Meal prep bowls for the week: one base, five lunches that don't get boring

Meal prep fails for one reason: by Wednesday you're sick of it. Five identical boxes of chicken, rice and broccoli are efficient, but nobody wants to eat them. The fix is to prep the parts that take time and keep the parts that give flavour separate.

The base: one grain, one protein

• Grain: cook 350–400 g of dry rice, brown rice or quinoa. That's enough for five portions of about 150 g cooked.
• Protein: roast or pan-sear about 750 g of chicken breast or thigh with salt, pepper and a little oil. Slice once it has rested.
• Optional: one tray of roasted vegetables, such as peppers, onion and courgette.

That's around 40 minutes of mostly hands-off cooking. Season the base simply so it works with every flavour you'll add later.

Five flavours, Monday to Friday

• Monday, teriyaki: edamame, cucumber, spring onion and sesame.
• Tuesday, burrito bowl: black beans, sweetcorn, salsa and a little cheese.
• Wednesday, Mediterranean: cucumber, tomato, feta and a yogurt-lemon sauce.
• Thursday, mango chilli: mango, red cabbage, coriander and lime.
• Friday, Korean-style: kimchi, carrot and a spoon of gochujang mixed with yogurt.

Each bowl keeps the same base, so calories stay predictable while the taste changes completely. Sauces are where flavour lives, so measure them: a tablespoon of most sauces is 15–60 kcal, but creamy dressings can be much more.

Food safety: the rules that matter

Cooked rice can carry spores of Bacillus cereus that survive cooking and multiply if rice sits warm. Spread it on a tray to cool, get it into the fridge within an hour, and keep it cold. Cooked chicken keeps 3–4 days in the fridge. The easy rule: refrigerate Monday to Wednesday portions and freeze Thursday and Friday, then move them to the fridge the night before.

• Reheat rice and chicken until steaming hot all the way through.
• Reheat only once.
• Keep fresh toppings, like avocado, cucumber and herbs, separate until you eat.

Containers and portions

Use five identical containers with a separate pot for sauce. Weigh the base once on Sunday so every portion is the same, and the macros you log will match what you eat.

Make it fit your goal

On a cut, use 120 g of cooked rice and add extra vegetables. On a lean bulk, go to 200 g of rice and add avocado or a second protein. The base stays the same; only the portions change.