These 5 beginner dinner prep recipes are perfect for those who want to get ahead for the week. The only thing better than enjoying a delicious home-cooked meal is having enough left over to eat the next day! Cook them once, then simply refrigerate (or freeze for longer term storage) and reheat when you’re hungry. Don’t forget to check out two for one dinners for more bulk cooking recipes, and our list of fantastic freezer meals for the best frozen meal prep recipes.
Meal prep recipes that make great leftovers
1. Red lentil dahl
This hearty and warming dahl is packed with the flavourful goodness of spices, spinach and red lentils. With four protein-rich servings in this recipe and ingredients that can be easily doubled, this is one of the best bulk cooking recipes for vegetarians. Allow it to cool completely before refrigerating or freezing, then just reheat in the microwave or on the stove when you’re ready to eat.
2. Lamb and eggplant pasta
Pasta is a great meal option as it’s super versatile, easy to cook, and freezes well. This lamb and eggplant penne pasta is rich, tasty and ready to eat in just half an hour. This recipe is also a great one to use up any extra vegies you have in the fridge. You can swap out the lamb for beef, pork, chicken, mushrooms or another meat-free option to suit your preference.
3. Chilli con carne tray bake
Chilli con carne is one of the most versatile meal bases you can make. You can sandwich it into bread or tortillas, top nachos or tacos with it, pack it onto potatoes, serve it with rice – the list goes on! This traybake version is super convenient, requiring just three steps including serving. Simply bake in the oven at 240ºC and allow to cool completely before refrigerating or freezing in airtight containers.
4. Chicken and chorizo rice
Slow cookers open the door to many bulk meal prep recipes, and this chicken and chorizo rice is one of them. With just a little prep, the slow cooker does the rest of the grunt work for you, leaving you with time to get onto other things. This dish is comforting, full of great flavours and textures and is a wonderful gluten-free option that can be easily frozen and reheated.
5. Thai-style pork green curry
The other slow cooker option on our list is this green curry, which uses boneless pork shoulder. This is a robust budget cut that’s perfect for low and slow cooking, and it’s even better at soaking up all the delicious flavours of the homemade curry paste. This is one of those dishes you’ll definitely want the leftovers for because it’s just so delicious.
