Meal Prep Plan: A Week of Easy Keto Meals

My curiosity sparked as the popular low-carb keto diet picked up steam earlier this year, so I decided to give it a shot. (Here’s a little more about the keto diet, including how it works, what you can eat, and what all the hype is about). As a total keto newbie, I knew prepping my meals in advance would help me stay on track.

In this Power Hour I’ll share my plan for preparing a week’s worth of keto breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for two adults in about two hours. If it works for me, a total keto newbie, I think it will work for anyone interested in trying out this way of eating.

Kitchn Meal Prep Plan

Created for real people with busy lives, this weekly email will feature doable plans and helpful recipes so that you can prep, cook, and eat for the week ahead.

I discovered quickly that the key to a successful keto week is finding ways to keep things interesting and work in lots of fresh flavor. I’m a morning person, so I front-load my days with filling meals at breakfast and lunch, leaving smaller portions and simple meals for supper. I plan to cook dinner three of the five days, preparing enough to have leftovers on the other two days.

If you follow a ketogenic diet, you understand the importance of prepping your meals and snacks in advance, since small slip-ups can confuse your body chemistry. Eating out is not the best option on the keto diet, especially for those of us still learning the ins and outs of the program. To ease the intensity of the meal prep, I’ve included a few prepackaged items and simple mix-and-match solutions that also add variety to the menu.

And full disclosure: Many who follow keto recommend clearing the house of anything even resembling a carb, but I’ve got two active preschoolers at home so they’ll still be eating fruit, dipping carrots in hummus, and stuffing their faces with cheddar cheese crackers.

My Meal Prep Goals

Breakfast: Filling grab-and-go breakfast that can be eaten cold or quickly warmed in the microwave, and coffee for me and my husband (five days).

Lunch: Lunch for me and my husband (five days).

Dinner: Dinner for me and my husband (five days).

Nutritional Goals: This week I’m testing out the keto diet. I’ll track net carbs, but my main goal is to understand what foods work on keto. I’m looking for flavorful meals packed with protein and fat to boost my resolve to keep my hands out of the bread box one day at a time.

Meal Prep Plan Snapshot

Feeds: Two people

Prep Time: About 2 hours

Meals Covered: About 80% (no weekend meals)

Weeknight Cooking Required? Moderate. Twenty to 30 minutes of light, mostly hands-off cooking.

My Meal Plan

Breakfast

Keto Coffee: I’m swapping my usual homemade almond and coconut milk creamer for coffee whirred in a blender with a tablespoon each grass-fed butter and coconut oil until frothy and creamy.

Cheese and Vegetable Frittata: I’ll slice this frittata into 10 wedges for a week’s worth of breakfast.

Lunches

Mix-and-Match Snack Lunch: Tuna salad, smoked salmon dip, Buffalo chicken bites, Instant Pot eggs, Babybel cheese, sliced cheddar cheese, cucumber, broccoli stem chips, spinach, nuts.

Dinners

Foolproof Salmon Baked with Olive Oil & Herbs with zucchini sautéed in grass-fed butter or spiralized and seasoned with herbs and olive oil. I multiplied the salmon recipe by 1 1/2 to ensure I have enough for dinners and lunches.

Buffalo Chicken Bites with Roasted Broccoli. I prefer boneless, skinless chicken thighs to breasts, so I’m using that for the chicken bites.

Tuna Melts on 90-Second Keto Bread with blueberries.

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