15 Meal Prep Recipes That Still Taste Good on Thursday

The honest problem with meal prep isn't Monday. It's Thursday, when the rice has gone hard, the greens have wilted and nothing tastes like it did on Sunday.

The fix is choosing meal prep recipes that actually improve, or at least hold up, after a few days in the fridge. Saucy dishes, roasted vegetables and sturdy grains do well. Fried, crispy and delicate things don't. Here are 15 that pass the Thursday test.

Grains and bowls

1. Peanut noodle bowls. Toss noodles in a peanut, soy and lime sauce with shredded carrots, cucumber and edamame. Served cold, so there's no reheating at all.

2. Chicken and roasted vegetable rice bowls. Roast chicken thighs and peppers on one tray, then pack them over rice with a spoon of yoghurt-garlic sauce on the side.

3. Lemony quinoa and chickpea salad. Quinoa, chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, parsley and a lemon-olive oil dressing. It gets better as the flavours soak in.

4. Burrito bowls. Spiced beans or mince, rice, sweetcorn and salsa. Keep the avocado and lettuce separate and add them on the day.

Soups, stews and curries

5. Coconut chickpea curry. Chickpeas, spinach, tomato and coconut milk. Curries taste deeper on day two, and this one freezes well.

6. Jollof rice. Tomato and pepper base, slow-cooked into the rice. Reheat with a splash of water to bring back its softness.

7. Red lentil soup. Lentils, carrots, cumin and stock, blended smooth. Cheap, filling and ready in 30 minutes.

8. Beef or bean chilli. One big pot covers lunches and a dinner, and the leftovers freeze in single portions.

Sheet-pan dinners and bakes

9. Sheet-pan chicken fajitas. Sliced chicken, peppers and onions with smoked paprika and cumin. Reheat and wrap in a warm tortilla.

10. Roasted salmon with sweet potato and green beans. Eat it within two days, or flake the salmon into a cold rice salad later.

11. Turkey or veggie meatballs in tomato sauce. The sauce keeps them moist. Serve over pasta, rice or in a roll.

12. Baked pasta with vegetables. Pasta, tomato sauce, roasted courgette and a little cheese on top. Slightly undercook the pasta so it doesn't go soft when reheated.

Breakfasts and grab-and-go

13. Overnight oats. Oats, milk or yoghurt and fruit in a jar. Make four or five at once.

14. Vegetable egg muffins. Whisked eggs with spinach, peppers and onion baked in a muffin tin. Reheat in 30 seconds.

15. Snack boxes. Hummus, chopped vegetables, boiled eggs, fruit and nuts, portioned into small containers.

What not to prep ahead

Some foods are better made fresh, or added on the day you eat:

• Anything fried or crispy, which turns soggy in the fridge

• Dressed salads and soft greens, so keep dressings separate

• Cut avocado and apple, which brown quickly

• Delicate fish, which is best eaten within a day or two

Keeping it safe

Cooked meals keep for three to four days in the fridge, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Freeze anything you plan to eat after Wednesday. Cool food quickly in shallow containers and refrigerate it within two hours of cooking.

Pick three recipes from this list, one from each of the first three sections, and you've got a varied week without cooking every night.

Save these to your Mealxr cookbook, and Mealxr will fit them into your weekly plan. Join the waitlist to be first in.

• meal prep
• recipes
• batch cooking
• leftovers