Guide

Weekly meal prep

Weekly meal prep means cooking the repeating building blocks in one two hour session: grains, legumes, proteins and roast vegetables. They keep three to four days in the fridge and up to three months in the freezer, and each meal is assembled from them in five minutes.

The cooking order

Start with what cooks unattended: legumes in the pressure cooker and grains in water. While they cook, prepare vegetables for the oven or air fryer, and cook proteins last since they are the most delicate to reheat.

Components, not finished dishes

Preparing neutral components instead of complete dishes avoids boredom: the same spelt becomes a cold salad at lunch and a soup at dinner, changing only dressing and herbs.

Containers and cooling

Food should cool within two hours and go into shallow containers, which chill faster. Labelling with the date is the difference between an organised fridge and weekly waste.

Storage after cooking

PreparationFridgeFreezer
Cereali cotti4 giorni3 mesi
Legumi lessati4 giorni3 mesi
Pollo cotto3 giorni2 mesi
Pesce cotto2 giorni1 mese
Verdure arrosto4 giorni2 mesi
Sughi e ragù3 giorni3 mesi
Zuppe3 giorni3 mesi

Recipes for this topic

Useful tools

Frequently asked questions

How often do I need to cook?

One long session plus a short top up mid week covers seven days without eating anything beyond the fourth day of storage.

Does the food lose nutrients?

Losses are modest and mainly affect vitamin C and folate. Steaming or air frying and storing away from light reduces them further.

dietai è uno strumento organizzativo ed educativo. Non elabora piani alimentari personalizzati, non gestisce patologie, gravidanza, allattamento, allergie o intolleranze diagnosticate e non sostituisce la valutazione di un dietista, di un nutrizionista o di un medico.

Le stime di calorie e macronutrienti sono generate da un sistema di intelligenza artificiale (AI Act, Reg. UE 2024/1689): hanno un margine tipico del 10–20% e vanno intese come ordine di grandezza, non come valori da laboratorio.

© 2026 be lead di Gianluca Benvegnù · P.IVA 12310430967 · REA MI-2652994 · Milano

Un progetto be lead · studio di AI applicata, Milano · beleadcreativestudio@proton.me