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

[00:00] This is how I prep healthy high protein

[00:02] meals with less than 1 hour of cooking

[00:04] time, minimal washing up, an endless

[00:06] variety of different dishes to keep you

[00:08] healthy and energized during the week.

[00:11] I've just been to the shops. The first

[00:13] thing I do is get all my ingredients out

[00:15] and we're going to start prepping them.

[00:17] Promise it's less than an hour. This is

[00:19] an example of all the ingredients I get

[00:21] for my protein bowl formula. proteins,

[00:24] plant-based proteins, greens, colorful

[00:27] veg, a base, and I've got some

[00:28] miscellaneous items here for the sauces

[00:31] that I'm going to be using for this

[00:32] week's meal prep. Starting with

[00:34] proteins, I'm using chicken thigh and

[00:36] chicken breast this week. I've got firm

[00:38] tofu that's in water that requires

[00:40] pressing, but you can also get extra

[00:42] firm tofu that doesn't require the extra

[00:44] step. And I've got proteins that will

[00:46] keep in the fridge later on. Smoked tofu

[00:49] will last for weeks. Eggs, obviously,

[00:50] you can boil, scramble. These are great

[00:52] to keep in the fridge for when you need

[00:54] something quick and easy. Plant-based

[00:55] proteins are phenomenal adding extra

[00:57] fiber and they're just super easy to

[00:59] use. I won't actually prep these today.

[01:02] I'll use them during the week. Look for

[01:04] these packs of precooked lentils. And I

[01:07] generally always have a frozen

[01:09] plant-based protein like edomame. These

[01:11] are my plant-based proteins. The greens

[01:13] this week are kale and spinach, but you

[01:16] can use things like rocket or arugula

[01:18] for American friends are also really

[01:20] useful. Colorful veg. I like the look of

[01:22] these peppers today. I've got some

[01:24] radish that a lot of people don't

[01:25] realize you can roast and some onions

[01:27] are always great to have in the fridge.

[01:29] These are my colorful vegetables. The

[01:31] base this week is going to be quinoa,

[01:33] but I always recommend having these

[01:35] packs of grains. Throw them in straight

[01:38] from the packet. I'm going to use sauces

[01:40] to add variety and diversity to my meals

[01:43] throughout the week. Let's put the timer

[01:45] on. 60 minutes. Step one is we're going

[01:47] to prep our proteins. When you're meal

[01:49] prepping, you always need Tupperware. I

[01:51] really don't like the plastic ones

[01:53] because they can leech microplastics

[01:55] into the food. You can't cook in them

[01:57] either. So, the good thing about these,

[02:00] they're tough enough to use in the oven,

[02:02] which means no washing up. Popping in

[02:04] some chicken thigh into one of them.

[02:07] Little bit of oil. We're going to keep

[02:09] the flavoring minimal because the

[02:11] sauces, they're going to do the heavy

[02:13] lifting of the flavor building. The

[02:15] second bit of prep is our tofu. We're

[02:17] going to crumble this. Tofu really needs

[02:20] flavor. We're going to hit this with

[02:21] loads of soy,

[02:23] bit of sugar. I'm using a bit of maple

[02:26] syrup, dash of olive oil. We're going to

[02:28] use a heavy dose of paprika.

[02:32] That sound is the oven at temperature

[02:34] now, which is perfect because we've

[02:36] literally just prepared all of our

[02:38] ingredients. Pop these in the oven.

[02:40] Yeah, buddy. Trying to get under 60

[02:42] minutes here. They're going to be about

[02:44] 35 minutes or so. In meantime, we're

[02:46] going to do our colorful veg. These

[02:49] peppers were looking great. And our

[02:50] washing up counter is zero.

[02:54] You don't need to do any fancy

[02:57] techniques of chopping. We're just going

[02:59] to throw them in. Bit of oil. Bit of

[03:02] salt. That's our peppers. We're going to

[03:05] do radish. Now, a lot of people eat

[03:07] radish raw. Actually, roasting it makes

[03:09] it a lot sweeter and tastier. Again,

[03:12] we're keeping this super simple. No

[03:14] crazy flavors. Radish done. Next, we're

[03:17] going to do some onions. I'm not going

[03:19] to do anything fancy with these guys

[03:20] either. I'm literally just going to

[03:22] wedge them. I just want to keep it super

[03:24] simple on a Sunday.

[03:26] Bit of salt. Top tip for flavor. And

[03:29] we'll use this in some of our sauces.

