---
title: 'How to prep high-protein meals for the week in under an hour'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=d-HlXNgOSkM'
video_id: 'd-HlXNgOSkM'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 852
---

# How to prep high-protein meals for the week in under an hour

> Source: [How to prep high-protein meals for the week in under an hour](https://youtube.com/watch?v=d-HlXNgOSkM)

## Summary

This video presents a method for prepping high-protein meals for the week in under an hour, with minimal washing up. The creator demonstrates a 'protein bowl formula' using a variety of proteins, vegetables, and sauces, showing how to cook ingredients in bulk and assemble diverse meals throughout the week.

### Key Points

- **Meal Prep Goal** [0:00] — The creator aims to prep healthy, high-protein meals with less than 1 hour of cooking time, minimal washing up, and endless meal variety.
- **Protein Bowl Formula Ingredients** [0:17] — Ingredients are categorized into: proteins (chicken, tofu, eggs), plant-based proteins (precooked lentils, edamame), greens (kale, spinach), colorful vegetables (peppers, radish, onions), a base (quinoa), and sauce ingredients.
- **Oven Cooking Proteins and Vegetables** [1:45] — Chicken thigh and crumbled tofu (seasoned with soy, maple syrup, olive oil, paprika) are put in oven-safe Tupperware and roasted. Vegetables (peppers, radish, onions) are seasoned with oil and salt and roasted together.
- **Roasted Garlic Tip** [3:29] — A top flavor tip: roast whole garlic bulbs (nips cut off top) with the vegetables; the soft flesh can be squeezed out for sauces.
- **Quinoa Cooking** [4:12] — Quinoa is cooked using absorption method (1:1 ratio with water/stock cube, about 18-20 minutes). Pre-cooked grain packs are also recommended for convenience.
- **Greens Prep** [4:42] — Kale is massaged to break down cell walls and improve nutrient absorption. Pre-washed spinach is stored with a paper towel to absorb moisture.
- **Sauce Preparation** [5:57] — Three sauces are made: green tahini (coriander, lemon, tahini), harissa cottage cheese, and roasted garlic tahini yogurt. Using the same blender (cleaned between) keeps cleanup minimal.
- **Overall Time Check** [7:38] — Total active prep time is confirmed to be under 60 minutes (2 minutes 46 seconds remaining).
- **Weekly Meal Assembly** [7:54] — The video demonstrates assembling three different bowls: a tahini kale protein bowl (tofu, edamame, kale, quinoa, green tahini), a chicken harissa bowl, and a garlic yogurt chicken rice bowl with prepped ingredients.
- **Alternative Toast Meal** [10:58] — Prepped ingredients can also be used for a quick toast: scrambled eggs (with harissa) on sourdough with kale, topped with plant-based protein.
- **End-of-Week Stir Fry** [12:10] — Leftover prepped ingredients (red onion, red pepper, tofu, rice, spinach) are stir-fried with edamame, peanuts, soy sauce, and brown rice vinegar to revive them. A final touch of toasted sesame oil is added.
- **Protein Bowl Formula Benefits** [13:55] — The formula provides variety, high protein, and fiber without eating the same meals repeatedly, making the week easier.

### Conclusion

This meal prep method saves time and reduces cleanup while offering flexible, high-protein meal options throughout the week using a simple ingredient formula and reusable sauces.

