When life gets busy, sometimes it can be so hard to slow down enough to whip up a nice, healthy, home cooked meal. That’s where meal prepping comes in. When you prepare meals ahead of time (whether it’s batch preparing meals to eat over the next few days, weeks, or more), it can make life much easier because your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks are all pretty much “heat and eat” or “grab and go”.
There are alot of benefits that come when you prepare your meals ahead of time. A big one being you can meal prep for weight loss. Imagine being able to save money on eating out, maintaining your weight loss goals, and overall feeling good because you’ve been able to improve the quality of what you eat.
However, when you have a picky eater, meal prepping can be an extra challenge. But if possible, meal prepping for picky eaters is still a great idea because it can save time as well as give you control over what to serve, making sure that your picky eaters eat healthy meals all the time.
So today, I’m sharing a guide on how to meal prep for picky eaters as well as recipe ideas that picky eaters would enjoy.
How To Meal Prep for Picky Eaters
Involve the picky eaters in planning
One sure way of making sure no food goes to waste is by getting the picky eaters involved in the meal prepping process. Ask the picky eaters in your life what type of protein, vegetable, grain, fruit, etc. they’re interested in eating throughout the week. This will help you eliminate the guesswork. Get them involved in as much of the planning process as possible.
Use familiar ingredients in new ways
Go ahead and save yourself the headache by preparing the trusty go-to’s for the picky eaters in your life. Precook the familiar ingredients your picky eaters know and love with the foresight of mixing them up in new ways whether that’s by pairing them with a new food or introducing other new ways of spicing it up into your week.
Opt for buffet style servings
When serving something buffet style, you’ll need to cook the grains (potatoes, rice, pasta, etc.), protein (chicken, ground beef, etc.), one or two vegetable options, and a variety of sauce if applicable. The ingredients can be used for building your own salads, wraps, pasta, or stir frys for example. All of which are easy to meal prep. Allow your picky eaters to hand select which food group they will eat day to day. This will give them the power of autonomy while also empowering you with the ultimate freedom and ease of being able to meal prep ahead of time.
10+ Meal Prep Ideas for Picky Eaters
Meal Prep Ideas for Snacks
Aside from the boiled eggs, most of these meal prep ideas for snacks require no cooking. So when meal prepping, even just spending time washing, pre-cutting, and pre-portioning out the fruits and veggies, and snacks per serving can save you time in the long run and make choosing healthier easier because everything is already made to grab and go.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Apples
- Pear
- Grapes
- Baby carrots
- Celery
- Bell peppers
- String cheese
- Jerky
- Baked cheese crackers
- Seeds and nuts
For dipping:
- Hummus
- Guac
- Nut butter
Meal Prep Ideas for Breakfast
Oatmeal With Peanut Butter And Banana
This breakfast idea requires very little prep, but since we’re on the train of easy breakfast ideas AND healthy meals for picky eaters, I thought I’d throw this one out there and into the mix. The most cooking you’ll have to do is warm up the oatmeal in the microwave. The “prep” work really is making sure you have all the ingredients on hand – oatmeal, banana, and peanut butter. Just add water to your oatmeal, heat and eat when you add the pb and banana toppings.
Breakfast Sausage Bowl
Aside from the rice, the bulk of this breakfast idea can be done in a sheet pan. Just line up your choice of sausage, peppers, and onions onto a baking sheet and cook until done in the oven. You’ll want to make sure they’re in medium, bite sized chunks. When ready, pair with a side dish of rice (and eggs if you wish) or mix them all together in a bowl and boom you’ve got yourself a breakfast sausage bowl.
Meal Prep Ideas for Lunch and Dinner
Grilled cheese with Tomato Soup
It’s usually not very hard to get a picky eater to gobble down bread and cheese. So why not pair a trusty grilled cheese sandwich with its healthy counterpart tomato soup? Together, this dynamic duo is packed with 48g carbs, 14g protein, 23g fat, 6g fiber, and only 2g of added sugar.
Slow Cooker Taco Chicken
What picky eater doesn’t like chicken? And who can resist tacos? During your meal prep this week, add this slow cooker taco chicken to your arsenal. It’s easy, hardy, and delicious with about 41g carbs, 49g protein, 7g fat, 12g fiber, and 0g of added sugar. This is definitely one of my favorite easy dinner ideas for picky eaters to try that their taste buds will love.
Ingredients
- 6 oz Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, raw – 190 calories
- ½ cup Beans & legumes, black beans, cooked – 114 calories
- ½ cup Corn, canned – 63 calories
- ½ cup Salsa – 32 calories
- 1 tsp Avocado oil (tsp) – 41 calories
- ¼ tsp Garlic salt (tsp) – 0 calories
- ¼ tsp Red pepper flakes (tsp) – 0 calories
Directions
- NOTE: This is a “slow cooker” meal – you can use a crockpot, the instant pot, etc. You’ll likely prefer to make multiple servings at once.
- Add oil to the bottom of your slow cooker, then add in the rest of your ingredients & give them a stir.