[03:31] Roast a garlic, man. You don't need to

[03:33] peel your garlic. When you roast it and

[03:35] it becomes soft and gooey inside, you

[03:37] can literally just ooze out the flesh.

[03:40] Nip the top off here. So, we're exposing

[03:42] just the top ends of the garlic like

[03:44] that into our onions. So, they're going

[03:47] to get like a garlicky flavor. Bit of

[03:49] olive oil. Easiest way to use edame, pop

[03:52] them in a tray. Might use a little bit

[03:54] of soy instead of salt. Everything goes

[03:57] in the oven for around the same amount

[03:59] of time, about 20 minutes. So, they're

[04:00] going to be cooking with our protein.

[04:07] At this point, our washing up counter is

[04:09] What's next? Brains. So, I'm using

[04:12] quinoa because it's high in protein,

[04:15] high in fiber. Going to put in probably

[04:17] around 250

[04:19] g of quinoa stock cube. Honestly, I do

[04:22] it by eye, but it's similar to white

[04:25] rice, a one one method. And I'm using

[04:27] the absorption method. So, at the end of

[04:30] cooking, all the water should have been

[04:32] absorbed by the pseudo grains. Tiny bit

[04:34] of oil. That would take around 18 20

[04:37] minutes. This is where these pre-cooked

[04:39] packs of grains really do come into

[04:41] their own. We're going to get on with

[04:42] our greens. I use these pre-washed kale

[04:46] from a time point of view, these are

[04:48] really, really efficient. Just going to

[04:50] massage this kale. Not only is it great

[04:53] for breaking down the cell walls, making

[04:56] the nutrients slightly more absorbable.

[04:58] You know, just taking a moment, squeeze

[05:00] your kale. It's good. So, we're going to

[05:02] pop this into Tupperware. Washing up

[05:04] counter still one with greens. All I'm

[05:07] going to do is just put some kitchen

[05:10] towel in the bag. So, this is a bag of

[05:12] already pre-washed, ready to go spinach

[05:14] leaves that we're going to use during

[05:16] the week. Now, just putting some kitchen

[05:17] towel in there will trap any moisture

[05:20] that can occur when you've kept it in

[05:22] the fridge for longer. And that's our

[05:23] greens done. Proteins are going to be

[05:25] ready. I can smell them.

[05:28] Dfu chicken thigh. Veg will take another

[05:32] 5 minutes or so. Everything is cooked

[05:35] through. You'll see the tofu here. This

[05:37] has got like a lovely crispy edge on the

[05:39] top. We're going to pop these to one

[05:40] side to let these cool whilst I finish

[05:42] the rest of our meal prep. Let's take

[05:44] these up.

[05:47] Why I've been using a tea towel this

[05:48] whole time? Two at a time now. All

[05:50] right, proteins are cooked, vegetables

[05:53] are roasted, greens are prepped, quinoa

[05:55] is going. All we need to do now is get

[05:57] saucy. A big bunch of coriander. One

[06:00] lemon. Good gug of tahini.

[06:03] Bit of seasoning. Bit of water. I'm

[06:06] going to blend this up.

[06:10] This is exactly how I want it. Zingy.

[06:11] It's got a lovely body to it and those

[06:13] fresh green herbs. Delicious. That's

[06:15] sauce number one. This is kind of where

[06:18] the washing up counter does go up cuz

[06:20] you got to wash the same blender. I will

[06:22] use the same dirtied blender with the

[06:25] next sauce that I'm making. As long as

[06:26] the flavors don't clash, but because

[06:28] we're keeping myself honest, I'm going

[06:30] to clean this. So, it's two now. Got

[06:31] some harissa and cottage cheese. Just

[06:35] going to add these two ingredients

[06:36] together.

[06:39] All right. Four creamy. This is going to

[06:42] pair so beautifully. We're not going for

[06:44] any Michelin stars here. Or are we? No,

[06:46] we're not. Sauce number two done. You

[06:49] know what? I'm going to check on my

[06:50] quinoa actually.

