7 Easy Dinner Recipes, Plus A Time-Saving Meal Prep Plan

Want to kick off the week with a powerful sense of accomplishment? All it takes is a couple pantry checks, our itemized shopping lists and some (totally optional) prep—so you can spend way less time chopping on weeknights.

What do you need to get started? Below are the ingredients required, an easy-to-follow guide to help you meal prep over the weekend as well as the crowd-pleasing recipes that’ll keep you cooking all week long.

Here are your week 1 recipes:

Week 1 Ingredients

Check your pantry for:

• Olive oil
• Canola oil
• Sesame oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Dijon mustard
• Brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Honey
• White balsamic vinegar
• White-wine vinegar

Shopping list:

PRODUCE

• 1 227-g pkg sliced button mushrooms
• 1 142-g clamshell baby arugula (3 cups)
• 1 340-g pkg trimmed green beans
• 4 yellow onions
• 5 green onions
• 1 head garlic (3 cloves)
• 1 small knob ginger (1 tbsp minced)
• 1 zucchini
• 1 medium carrot (1 cup grated)
• 1 English cucumber
• 6 baby potatoes
• 1 small broccoli crown (3 cups chopped)
• 250 g radishes (2 cups sliced)
• 227 g asparagus

HERBS

• 1 clamshell dill (3 tbsp chopped)
• 1 clamshell rosemary (1 tbsp chopped)

PROTEIN

• 1 12-pack large eggs
• 1/2 rotisserie chicken (3 cups shredded meat)
• 4 skin-on salmon fillets (500 g total)
• 500 g pork tenderloin
• 450 g ground lamb
• 225 g lean ground beef

DAIRY

• 3/4 cup crumbled feta
• 2 cups grated white cheddar
• grated parmesan (optional)
• sour cream (optional)

Sunday Meal Prep Plan

Store everything in resealable containers. Chopped produce should be covered with a damp paper towel, then sealed and refrigerated (to keep from drying out).

Salmon Fillets with Green Beans and Zucchini Orzo

• Whisk vinegar with Dijon, honey and 1/2 tsp salt
• Trim beans (if needed) and cut in half

Chicken, Asparagus and Udon Noodle Salad

• Whisk soy with vinegar, sesame oil, minced fresh ginger and brown sugar
• Trim asparagus ends and thinly slice diagonally
• Shred rotisserie chicken
• Grate carrots and thinly slice green onions

Easy Lamb Bolognese

• Chop onion
• Grate parmesan (if using)

Saucy Sriracha Pork with Radish-Cucumber Salad

• Whisk marmalade with sriracha and  1/2 tsp salt
• Whisk 2 tbsp marmalade-sriracha mixture with vinegar and Dijon
• Slice pork tenderloin into 1/2-in. rounds
• Thinly slice radishes

Shakshuka Pizza

• Stir marinara sauce with paprika and cumin
• Thinly slice onion
• Thinly slice roasted red peppers

Super-Fast Chili

• Chop onion
• combine chili and garlic powders, sugar and salt
• Coarsely grate white cheddar (if using)
• Thinly slice green onions (if using)

Skillet Broccoli and Potato Frittata

• Cut broccoli into small florets
• Chop onion
• Coarsely grate white cheddar

Check out the recipes for Week 2.

This piece was originally published online in January 2020.