Meal Prep for Women Who Hate Meal Prep

(The Lazy-Girl Method)

Some women love meal prep.
Containers lined up. Labels. Colour-coded macros.
A whole Tupperware army marching into the fridge.

If that’s you, great. But if that isn’t you, welcome. You are in the majority.

Most women aren’t struggling because they don’t know what to cook.
They’re struggling because the traditional idea of meal prep feels like running a second household.

If you’ve ever spent your Sunday chopping vegetables only to eat none of them by Thursday, you don’t have a motivation problem. You have a system problem.

This is the lazy-girl method of meal prep.
No chopping. No planning marathons. No food that dies slowly in containers you don’t open.
Just simple, repeatable habits that get you through the week without the “I’ll start again next Monday” spiral.

1. Prep Ingredients, Not Meals

Traditional meal prep locks you into eating specific meals on specific days.
Which sounds great in theory, but in practice you end up staring at a fridge full of food you don’t feel like eating.

The lazy-girl method is different.
Prep components, not meals.

Choose three things:

• a protein

• a carb

• a vegetable

Cook them once. Mix and match all week.

Examples:

• Chicken breast, microwave rice, frozen veg

• Beef mince, potatoes, salad kits

• Eggs, couscous, cherry tomatoes

This gives you flexibility without starting from scratch every night.

If you need help figuring out how to hit your protein target each day, I go deeper into this inside the Bodygoal Breakthrough Program.

2. Use the Two-Minute Rule

If it takes more than two minutes, you won’t do it consistently.
This is not a character flaw. It is life.

The two-minute rule means you only “prep” the things that actually save you time when you’re tired.

Examples:

• Wash fruit so it’s grab-ready.

• Boil eggs while you unpack groceries.

• Make a protein-rich snack box for the next day.

Not five meals. Not hours of cooking.
Just the things Future You will thank Present You for.

3. Buy Your Prep Where Possible

Supermarkets literally do half the prep for you now.
You can outsource 80 percent of the chopping and cleaning without adding to your budget.

Think:

• pre-cut vegetables

• microwave grain packets

• steam-fresh veggie bags

• pre-cooked chicken

• hard-boiled eggs

• salad kits

Convenience foods are not “lazy”. They are strategy.

If you missed my quick dinner ideas blog, that one pairs perfectly with this method.

4. Make a Default Dinner

Your default dinner is the one meal you can make on auto-pilot with your eyes half closed.
It has protein, fibre, volume and minimal clean-up.

Mine usually looks like:

• protein

• microwave rice

• bag salad

• something crunchy for texture

• dressing

It takes three minutes.
Most women don’t need five new recipes. They need one reliable one.

If you want an example of how I structure meals for clients, I break it down in the High-Protein Dinners blog.

5. Prep Once for Your Weak Spots

Everyone has a nutritional weak spot. Some women under-eat protein. Some forget lunch. Some snack their way through the afternoons.

Don’t prep everything. Prep the one thing that trips you up the most.

Pick yours:

• breakfast

• lunches

• snacks

• protein

• veggies

Then prep only that.

This removes chaos without you needing to become a meal-prep influencer.

The women inside my coaching programs usually see the biggest change from this simple shift. You can see how the process works here.

6. Stop Trying To Be Perfect

Your life is not a cooking show.
Meal prep is not meant to be a performance.

The goal is not perfect meals.
The goal is fewer chaotic evenings, fewer skipped meals, fewer “I’ll fix it on Monday” moments.

Lazy-girl meal prep works because it meets you where you actually are.

7. And If Weekends Are Your Downfall…

This is where lazy-girl prep shines.
Preparing ingredients (not meals) on Friday or Saturday means you don’t roll into Sunday starving, exhausted, and annoyed with yourself.

This is also the number-one place most women sabotage their calorie deficit without realising.

If weekends are your sticking point, my article on setting up a realistic calorie deficit for women over 40 will help.

The Bottom Line

Meal prep doesn’t need to look like hundreds of matching containers.
It needs to look like support.
It needs to reduce friction.
And it needs to fit your actual life.

Prep less.
Prep smarter.
Prep only what makes your week easier.

Simple always wins.

If you want help building a sustainable nutrition system that doesn’t make you feel like you’re failing every week, you can book a discovery call here.