Five-day meal prep: three dishes and one shopping list

Sunday afternoon, two hours in the kitchen, and the question is always the same: what keeps until Friday without becoming boring by Wednesday? These are three dishes you cook in one session — roast chicken, beef and bean chilli, and turkey meatballs with couscous — plus the shopping list that goes with them. Every quantity is weighed, and the numbers at the end are calculated from those quantities.

Prep time and servings

Prep: 50 minutes in total (15 for the chicken, 15 for the chilli, 20 for the meatballs). Cooking: 75 minutes, but it overlaps — the chilli simmers while the chicken roasts, and the meatballs go last. Realistically you are in the kitchen for about two hours fifteen.

15 servings (5 + 5 + 5). That covers lunch and dinner for five days for one person, with five servings going straight into the freezer. Breakfast is not included — handle that separately, for example with banana and oat protein muffins baked in the same oven.

Ingredients

Dish 1 — roast chicken with potatoes and broccoli (5 servings)

• 1000 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1200 g potatoes
• 600 g broccoli (fresh or frozen)
• 40 ml olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 10 g sweet paprika
• salt, pepper, dried oregano

Dish 2 — beef chilli with beans and rice (5 servings)

• 800 g minced beef (around 10 % fat)
• 2 tins red kidney beans (2 × 400 g, about 480 g drained)
• 2 tins plum tomatoes (2 × 400 g)
• 250 g rice, dry weight
• 250 g onion (2 medium)
• 150 g red pepper (1)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 20 ml oil
• 10 g paprika, 5 g ground cumin, 2 g chilli flakes (optional)

Dish 3 — turkey meatballs in tomato sauce with couscous (5 servings)

• 900 g minced turkey
• 1 egg (60 g)
• 60 g breadcrumbs
• 120 g onion (1 medium)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 700 g passata
• 300 g couscous, dry weight
• 20 ml olive oil
• salt, pepper, dried oregano

Shopping list, everything combined

• Meat: 1000 g chicken thighs, 800 g minced beef, 900 g minced turkey
• Vegetables: 1200 g potatoes, 600 g broccoli, 370 g onion, 1 red pepper, 1 bulb of garlic
• Tins and jars: 2 × 400 g kidney beans, 2 × 400 g plum tomatoes, 700 g passata
• Dry goods: 250 g rice, 300 g couscous, 60 g breadcrumbs
• Other: 1 egg, 80 ml olive oil, spices (paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 °C. Cut the potatoes into 3 cm chunks, break the broccoli into florets, halve any oversized thighs.
2. Put the chicken and potatoes in one large tray, pour over 40 ml oil, add crushed garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes.
3. Add the broccoli to the tray, toss and roast for another 15 minutes. The chicken is done when the juices run clear and the meat pulls away easily.
4. While that roasts: heat 20 ml oil in a wide pan and fry the chopped onion and pepper for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and minced beef, break it up with a spoon and fry for 8 minutes until no pink remains.
5. Add the tinned tomatoes, drained beans, paprika, cumin and 200 ml water. Simmer covered on a low heat for 25 minutes, then season.
6. Cook the 250 g of rice according to the packet and keep it separate from the chilli — that way it is not mush by Thursday.
7. Meatballs: mix the turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, finely chopped onion, salt and pepper, then shape 20 balls of about 50 g. Brown them in a pan with 20 ml oil for 5 minutes, pour over the passata and garlic, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Cover the couscous with an equal volume of boiling water and leave 5 minutes.
8. Cool everything at room temperature for no more than an hour, then divide it into 15 containers. Ten go in the fridge, five in the freezer. Write the date on each lid.

Nutrition per serving

Everything below is an estimate per serving, worked out from the quantities above. A few percent either way is normal, since the fat content of mince and the size of potatoes vary.

Chicken with potatoes and broccoli

• Calories: about 540 kcal
• Protein: 45 g
• Carbohydrates: 48 g
• Fat: 17 g

Chilli with beans and rice

• Calories: about 650 kcal
• Protein: 44 g
• Carbohydrates: 67 g
• Fat: 21 g

Turkey meatballs with couscous

• Calories: about 645 kcal
• Protein: 47 g
• Carbohydrates: 63 g
• Fat: 20 g

Swaps and variations

If 650 kcal is too much for one meal, drop the rice and couscous from 50 g to 35 g per serving and halve the oil in the chilli. That takes off roughly 100 kcal and leaves the protein untouched. Going the other way, add 30 g of feta or a spoon of olive oil when you serve.

The beef in the chilli works just as well as minced turkey, and the whole dish has a meat-free stand-in — lentil stew keeps for the same three to four days and lands in a similar carbohydrate range. On a day when you want something lighter, swap the chicken tray for oven-baked salmon with vegetables, but cook it fresh on the day, because fish is not a four-day leftover.

Need a fourth dish without cooking more meat? Rice with tuna and eggs comes together in ten minutes from things already in the cupboard.

On storage: all three keep three to four days in the fridge at 4 °C and a month in the freezer. Reheat until piping hot, not lukewarm, and never refreeze a portion you have already thawed. If something smells off or a lid is bulging, bin it without debating.

When to see a doctor

Sickness and diarrhoea after dodgy food usually settle within a day or two with fluids. See a doctor if it lasts more than 48 hours, if there is blood in your stool, if you have a high fever, or if you show signs of dehydration — passing little urine, dizziness, marked weakness.

In short

Three dishes, one shop, two hours fifteen of work and 15 servings carrying 44 to 47 g of protein each. The things people get wrong: keep rice and couscous away from the sauce, cool the food before sealing the containers, and freeze five portions immediately rather than pushing them to the back of the fridge until Friday.