Meal Planning for Busy Schedules: Healthy Home Cooking When You’re Short on Time

Don’t have time to cook elaborate meals every day? You’re not alone. We’ve put together some simple meal plans for busy schedules, plus practical tips for cooking, shopping, and organising your time. 

Modern life isn’t set up to make healthy home cooking easy. 

Most of us work long hours, spend more time than we’d like commuting, and then have a whole procession of social events, gym classes, and activities that eat up our free time. 

Unsurprisingly, homemade meals, using whole foods cooked from scratch, are one of the first things to go by the wayside. 

Whether you have a demanding career, a full-on family life, or tons of social commitments, fitting in home cooking can be tough. One recent survey in the UK found that 19% of people don’t have enough time to prepare healthy meals, and 17% say their jobs stop them from doing so. 

And this is where meal planning is a game-changer. Planning your meals means you don’t need to spend as much time thinking about what to cook, slicing and dicing ingredients, or simmering down those sauces. 

Use the following meal prep ideas for busy people and see how much of a difference they can make to your week.

This article covers:

• The benefits of meal planning

• General tips for healthy meal planning

• Healthy meal plans for busy professionals

Why busy people need meal planning

In an ideal world, we’d all have time to prepare and cook delicious and nutritious meals every day.

Sadly, very few people have that luxury. But, with some smart meal planning, you can still get all the benefits of healthy home cooking, without the time commitment. 

Creating a meal plan has a lot of benefits:

• Saves time and avoids stress: Having a bunch of meals (or ingredients) prepared in advance should save you a lot of time when it comes to cooking each day. As well as saving time, this might also reduce feelings of stress. In one experiment, people were given the choice of either designing their own meal or cooking a predetermined recipe. The people in the second group experienced less stress than those who needed to think up a whole menu. 

• A healthier diet: Research has also shown that people who plan meals in advance have more varied, healthier diets and a lower rate of obesity. 

• Can support weight loss: If you’re looking to lose weight, meal planning can also be super helpful. One study found that people who plan meals tend to shed pounds more consistently than those who cook on the fly. 

Related: Meal planning for beginners

Meal planning for busy schedules: general tips

If you're just looking for healthy meal plans for busy professionals, skip to the section below. But we’d encourage you to read the following tips as they can help with planning your time and activities. 

We’ve divided these tips into different categories. Pick and choose what works for you. 

General cooking tips for people with busy schedules

The following ideas will help you cook more efficiently and save time - while still making sure you have a healthy, wholesome diet. 

Cook once, eat thrice

Each time you cook a meal, make enough for at least two additional portions (this works best for things like stews, curries, ragus, and other sauces). You can then put one meal in the fridge for dinner tomorrow, and another in the freezer to heat up next week. It takes barely any extra time to make the extra food, but it wins back hours on two subsequent days. 

Reusable bases

This is classic lazy meal prep. You make a base sauce that can then be reheated and repurposed into different meals. 

For example, a simple tomato sauce can be used to coat pasta one day, mixed with beans the next, then turned into a chilli on day three. 

Another example is an easy curry sauce. Once you’ve cooked the base, you can then add various proteins (such as chickpeas, lentils, or paneer), vegetables, or extra spices to make different meals several days in a row. 

Batch cook

Now, we know you’re busy, but if you can block out a few hours on a Sunday afternoon for some batch cooking, you’ll save hours later in the week. Batch-cooked meals don’t need to be complex (think bean chillies, veggie lasagne, pasta sauces, etc.). By cooking just two or three meals and then freezing portions, you can alternate between them throughout the week.

Choose pre-prepared ingredients

Many supermarkets sell pre-chopped and diced ingredients, which can make cooking that much easier. The frozen aisle is your best bet here, but you might be able to find diced carrots, onions, garlic, and other ingredients in the fresh fridges, too. 

You will undoubtedly pay a premium for this, but if you’re really short on time, they can make a difference. Just make sure they don’t have tons of unwanted preservatives, salt, or sugar on the ingredients list.  

Learn to cook quick meals

Many kinds of food can be prepared quickly and easily from scratch, without requiring hours of chopping, marinating, and simmering. This includes things like:

• Almost all kinds of stir-fry

• Lots of classic pasta dishes

• Simple tinned bean stews

• Easy wraps (Mexican beans, chickpeas, halloumi, etc.)

• Veggie soups

Meal plans for busy schedules: time management tips

Besides cooking the food itself, it’s also helpful to look at ways to manage your time so you don’t need to spend as long thinking about what to eat. 

Create a multi-week menu

Meal planning is tricky. On one hand, you don’t want to spend ages thinking up food to cook each day. But at the same time, you want some variety - and not to just eat the same stuff over and over. 

This is where a multi-week menu comes in. Sit down and create a spreadsheet with meals you know you’ll enjoy for at least four weeks ahead. At the end of the cycle, you just go back to the start and repeat the plan. 

Using this kind of multi-week menu means you know what you need to buy and cook each week, and don’t need to spend as long thinking about each meal. But you’ll also get enough variety in there to avoid things getting stale. 

You can even get super organised and include links to recipes in the spreadsheet, or create a shopping list for each week. That means you never have to think about what to prepare again. 

Make reusable shopping lists

Save time thinking about what to buy at the supermarket by creating a reusable shopping list and keeping it on your phone. This list should include the core ingredients you always use for the type of cooking you like. You can then add extra items for any special meals you wish to make. But you’ll always know you have the essentials in your fridge or store cupboard. 

