TOP 5 HEALTHY MEAL PREP LUNCHES | Easy recipes for work & school + FREE lunch recipes e-book!

Do you struggle with making healthy lunches for the week? Never fear, the meal prep queen is here. Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. It's Taylor from The Girl on Bloor. If you're new here, welcome. My channel is all about showing you how to eat healthy, delicious foods that you can live your best life. You know, feel good, look good, that sort of thing. So I've been meal prepping pretty consistently since my final years of university, and one of the things that has made the most difference to me in sticking to a healthy diet has been having a set of lunches meal prepped for the week. All you gotta do is grab a bowl out of the fridge and carry on with your busy day. No matter what your schedule looks like, having a healthy lunch on deck at all times can be such a game changer. It'll give you more energy during the day so you can avoid that afternoon slump, and you'll feel so empowered and motivated knowing that you're saving at least 10 or 15 bucks a day on lunch out. Whether you're just getting started on your meal prep journey or want to eat healthier meals during the week, you've gotta check out these five healthy lunch ideas. I'm talking fiesta chicken rice bowls, spring roll jars, homemade instant noodles, buffalo chicken wraps, and a delicious sheet pan Greek chicken. All of these meals come together in less than an hour so you can get in and out of the kitchen, but still have healthy lunches to help get you through the work week. Okay, enough talk, let's dive right in. So first up, we're going to start with one of the first lunches I ever prepped ahead for the week, and that's because the meal comes together in one skillet. Say hello to my famous fiesta chicken rice bowls. All you need is some cooked brown rice, chicken breast, bell peppers, onions, salsa, and some spices. It's super quick and easy. Start by making your rice. Add one cup of brown rice to a rice cooker followed by two cups of water, one teaspoon of butter, and a pinch of salt. You don't need the butter or salt, they're there mostly for flavor and to keep the rice from sticking. I highly recommend using a rice cooker because the rice cooks pretty much hands off while you prep the rest of your ingredients, but you can also make it in a pot on the stove, stirring every now and then. While your rice is cooking, dice up one pound of chicken breast, then slice up two small red onions or one large one, then dice up one red pepper, one yellow pepper, and one green pepper. Finish by chopping up some cilantro. You can leave this out if you're one of those people who thinks cilantro tastes like soap. Now get a large frying pan out and heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Add your diced up chicken to the skillet and stir fry for two to three minutes until lightly browned. From here, you'll add one tablespoon of chili powder, one teaspoon of cumin, one teaspoon of garlic powder, and one teaspoon of salt, tossing to coat. Continue cooking for another five minutes, then add in your sliced red onion, your diced bell peppers, and half a cup of corn, sauteing for another couple minutes. Around this time, your rice should be finished cooking, so go ahead and add that in, along with three quarters of a cup of fresh salsa, tossing to coat. I prefer to use the fresh salsa that you'll usually be able to find in with the fresh salad dressings and dips like hummus at your local grocery store in the produce section, but you can totally use dried salsa if that's what you have on hand. Cook everything up for another five minutes, then you'll mix in your chopped cilantro with serving and remove from heat. Divide everything up among four meal prep bowls, and then you can garnish with a bit of feta cheese if you'd like. And that's it, easy peasy skillet meal that comes together in a little over half an hour and makes the most delicious lunches. All you have to do is sprinkle a bit of water over top before reheating in the microwave for a couple minutes. It's a dish I still meal prep for lunch to this day because it's reliably delicious and oh so easy. Okay, onto our spring roll jars. This is such a fun one to throw together and guaranteed everyone's gonna be asking you for the recipe when you make it. So what you're going to do is heat one tablespoon of sesame oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add one pound of ground chicken and then two tablespoons of soy sauce, cooking for two to three minutes until your chicken is lightly browned. Add in two cloves of minced garlic and one tablespoon of freshly minced ginger and saute for seven to eight minutes until your chicken is fully cooked through. Okay, you've got your meat, now it's time for the veggies. Remove the ground chicken mixture from the pan and add one bag of store-bought coleslaw along with two teaspoons of soy sauce, sauteing for two to three minutes until the slaw is slightly wilted. While that's cooking, you'll fill a kettle with water and boil it before pouring all the water into a large bowl over top of 200 grams of rice vermicelli noodles. Let the noodles soak for two to three minutes and then drain them. They don't take very long to cook, so make sure that you watch them closely and test them with a fork. Now you'll add half a cup of sweet chili sauce and divide that amount among the bottom of four 16-ounce mason jars. It ends up being about a couple of tablespoons of sauce per jar. You can just eyeball it if you'd like, that's usually what I do. Now divide the ground chicken mixture among the jars, followed by the cooked coleslaw. Add in some sliced cucumber and red pepper, then top with your vermicelli noodles. Finish the jars off with a medley of fresh herbs. I usually go for a mix of cilantro and mint, along with sprinkling some sesame seeds over top. These jars will keep in the fridge for up to five days and you can microwave them to reheat or enjoy them cold. I know the cucumber is a bit of an odd choice, especially when it comes to reheating, but bear with me, this was one of the first ever recipes on my site and I do enjoy the crunch of the cucumber, so leave it to the side when reheating if you'd like. You're gonna be obsessed with these spring roll jars. Okay, speaking of obsessions, here's another one of mine and that's these mason jar instant noodles. Leave those cheap packets of ramen behind and upgrade your noodles. I especially love this idea because