[06:52] That quinoa is looking beautiful. All

[06:55] that water has been absorbed. With

[06:58] quinoa, you want a tiny bit of crunch to

[07:00] it. And you can see it's almost like

[07:02] these little tails come out of the

[07:04] quinoa. Oh man. I actually like to keep

[07:07] it in the saucepan. But if you need your

[07:09] saucepan during the week, then just pop

[07:10] it in another Tupperware. For the last

[07:12] sauce, we're going to be using some of

[07:14] this beautiful roasted garlic. We're

[07:17] going to pop out one of the garlic

[07:19] cloves and we're just going to mash

[07:20] this. Should be nice and squidgy like

[07:23] you can see here. Going to add a little

[07:24] bit of salt and we're going to pour in

[07:26] probably a half pack of this yogurt. And

[07:28] then we're going to mix this with some

[07:30] tahini. Mix this together. So, this is

[07:33] going to be a delicious tahini garlic

[07:35] yogurt sauce. Sauce number three. Done.

[07:38] You see this? What does it say, Mitch? I

[07:40] can't actually tell. It says 2 minutes

[07:43] 46. There's been under an hour. I let

[07:45] everything cool in the Tupperware, put

[07:48] the lids on, and add labels to each of

[07:50] them before stacking them in the fridge,

[07:52] ready to use for the remainder of the

[07:54] week. We're going to use our tofu and

[07:56] chicken at the start of the week, and

[07:58] then use quick to prep proteins midweek

[08:00] to keep everything nice and fresh. So,

[08:02] eggs are really quick to use, and tofu

[08:04] you can use this straight from the pack

[08:05] as well. Just a quick reminder, we're

[08:07] going to be using our protein bowl

[08:08] formula. So, we're going to start with a

[08:10] core protein. In this case, it's tofu. a

[08:12] plant-based protein partner, edamame,

[08:14] green, which is kale, colorful veg,

[08:16] which is red onion, a base of quinoa,

[08:19] and the sauce is going to be green

[08:20] tahini. Grab a mixing bowl. Having all

[08:22] these ingredients to hand gives you

[08:24] ultimate flexibility during the week to

[08:26] cook up whatever you fancy whenever you

[08:28] fancy it. Using this protein formula

[08:31] means you get variety, a decent dose of

[08:33] protein, and plenty of fiber to tick off

[08:36] all your health needs without having to

[08:38] eat the same meals over and over again

[08:41] during the week. This is a quick tahini

[08:44] kale protein bowl. I'm going to use some

[08:46] extra mix nuts if you want. Optional

[08:48] obviously. It's packed full of protein

[08:50] from tahini, edamame, and obviously the

[08:53] tofu that we've prepped. And it comes

[08:55] together in minutes. Another bowl can be

[08:56] a chicken harissa protein bowl. Super

[08:59] simple. We're starting off with our

[09:00] protein. Just going to show you how you

[09:02] can make this into like a cold salad

[09:03] bowl. Chop this up. Pop this into the

[09:06] bowl. We use some of our peppers.

[09:10] Harissa cottage cheese sauce. Going to

[09:13] pop this on the base.

[09:16] Bit of quinoa on the side. We've got our

[09:18] spinach. I'm just going to roughly chop

[09:20] some of these. Some people like to have

[09:21] the leaves just as they are, but I just

[09:23] feel like no one wants to be munching on

[09:25] a leaf like this.

[09:28] This is why having plant-based proteins

[09:30] are so useful in jars is they're going

[09:33] to boost the protein content of you, but

[09:35] also the fiber content as well. Tiny gug

[09:38] of olive oil. And this is where you can

[09:40] use one of the extra lemons that you've

[09:41] got as well, just to add a little bit of

[09:43] extra flavor.

[09:47] Another high protein bowl in minutes.

[09:51] Third bowl is going to be a garlic,

[09:53] yogurt, chicken, and rice protein bowl.

[09:56] I've got a stainless steel pan. And if

[09:57] you want to know about some more

[09:59] non-toxic materials that we have in our

[10:01] kitchen, check out this video in the

[10:03] caption down below as well. I'm using

[10:05] half a pack of this trickor jasmine

[10:08] rice. Pop this into a dry pan. I'm going

[10:10] to take one of our chicken breasts. So,

[10:13] pop this in here. Pop the lid on and

[10:16] just let it cook for around 4 to 5

[10:18] minutes until it's heated through

[10:20] completely. If you do feel like it's

[10:22] getting a little bit dry, then just add

[10:24] a little gug of water on the side. While

[10:26] that's heating up, I'm going to show you

[10:28] how to build the rest of the bowl. This

[10:29] is our tahini garlic yogurt. This is

[10:31] going to be the nice base for our

[10:33] chicken and go with some red onions.

[10:35] Some pu lentils, roasted radish. Pop

[10:38] that into the side, bit of kale. So, we

[10:40] have our chicken and rice. So, our rice

[10:43] has got a little bit of like crispy

[10:44] edges of the rice, which is really nice.

