunch for two people (five days).
• Dinner: Fully cooked or prepped components for most dinners (four days).
• Nutritional Goals: Our primary nutritional goals for the week are to keep meals within the Whole30 guidelines.

Get a refresher: Here’s What You Can and Can’t Eat on Whole30

• Feeds: Two adults
• Prep Time: About two hours
• Meals Covered: About 80% (no weekend meals)
• Weeknight Cooking Required? Moderate (15 to 20 minutes of light cooking to bring dinner together)

• Frittata
• Baked Sweet Potato with Nut Butter and Sliced Banana

• Whole30 Chili 

• Creamy Coconut Cauliflower Soup
• 5-Ingredient Whole30 Sheet Pan Chicken
• Skirt Steak with Chimichurri 
• Leftover Soup + Chicken Salad
• Easy Whole30 Egg Roll in a Bowl

These are the things I bought or used for this meal prep plan. I also relied on staples and condiments already in my pantry, like ghee, cooking oil, vinegar, and spices.

• Produce: 1 yellow onion, 2 red bell peppers, 1 green bell pepper, garlic, 2 avocados, 1 bunch scallions, 1 large head cauliflower, 1 large head broccoli, 1 bunch basil, 1 bunch parsley, 1 bunch cilantro, 1 lime, 1 bag broccoli slaw, 1 bag salad greens, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, 4 small sweet potatoes
• Meat: 1 pound lean ground beef, 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 1 1/4 pounds skirt steak, 1 pound ground turkey
• Refrigerated: 1 dozen large eggs
• Pantry: 1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, 1 can unsweetened coconut milk, avocado mayo, coconut aminos

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Bake sweet potatoes: Scrub the sweet potatoes well and pat dry with a dish towel. Prick each sweet potato all over with a fork, wrap in foil, then bake until very tender, about 45 minutes.
3. Cook chili: While potatoes are cooking, chop the vegetables for the chili and starting cooking it on the stovetop. Once all the ingredients have been mixed into the pot, let it simmer undisturbed over low heat for 40 minutes. Let cool, then portion into individual containers for grab-and-go lunches.
4. Cook cauliflower soup: The recipe calls for roasting some of the cauliflower, but to save time, toss the florets on a sheet pan, coat with olive oil, and pop them under the broiler until they’re lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Prepare the soup according to instructions, including about half of the broiled cauliflower (save remaining half for a garnish). Don’t wash the sheet pan — you’ll reuse it for the chicken. Turn oven to 425°F.
5. Cook sheet pan chicken: Coat chicken thighs with the dressing, combine them with a head of broccoli chopped into bite-size florets and two sliced bell peppers, divide between two sheet pans, and cook for about 20 minutes.
6. Cook frittata: Follow our basic template for a frittata, using 10 eggs and a 10-inch skillet, omitting the dairy and swapping olive oil for the butter to keep it Whole30-compliant. Sauté some mushrooms as well as leftover onion and broccoli florets before adding the eggs to the skillet and top with cherry tomatoes before finishing the frittata in the oven for about 10 minutes.
7. Make chimichurri sauce: Lastly, blitz together a quick chimichurri sauce in the food processor, which will be served with the steak. Store it in a small jar in the refrigerator.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Frittata and Avocado: The beauty of a frittata is that it’s just as good when eaten straight from the fridge or heated up. When time permits, we’ll reheat a slice in the oven or toaster oven, and we’ll round out breakfast with a few slices of avocado.

Tuesday and Thursday, Baked Sweet Potato with Nut Butter and Sliced Banana: We’ll each reheat a sweet potato, split it open, fluff the flesh with a fork, and top it with a generous dollop of almond butter and sliced banana.

Whole30 Chili: I’ll reheat the chili in the microwave at lunchtime and top with avocado and sliced scallions to serve.

Monday, Creamy Coconut Cauliflower Soup: While the soup reheats on the stovetop, I’ll slide a sheet pan with some of the broiled cauliflower florets under the broiler to reheat and re-crisp them. Dinner is on the table in about 10 minutes.

Tuesday, 5-Ingredient Whole30 Sheet Pan Chicken: Since the chicken and vegetables are already cooked, they just need to be reheated. I add them to a sheet pan and reheat in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.

Wednesday, Skirt Steak with Chimichurri: I take the chimichurri sauce out of the fridge so it can lose its chill while I cook the steak. I set the oven to broil, then coat a broiler pan with cooking spray and rub the skirt steak with a simple spice rub. The steak gets cooked for three minutes on each side, then I’ll let it rest for five minutes before slicing and topping with the chimichurri. We’ll round out dinner with a simple green salad.

Thursday, Leftover Soup and Chicken Salad: Tonight we’re using up our leftovers. There’s some leftover cauliflower soup and chicken thighs, although there’s not enough of either for a meal on their own. In addition to the reheated soup, we’ll add the cold chicken to a mix of greens and leftover veggies from the crisper.

Friday, Easy Whole30 Egg Roll in a Bowl: I’ll start the stir-fry by browning the ground turkey in a large frying pan, and while it cooks I’ll mix together the sauce. When the turkey is cooked through, I’ll toss in some scallions, a bag of broccoli slaw, and coconut aminos. Dinner hits the table in about 20 minutes.

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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.