- Cook your food on LOW for 6-8 hours, or HIGH for 3-4 hours.
- Shred your chicken with a fork (either in the pot or out of the pot on a cutting board & re-mix it in).
- Enjoy!
- No meat? Use white beans, but make a stir fry instead (nothing needs to slow cook here).
Black Bean Taco Bowl
If it’s hard to get your kid to eat the slow cooker taco chicken, another way of serving up a similar dish with similar ingredients is to offer it as a black bean taco bowl. In this simplified version of the recipe, all you’ll need to meal prep is the chicken, veggies, and beans separately, then combine to a bowl and season (or serve it deconstructed). It comes out to be about 40g carbs, 50g protein, 15g fat, 13g fiber, 0g of added sugar. Bon appetit.
Ingredients
- ½ cup Beans & legumes, black beans, cooked – 114 calories
- 1 Bell pepper, red, medium – 37 calories
- 1 Onion, yellow, large – 55 calories
- 6 oz Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, raw – 190 calories
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil (Tbsp) – 119 calories
- ¼ tsp Salt – 0 calories
- ¼ tsp Basil, dried – 0 calories
- ¼ tsp Oregano – 0 calories
- ⅛ tsp Red pepper flakes – 0 calories
Directions
- Slice chicken into strips. Spray pan with an oil spray. Cook chicken for 10-12 minutes, turning every few minutes. Use an instant read thermometer to make sure chicken gets to 165 degrees internally.
- Add oil to a second pan and add in bell pepper and onion (sliced), cook for 7-8 minutes stirring frequently.
- Add chicken, veggies, and beans to a bowl & season.
- No chicken? Use fish or tofu.
Chicken nuggets and guacamole
What one dish is a picky eating staple in households across America? Chicken nuggets! This classic kid friendly favorite is also one anyone in your family will love. To switch things up and add a bit more nutrition to the dish, swap out the ketchup or bbq sauce to instead serve up your grilled or crispy chicken nuggets with a side of guac for dipping. This is great for picky eaters because it allows them to keep their same foods they love while also incorporating a twist to the dish that offers them a way to consume more veggies into their diet.
The best part? When you make it yourself, it’s only 19g carbs, 41g protein, 11g fat, 5g fiber, 0g added sugar.
Mac and cheese
Mac and cheese is an easy meal to prep ahead for the picky eaters in your life. And good thing for them – because when you make it yourself, you can easily pack about 20g of protein (more or less depending on the ingredients). Most boxed mac and cheese options also have a solid amount of protein per serving as well. I’ve seen anywhere from 9g to 15g of protein depending on the brand, which makes mac and cheese a solid staple to add to your meal prepping list for easy weeknight dinners.
If you want to switch it up, you can try Pizza Mac and Cheese one night by adding in pepperoni, olives, and bell peppers for even more nutrition or you can just keep this classic the same as usual.
Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry
There are a lot of ways you can go with stir fry. You can pre-cook a couple of different protein options and a couple of different vegetables and allow your picky eaters to build their own stir fry on a bed of their choice of rice or pasta (or they can just eat it plain without the grains). If you need ideas, add this beef and broccoli stir fry to your bag of tricks. It’s easy, simple, and delicious, and packed with 8g carbs, 30g protein, 8g fat, 4g fiber, and 0g of added sugar. How can a picky eater resist?
Ingredients
- 2 cups Broccoli – 48 calories
- 4 oz Steak tips, raw – 180 calories
- 2 Tbsp Soy sauce (Tbsp) – 0 calories
- ¼ tsp Pepper, ground – 0 calories
Directions
- Cut broccoli into small pieces
- Spray a pan with an oil spray, add in broccoli and beef
- Stir fry beef and broccoli for ~10 mins on medium heat
- Top with pepper and soy sauce
Chicken Stir Fry with Sweet Potatoes
While we’re on the conversation of building your own stir fry, chances are when you’re meal prepping, you’ve pre-cooked chicken somewhere in the mix. For this stir fry idea, you’ll serve up a mix of chicken, bell peppers, onion, and a side dish of sweet potato.
Ingredients
- 6 oz Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, raw – 190 calories
- 1 Bell pepper, green, medium – 27 calories
- 1 Onion, yellow, large – 55 calories
- 1 Potato, sweet, medium, 5 inches – 112 calories
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil (Tbsp) – 119 calories
- ⅛ tsp Red pepper flakes – 0 calories
- ⅛ tsp Garlic salt – 0 calories
Directions
- Add oil to a pan. Cube chicken. Slice veggies.
- Cook chicken and veggies for ~12 minutes on low heat, until cooked through. Season.
- Poke holes in potato with fork on top and bottom. Microwave for 4-5 minutes on each side.
Meal prepping for picky eaters doesn’t have to be overcomplicated. Hopefully these tips help inspire you with new ways of incorporating more nutrition or add in the new to old favorites. If you like these, and want to try even more recipes, check out this list of healthy meals for picky kids.