[10:46] I'm going to add a little bit of rice

[10:47] here. chicken.

[10:50] Bit of lemon. Put this over the greens.

[10:53] Little bit of pepper. This takes less

[10:55] time than to heat up a ready meal.

[10:58] Sometimes I'm just feeling toast. I

[10:59] don't want a protein bowl builder all

[11:01] the time. And whether you're eating this

[11:03] for lunch or dinner, you can still use

[11:05] these pre-repped ingredients. Let me

[11:07] show you how. I've got a pan on. I'm

[11:08] going to make some scrambledish eggs. As

[11:11] we're using a stainless steel pan, we

[11:13] want to make sure that we are

[11:14] experiencing the leading frost effect,

[11:16] which is put a little bit of water in.

[11:19] It's essentially where the pan is so hot

[11:21] that the water underneath is steaming it

[11:24] and it's being recycled underneath that.

[11:26] The next thing I'm going to do is

[11:27] actually take this off the heat and just

[11:29] allow it to cool down because if I was

[11:30] to put oil in this pan, it will burn the

[11:33] oil. This gives me enough time to toast

[11:36] my toast, which I've already done. I'm

[11:37] going to crack a couple of eggs into the

[11:39] bowl. We're going to use some of the

[11:41] harissa. This is going to be a lovely

[11:43] base to our sourdough. Bit of our

[11:46] massaged kale over the top. Going to add

[11:49] plant-based partner.

[11:52] Scoop to one side. And move the eggs

[11:55] around. We got some beautiful, beautiful

[11:58] looking eggs. That is a perfectly cooked

[12:00] omelette in 30 seconds. At the end of

[12:02] the week, when you've eaten the tofu and

[12:04] chicken that you've cooked at the start

[12:06] of the week, fear not. We have smoked

[12:08] tofu for this reason. I'm going to make

[12:10] a quick rice stir fry using some of the

[12:13] leftover ingredients that we've got. Red

[12:14] onion is going to go in the base of

[12:16] this. I'm just going to quickly chop

[12:18] this cuz I don't want them in wedges. I

[12:20] kind of want them to blend in with the

[12:22] stir fry. At the end of the week,

[12:23] they're going to be a bit soggy and

[12:25] sorry for themselves. And a stir fry

[12:27] will bring them back to life. I'm also

[12:28] going to use some of this roasted

[12:30] garlic. Quickly slice up the garlic

[12:32] here. I'm going to chop the tofu into

[12:35] cubes. I'm going to reuse some of the

[12:36] red peppers. Again, they might be a bit

[12:38] soggy by the end of the week to bring

[12:40] them back to life. And we're going to be

[12:41] using some of the pre-cooked rice that

[12:44] we have from a packet. Got some extra

[12:45] condiments, soy sauce, and brown rice

[12:48] vinegar. I'm going to finish it with

[12:49] peanuts that everyone should have in

[12:51] their pantry. Let's get this party

[12:52] started with edame. I'm putting the

[12:55] edomame in first because I'm doing it

[12:57] straight from frozen cuz I haven't had

[12:59] time to let it thaw. Your edetamame is

[13:01] nice and soft. I can actually try one.

[13:04] Perfect. Let's go in with the red onions

[13:06] and the red pepper. Again, these are

[13:09] cooked in a little bit of oil, so we

[13:10] won't need to add much more oil. Some

[13:13] rice. Same rice that we used earlier in

[13:16] the week. Brown rice vinegar for extra

[13:17] seasoning. Again, straw covered staples.

[13:22] Some tofu. Our protein. This is where we

[13:25] want to throw in our spinach.

[13:28] We're going to take everything off the

[13:30] heat now cuz everything should have

[13:31] cooked through. Going to let that

[13:33] spinach wilt. Going to chop some

[13:35] peanuts.

[13:41] Nice little tip is to just touch the

[13:44] stir fry with a bit of toasted sesame

[13:47] oil. Again, a pantry staple. Far

[13:49] quicker, far healthier, and you're using

[13:51] those meal prep items that we made at

[13:54] the start of the week. Dig in. This is

[13:55] the power of the protein bowl formula.

[13:58] It makes the whole week feel so much

[14:01] easier. If you're interested in healthy,

[14:03] high protein breakfast options, we've

[14:05] done a video right here about three

[14:08] breakfasts that you need to know how to

[14:10] make. Just click right there.