## Transcript

This is how I prep healthy high protein
meals with less than 1 hour of cooking
time, minimal washing up, an endless
variety of different dishes to keep you
healthy and energized during the week.
I've just been to the shops. The first
thing I do is get all my ingredients out
and we're going to start prepping them.
Promise it's less than an hour. This is
an example of all the ingredients I get
for my protein bowl formula. proteins,
plant-based proteins, greens, colorful
veg, a base, and I've got some
miscellaneous items here for the sauces
that I'm going to be using for this
week's meal prep. Starting with
proteins, I'm using chicken thigh and
chicken breast this week. I've got firm
tofu that's in water that requires
pressing, but you can also get extra
firm tofu that doesn't require the extra
step. And I've got proteins that will
keep in the fridge later on. Smoked tofu
will last for weeks. Eggs, obviously,
you can boil, scramble. These are great
to keep in the fridge for when you need
something quick and easy. Plant-based
proteins are phenomenal adding extra
fiber and they're just super easy to
use. I won't actually prep these today.
I'll use them during the week. Look for
these packs of precooked lentils. And I
generally always have a frozen
plant-based protein like edomame. These
are my plant-based proteins. The greens
this week are kale and spinach, but you
can use things like rocket or arugula
for American friends are also really
useful. Colorful veg. I like the look of
these peppers today. I've got some
radish that a lot of people don't
realize you can roast and some onions
are always great to have in the fridge.
These are my colorful vegetables. The
base this week is going to be quinoa,
but I always recommend having these
packs of grains. Throw them in straight
from the packet. I'm going to use sauces
to add variety and diversity to my meals
throughout the week. Let's put the timer
on. 60 minutes. Step one is we're going
to prep our proteins. When you're meal
prepping, you always need Tupperware. I
really don't like the plastic ones
because they can leech microplastics
into the food. You can't cook in them
either. So, the good thing about these,
they're tough enough to use in the oven,
which means no washing up. Popping in
some chicken thigh into one of them.
Little bit of oil. We're going to keep
the flavoring minimal because the
sauces, they're going to do the heavy
lifting of the flavor building. The
second bit of prep is our tofu. We're
going to crumble this. Tofu really needs
flavor. We're going to hit this with
loads of soy,
bit of sugar. I'm using a bit of maple
syrup, dash of olive oil. We're going to
use a heavy dose of paprika.
That sound is the oven at temperature
now, which is perfect because we've
literally just prepared all of our
ingredients. Pop these in the oven.
Yeah, buddy. Trying to get under 60
minutes here. They're going to be about
35 minutes or so. In meantime, we're
going to do our colorful veg. These
peppers were looking great. And our
washing up counter is zero.
You don't need to do any fancy
techniques of chopping. We're just going
to throw them in. Bit of oil. Bit of
salt. That's our peppers. We're going to
do radish. Now, a lot of people eat
radish raw. Actually, roasting it makes
it a lot sweeter and tastier. Again,
we're keeping this super simple. No
crazy flavors. Radish done. Next, we're
going to do some onions. I'm not going
to do anything fancy with these guys
either. I'm literally just going to
wedge them. I just want to keep it super
simple on a Sunday.
Bit of salt. Top tip for flavor. And
we'll use this in some of our sauces.
Roast a garlic, man. You don't need to
peel your garlic. When you roast it and
it becomes soft and gooey inside, you
can literally just ooze out the flesh.
Nip the top off here. So, we're exposing
just the top ends of the garlic like
that into our onions. So, they're going
to get like a garlicky flavor. Bit of
olive oil. Easiest way to use edame, pop
them in a tray. Might use a little bit
of soy instead of salt. Everything goes
in the oven for around the same amount
of time, about 20 minutes. So, they're
going to be cooking with our protein.
At this point, our washing up counter is
What's next? Brains. So, I'm using
quinoa because it's high in protein,
high in fiber. Going to put in probably
around 250
g of quinoa stock cube. Honestly, I do
it by eye, but it's similar to white
rice, a one one method. And I'm using
the absorption method. So, at the end of
cooking, all the water should have been
absorbed by the pseudo grains. Tiny bit
of oil. That would take around 18 20
minutes. This is where these pre-cooked
packs of grains really do come into
their own. We're going to get on with
our greens. I use these pre-washed kale