Share cooking duties with a housemate

If you live with someone who’s on the same page as you about food, then why not team up? 

You could agree to divide the cooking between you, alternating so you each cook two or three days per week (dependent on schedules). This is one of the best healthy meal prep ideas for busy professionals - you’ll know that for two or three days each week, you don’t have to think about food at all. 

This does, of course, depend on your housemate being reliable and preparing food you like.

Food shopping tips for busy people

No time for a leisurely mooch around the farmer’s market on a Sunday morning? No problem. There are lots of ways to make grocery shopping quicker and easier without compromising on healthy eating and ingredients. 

• Do your food shopping online: Most supermarkets offer this. You’ll have to pay a little for delivery, but you also cut out the time spent travelling to the shops and walking the aisles. 

• Consider healthy meal boxes: There are several companies offering healthy ready meals that are delivered to your door and which require little to no preparation. These will work out as much more expensive than making the meals yourself, but if you’re really busy, they’re better than getting takeaways or supermarket ready meals. 

• Try nutritionally complete Huel meals: All Huel powders, ready-to-drink, and Hot & Savoury meals are nutritionally complete - meaning they contain all the macros and micronutrients your body needs while also tasting delicious. And they take just moments to prepare. 

Invest in equipment and cookery gear to save time

Meal prep and planning can be made a lot faster and easier by investing in some of the following kinds of items:

• A microwave: Reheat and defrost meals super fast with minimal cleaning. 

• A pressure cooker: A super easy way to cook many kinds of meals overnight or while you’re out during the day. Simply throw fresh ingredients in, then come home to something slow-cooked and incredibly tasty. 

• Multifunction steamer: Sits on your countertop and lets you cook things like rice, veg, or tofu in minutes. 

• Food storage containers: These are invaluable for freezing or refrigerating food safely. Choose microwave-safe plastic pots so you can defrost food even faster.

• Quick cookbooks: A number of chefs have published books over the years that are specifically targeted at the needs of time-poor people. They’re packed full of quick, nutritious, and varied meal ideas. 

Healthy meal prep ideas for busy schedules

When it comes to meal planning for busy schedules, you need food that is:

• Quick and easy to prepare

• Primarily uses whole foods (fresh, frozen, tinned, or dried)

• Lends itself well to batch cooking and freezing

Here are some healthy meal prep ideas for busy people, which cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. 

Breakfast meal planning for busy schedules

The following breakfast ideas are quick, wholesome, and tasty. 

• Overnight oats with frozen mixed berries, raisins, and oat milk

• Wholegrain toast with peanut butter, sliced banana, and a chopped date

• Huel Powder shake

• Low- and no-sugar muesli or granola with fresh blueberries and almond milk

• Greek yoghurt (or plant-based alternative), oats, mixed nuts, and a banana with a teaspoon of honey

Lunch meal plans for busy schedules

These lunch meal ideas will keep you feeling full and energised to power through those afternoon meetings.

• Any dinner from the night before, reheated in a microwave

• Wholemeal wraps with grated cheese, peppers, carrots, and chickpeas

• Homemade Buddha bowls with quinoa, steamed broccoli, sweet potatoes, vinaigrette, and nuts (prepare ingredients one evening, refrigerate, then repeat for up to three days in a row)

• Cous cous salads - let the cous cous stand in stock for 10 minutes, then mix with chickpeas, chopped apricots, almond slivers, coriander, chopped tomatoes, and 1 tsp cumin

• Huel Black Edition ready-to-drink meal in a bottle

Dinnertime healthy meal prep ideas for busy professionals

Making dinner won’t be a chore when you have some simple, reliable, and speedy meals up your sleeve. 

• Roast veg and chickpea tray bake with an olive oil, garlic, and lemon sauce 

• Three bean Mexican chilli using tinned pulses, tinned tomatoes, and pre-chopped onion and garlic

• Huel Hot & Savoury meal (choose from Pasta Bolognese, Mac & Cheeze, Madras,  more)

• Simple tomato sauce with ‘hidden’ veg (e.g., finely chopped courgette), served with wholewheat pasta

• Tofu, mixed veg, and wholewheat noodle stir fry with simple store-bought sauce

Snack prep for busy people

Being busy doesn’t mean you have to rely on unhealthy snacks like crisps or chocolate bars. Try these healthier snack options instead. 

• Sliced carrot, red pepper, and celery batons with a hummus dip

• An indulgent Huel Complete Nutrition Bar, packed with 26 vitamins and minerals and up to 14g protein

• Homemade trail mix with peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, dried apricots, and a square of chopped 70% chocolate

More ideas: Our plant-based weekly meal plan

Up your game with healthy meal prep ideas for busy professionals

Between work, travel, socialising, and exercise, it’s often hard to find the time to prepare healthy meals. But it is totally possible - you just need to do a little planning. 

At Huel, we encourage everyone to try and make as much of their food at home, cooked with whole foods, from scratch. But we know that’s not always realistic. 

And that’s where our nutritionally complete meals come in. When you don’t have time to prepare meals, our powders, ready-to-drink meals, snacks, and Hot & Savoury meals mean you can be confident you’re giving your body everything it needs, without having to spend hours shopping for food, prepping, cooking, and cleaning up. 

Words by Len Williams