Carve Out Two Hours Every Sunday to Eat Healthier All Week

If weekdays feel like a blur of school drop-offs, work deadlines, practices, and trying to feed everyone something nourishing 6x per day — you’re not alone.

For busy athletes and frazzled parents, the hardest part of eating well isn’t knowing what to eat. It’s having it ready when life gets hectic.

That’s why one of the most powerful habits I return to at the start of a New Year is carving out just two hours every Sunday to meal prep for the week ahead. I don’t cook entire meals or divide snacks into cute containers. I just prep the essentials to give us a nourishing jumpstart all week long.

Keep reading for my recommended Top 5 Essentials to Meal Prep every week.

Why Sunday Meal Prep Matters

When nourishing food is already prepared, healthy choices become the easy choices.

A Sunday Meal Prep Routine helps:

• Reduce weekday stress and decision fatigue
• Power your early morning workouts
• Make meal-time easier and calmer (prevents hangry meltdowns)
• Keep you from relying on packaged bars and take-out

What to Prep in Those 2 Hours

You don’t need complicated plans. Stick to simple recipes with minimal ingredients. These versatile staples can be mixed and matched all week long.

Here’s my top 5 things to prep every week. For beginner home cooks, I recommend selecting just two or three of the below to tackle in one afternoon. For experienced cooks, this complete list can be knocked out in 2 to 3 hours with a little hustling (enlist a dishwasher to help you!).

Top 5 Dishes to Meal Prep Every Week

1. Big Batch of Protein

Protein is the backbone of satisfying dinners — and having it ready makes everything easier.

Choose one:

• Instant Pot shredded chicken (great for salads, wraps, tacos, and bowls), cook 3 or 4 pounds at once for a hungry family of 4. For the most flavor and moist texture, use a combo of skinless white and dark meat.
• Turkey Trot Meatballs (easy to reheat, kid-friendly, and versatile), double or triple the recipe in Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. (RFCFES) on page 147.

One big batch can be repurposed for lunches and dinners without feeling repetitive.

2. Big Pot of Soup

Make soup every Sunday — it’s a game changer.

A nourishing pot of soup means:

• Packable work lunches
• A comforting Sunday Night Dinner – dress it up with fresh bread and salted butter

Soups make the best lunch leftovers since they’re easy to reheat in the microwave. Our family’s go-to soup recipes are Flu-Fighter Chicken and Rice Stew (Run Fast. Eat Slow. page 108), Bison Chili (RFCFES page 120), Beef & Lentil Minestrone (RFCFES page 115), Chicken Cannellini Soup (RFCFES page 116) or Turkey Coconut Curry.

3. Sauce for Power Bowls

A rich and flavorful sauce transforms basic ingredients into meals everyone actually wants to eat.

Sauces are delicious on rice or grain bowls, salads, roasted veggies, the protein you prepped, pasta dishes, grilled meat or baked fish.

Elyse’s Versatile Sauce Favorites:

• Lemon Miso Dressing (RFCFES page 184)
• Green Goddess Tahini Sauce (RFCFES page 178)
• Presto Pesto (Run Fast. Eat Slow. page 172)
• Runners High Peanut Sauce (Run Fast. Eat Slow. page 175)
• Coconut Curry Sauce (RFCFES page 181)
• Ginger Cashew Sauce (RFCFES page 180)

Pair your sauce with a grain, roasted veggies, and that prepped protein for fast Power Bowls.

Cook a quick batch of rice or quinoa in an Instant Pot to save even more time.

4. Easy Breakfast Wins

Weekday mornings are often the most hectic time of day — which is exactly why prepping breakfast matters. To energize my morning workout, I eat a Superhero Muffin every single morning…zero decision fatigue. I’m grateful that I can now prep our weekly batch of muffins in just 5-minutes with our Superhero Muffin Mix.

A few breakfast favorites:

• Ginger Molasses Granola (Run Fast. Eat Slow. page 54) or Goddess Grain-Free Granola (Rise & Run page 127) for yogurt or smoothie bowls
• Superhero Muffins for grab-and-go fuel (try the Superhero Muffin Protein recipe)
• Seasonal Veggie Frittata (Rise & Run page 191) for slicing and reheating.

When breakfast is ready, everyone starts the day more fueled and less frazzled.

5. One Wholesome Treat (optional but fun!)

Having something nourishing and homemade on hand makes it easier to reduce ultra-processed snacks during the week. Treats don’t need to be fancy. My favorites for lunch boxes and afternoon snacks are Trail Mix Breakfast Cookies (Rise and Run page 115), Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (RFCFES page 207), Superhero Muffins (especially our Chocolate Banana Superhero Muffin Mix with extra chocolate chips) and Chocolate Cherry Seed Balls (Rise & Run page 120)….basically anything with chocolate keeps me energized!

Sunday meal prep isn’t about cooking everything you’ll eat all week. It’s just a starting point so you’re not creating meals from scratch.

So, this Sunday…

Make a cozy tea, turn up your favorite playlist, get your partner involved with dishes or
entertaining the kids, and enjoy the culinary challenge.

Your busy week will thank you.