from a time point of view, these are
really, really efficient. Just going to
massage this kale. Not only is it great
for breaking down the cell walls, making
the nutrients slightly more absorbable.
You know, just taking a moment, squeeze
your kale. It's good. So, we're going to
pop this into Tupperware. Washing up
counter still one with greens. All I'm
going to do is just put some kitchen
towel in the bag. So, this is a bag of
already pre-washed, ready to go spinach
leaves that we're going to use during
the week. Now, just putting some kitchen
towel in there will trap any moisture
that can occur when you've kept it in
the fridge for longer. And that's our
greens done. Proteins are going to be
ready. I can smell them.
Dfu chicken thigh. Veg will take another
5 minutes or so. Everything is cooked
through. You'll see the tofu here. This
has got like a lovely crispy edge on the
top. We're going to pop these to one
side to let these cool whilst I finish
the rest of our meal prep. Let's take
these up.
Why I've been using a tea towel this
whole time? Two at a time now. All
right, proteins are cooked, vegetables
are roasted, greens are prepped, quinoa
is going. All we need to do now is get
saucy. A big bunch of coriander. One
lemon. Good gug of tahini.
Bit of seasoning. Bit of water. I'm
going to blend this up.
This is exactly how I want it. Zingy.
It's got a lovely body to it and those
fresh green herbs. Delicious. That's
sauce number one. This is kind of where
the washing up counter does go up cuz
you got to wash the same blender. I will
use the same dirtied blender with the
next sauce that I'm making. As long as
the flavors don't clash, but because
we're keeping myself honest, I'm going
to clean this. So, it's two now. Got
some harissa and cottage cheese. Just
going to add these two ingredients
together.
All right. Four creamy. This is going to
pair so beautifully. We're not going for
any Michelin stars here. Or are we? No,
we're not. Sauce number two done. You
know what? I'm going to check on my
quinoa actually.
That quinoa is looking beautiful. All
that water has been absorbed. With
quinoa, you want a tiny bit of crunch to
it. And you can see it's almost like
these little tails come out of the
quinoa. Oh man. I actually like to keep
it in the saucepan. But if you need your
saucepan during the week, then just pop
it in another Tupperware. For the last
sauce, we're going to be using some of
this beautiful roasted garlic. We're
going to pop out one of the garlic
cloves and we're just going to mash
this. Should be nice and squidgy like
you can see here. Going to add a little
bit of salt and we're going to pour in
probably a half pack of this yogurt. And
then we're going to mix this with some
tahini. Mix this together. So, this is
going to be a delicious tahini garlic
yogurt sauce. Sauce number three. Done.
You see this? What does it say, Mitch? I
can't actually tell. It says 2 minutes
46. There's been under an hour. I let
everything cool in the Tupperware, put
the lids on, and add labels to each of
them before stacking them in the fridge,
ready to use for the remainder of the
week. We're going to use our tofu and
chicken at the start of the week, and
then use quick to prep proteins midweek
to keep everything nice and fresh. So,
eggs are really quick to use, and tofu
you can use this straight from the pack
as well. Just a quick reminder, we're
going to be using our protein bowl
formula. So, we're going to start with a
core protein. In this case, it's tofu. a
plant-based protein partner, edamame,
green, which is kale, colorful veg,
which is red onion, a base of quinoa,
and the sauce is going to be green
tahini. Grab a mixing bowl. Having all
these ingredients to hand gives you
ultimate flexibility during the week to
cook up whatever you fancy whenever you
fancy it. Using this protein formula
means you get variety, a decent dose of
protein, and plenty of fiber to tick off
all your health needs without having to
eat the same meals over and over again
during the week. This is a quick tahini
kale protein bowl. I'm going to use some
extra mix nuts if you want. Optional
obviously. It's packed full of protein
from tahini, edamame, and obviously the
tofu that we've prepped. And it comes
together in minutes. Another bowl can be
a chicken harissa protein bowl. Super
simple. We're starting off with our
protein. Just going to show you how you
can make this into like a cold salad
bowl. Chop this up. Pop this into the
bowl. We use some of our peppers.
Harissa cottage cheese sauce. Going to
pop this on the base.
Bit of quinoa on the side. We've got our
spinach. I'm just going to roughly chop
some of these. Some people like to have
the leaves just as they are, but I just
feel like no one wants to be munching on
a leaf like this.
This is why having plant-based proteins