it's perfect for using up leftover veggies about to go bad. To make them, you'll start by making some shredded chicken. Boil one pound of chicken breast in a large pot of water for 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the water, then let it cool for about 10 or 15 minutes before pulling apart with your hands or with two forks. While you're waiting for the chicken to cool, you can prep the rest of the ingredients. I usually use up some broccoli stems to help reduce food waste and then I'll also usually peel and grate a carrot, then slice up a bell pepper and slice some green onions. Really, any and all veggies can go in here besides root vegetables and mushrooms as they take longer to cook. We'll essentially be cooking these veggies with boiling water, so cut them all up pretty thinly. Once your chicken has been cooled and shredded, divide it among four one-liter mason jars, then add about a teaspoon each of soy sauce, sriracha, and lime juice to each jar. I just tend to eyeball it, so drizzle a little bit of each in your jars and then drop in a bouillon cube and divide your veggies. Now, here's the messy part and that's getting the rice vermicelli in each jar. It's kind of awkward, but just do your best. This is another thing I eyeball. You'll be dividing a one-pound package of noodles among the jars, then topping with fresh herbs if desired. Keep these jars in the fridge until ready to enjoy and then you'll basically just boil some water, let them sit, and eat just like instant noodle cups. Depending on how finely you chopped your veggies, you may also need to microwave the jars for two minutes to get the liquid hot enough to cook everything. When your jars are ready, just pour into a bowl and enjoy. These are so fun and much healthier than the processed instant noodle cups you see on the market. Now, lunch idea number four is buffalo chicken in wrap form. Wraps are a lunch classic, they're so versatile, and today we're adding buffalo chicken to them. So start out by making the shredded chicken. You'll do exactly what I just showed you with the instant noodle soup jars. I also give Instant Pot instructions on my blog if you wanna switch it up. In the meantime, wash and chop up half a bunch of romaine lettuce, dice up half a cucumber, dice up half of a red onion, and then crumble half a cup of blue cheese or feta cheese. Once your chicken is cooled, shred and then add your chicken to a large bowl, tossing with one cup of buffalo wing sauce. Frank's Red Hot is my favorite. Then you'll add a bit of romaine lettuce, some buffalo chicken, some blue cheese, your cucumber, and red onion to your wrap of choice, being careful not to overfill them. Roll them all up, tucking the ends in, and then rolling away from you. I like to cut the wraps into thirds then place them into meal prep bowls because they're more fun to eat this way. And yes, I do recommend that you eat cold. Serve them up with some carrot, celery, and dip of your choice. Now, if you're worried about the wraps getting soggy, which is sort of inevitable, you can keep all of the ingredients separate and then assemble the day you're going to eat them. Et voila, best lunch ever. Who doesn't love buffalo chicken? Keep in mind, you can always make this recipe, but toss the chicken in a different sauce, like barbecue sauce or honey mustard, or even garlic or chipotle mayo, so you have options to switch it up. Okay, I've just showed you four amazing lunch options, and now here's our final recipe, my favorite sheet pan Greek chicken. I love making sheet pan meals for lunch because they always come together so quickly and relatively hands-off, and they're also great for using up all the veggies. The marinades or sauces are usually made with ingredients you already have on hand at home too. So for this recipe, you're going to preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While that's preheating, add all your ingredients to a sheet pan and toss. It's that easy. Cut up one pound of chicken breast into one-inch pieces, then chop up one red pepper and one yellow pepper. Thickly slice one zucchini, and then thickly slice a red onion. Now add some parchment paper to a baking sheet. Add your chicken and veggies on there. Then you're going to drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil over everything, along with two tablespoons of lemon juice. Mince four cloves of garlic, then add that to the mix. Then add one tablespoon of oregano, followed by one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper. Toss everything gently to combine, then bake for 18 to 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. It doesn't take a super long time because the chicken is cut up into small pieces. Remove from the oven, divide among your meal prep bowls, and you've got four lunches. If you want to make this dish more filling, you can serve with some rice or roast some potatoes as you're chopping up the rest of the ingredients, since potatoes will take a bit longer to cook. Finish your bowls with some feta cheese, and that's it. These bowls taste good cold, but I usually microwave them for a couple minutes when I go to eat them during the week. They're so good and so easy. Okay, guys, you've seen pretty much the best lunch recipes of all time, and the nice thing about all of these recipes is that they also make really good dinners. Whether you prep one or prep them all, you're going to love all this deliciousness and truly realize that healthy meals can also taste bomb AF. Get ready to make everybody around you jealous of your lunch. If you're looking for more lunch ideas, I've linked to a huge roundup where I've gone ahead and categorized every single lunch idea by wrap, sandwich, rice bowl, soup, salad, sheet pan, vegetarian, et cetera, et cetera. I'm also offering a free recipe ebook for all of my most popular lunch recipes. You can find those links in my description, so head down there, give this video a thumbs up, and tell your friends and family about me. Seriously, every referral counts, so if you found this video helpful in your meal prep journey, please share, share, share. Also, if you try any of these recipes, snap a pic and tag me on Instagram at The Girl on Bloor. I love sharing your pics, and it makes my day to see what you're cooking up. Okay, go run and grab your free lunch recipe ebook. I'm gonna throw all of these recipes in the fridge and eat good all week long. Thanks for hanging with me today, and I will see you in the next video.