are so useful in jars is they're going
to boost the protein content of you, but
also the fiber content as well. Tiny gug
of olive oil. And this is where you can
use one of the extra lemons that you've
got as well, just to add a little bit of
extra flavor.
Another high protein bowl in minutes.
Third bowl is going to be a garlic,
yogurt, chicken, and rice protein bowl.
I've got a stainless steel pan. And if
you want to know about some more
non-toxic materials that we have in our
kitchen, check out this video in the
caption down below as well. I'm using
half a pack of this trickor jasmine
rice. Pop this into a dry pan. I'm going
to take one of our chicken breasts. So,
pop this in here. Pop the lid on and
just let it cook for around 4 to 5
minutes until it's heated through
completely. If you do feel like it's
getting a little bit dry, then just add
a little gug of water on the side. While
that's heating up, I'm going to show you
how to build the rest of the bowl. This
is our tahini garlic yogurt. This is
going to be the nice base for our
chicken and go with some red onions.
Some pu lentils, roasted radish. Pop
that into the side, bit of kale. So, we
have our chicken and rice. So, our rice
has got a little bit of like crispy
edges of the rice, which is really nice.
I'm going to add a little bit of rice
here. chicken.
Bit of lemon. Put this over the greens.
Little bit of pepper. This takes less
time than to heat up a ready meal.
Sometimes I'm just feeling toast. I
don't want a protein bowl builder all
the time. And whether you're eating this
for lunch or dinner, you can still use
these pre-repped ingredients. Let me
show you how. I've got a pan on. I'm
going to make some scrambledish eggs. As
we're using a stainless steel pan, we
want to make sure that we are
experiencing the leading frost effect,
which is put a little bit of water in.
It's essentially where the pan is so hot
that the water underneath is steaming it
and it's being recycled underneath that.
The next thing I'm going to do is
actually take this off the heat and just
allow it to cool down because if I was
to put oil in this pan, it will burn the
oil. This gives me enough time to toast
my toast, which I've already done. I'm
going to crack a couple of eggs into the
bowl. We're going to use some of the
harissa. This is going to be a lovely
base to our sourdough. Bit of our
massaged kale over the top. Going to add
plant-based partner.
Scoop to one side. And move the eggs
around. We got some beautiful, beautiful
looking eggs. That is a perfectly cooked
omelette in 30 seconds. At the end of
the week, when you've eaten the tofu and
chicken that you've cooked at the start
of the week, fear not. We have smoked
tofu for this reason. I'm going to make
a quick rice stir fry using some of the
leftover ingredients that we've got. Red
onion is going to go in the base of
this. I'm just going to quickly chop
this cuz I don't want them in wedges. I
kind of want them to blend in with the
stir fry. At the end of the week,
they're going to be a bit soggy and
sorry for themselves. And a stir fry
will bring them back to life. I'm also
going to use some of this roasted
garlic. Quickly slice up the garlic
here. I'm going to chop the tofu into
cubes. I'm going to reuse some of the
red peppers. Again, they might be a bit
soggy by the end of the week to bring
them back to life. And we're going to be
using some of the pre-cooked rice that
we have from a packet. Got some extra
condiments, soy sauce, and brown rice
vinegar. I'm going to finish it with
peanuts that everyone should have in
their pantry. Let's get this party
started with edame. I'm putting the
edomame in first because I'm doing it
straight from frozen cuz I haven't had
time to let it thaw. Your edetamame is
nice and soft. I can actually try one.
Perfect. Let's go in with the red onions
and the red pepper. Again, these are
cooked in a little bit of oil, so we
won't need to add much more oil. Some
rice. Same rice that we used earlier in
the week. Brown rice vinegar for extra
seasoning. Again, straw covered staples.
Some tofu. Our protein. This is where we
want to throw in our spinach.
We're going to take everything off the
heat now cuz everything should have
cooked through. Going to let that
spinach wilt. Going to chop some
peanuts.
Nice little tip is to just touch the
stir fry with a bit of toasted sesame
oil. Again, a pantry staple. Far
quicker, far healthier, and you're using
those meal prep items that we made at
the start of the week. Dig in. This is
the power of the protein bowl formula.
It makes the whole week feel so much
easier. If you're interested in healthy,
high protein breakfast options, we've
done a video right here about three
breakfasts that you need to know how to
make. Just click right there.