Simple High-Protein Dairy-Free Meal Prep (With Meal Ideas)

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Traditional meal prep can sometimes feel daunting to me, because it usually involves spending all day in the kitchen cooking and eating the same exact meals all week long. I tend to get bored with the same meals after a couple of days which is why I’ve grown to really like prepping individual meal components instead.

Instead of prepping full meals, I prep a few proteins, carbs, and vegetables, and sometimes a dessert that I can mix and match throughout the week to make easy healthy meals. This style of dairy-free meal prep typically feels much easier to me because it usually doesn’t take as long and still leaves me with plenty of cooked food ready in the fridge for the week.

Having components already cooked makes lunches and dinners very quick to put together, especially on busy days when I’m too tired to cook a meal completely from scratch. It also keeps me much more consistent with eating healthy, balanced meals because I’m less likely to eat out or throw something random together on days when I’m exhausted and don’t feel like cooking.

I prep different ways depending on the week, but this way of prepping is what I come back to the most. If you also get overwhelmed with traditional meal prep or dislike eating the same meals all week long, you may like this style of prep. This week I prepped a few proteins, carbs, and vegetables, plus an easy dessert.

Why I Like Prepping This Way

Traditional meal prep online is usually people making a week’s worth of identical breakfasts, lunches, and dinners and portioning them out neatly into meal prep containers. The component prep that I’m sharing today is more focused on prepping proteins, carbs, and vegetables simply and then mixing and matching them throughout the week to make meals. To me, it feels like a middle ground between not prepping at all and having every single lunch and dinner fully prepped for the week ahead of time.

What I Prepped This Week

Proteins

Ground turkey
Shrimp
Boiled eggs

Carbs

Roasted potatoes
Roasted fries
Jasmine rice
Pasta

Vegetables

Roasted cauliflower
Stovetop zucchini
Sliced red onions
Mini cucumbers
Mixed greens
Colored mini bellpeppers
Colored sliced bellpeppers
Tomatoes

Dessert

Brownies

What I Froze For Later In The Week

To keep things as fresh as possible, there were a few items that I froze.

Half of the roasted potatoes
Half of the roasted fries
Half of the cooked shrimp

Extras I Had On Hand

A few sauces: This week I had special sauce and sweet chili sauce. Both store bought. Buying sauces saves time during a quick prep, versus making them from scratch.
Tortillas/Bread: I had burrito sized tortillas and bread in the freezer.
Some fat sources: a few avocados, individually portioned nuts, olives, avocado oil mayo, dairy-free cream cheese, and dairy-free cheese.

Meals and Snacks I Made From This Prep

These are a few of the meals and snacks that I made during the week out of this prep. All of them were easy to put together and came together very quickly!

Shrimp Quesadilla

This quesadilla was made with shrimp, red onions, and dairy-free cream cheese. I sauteed the shrimp and onions together to warm the shrimp and soften the onions. After the shrimp and onions were done, I added them to a burrito sized tortilla with dairy-free cream cheese and let the tortilla crisp up on both sides while the cream cheese melted. On the side I had zucchini, cauliflower, and fries that I warmed in the air-fryer.

Ground Turkey, Rice, & Avocado

This meal was very simple. Ground turkey, jasmine rice, avocado, and red onion. I topped the ground turkey and rice with a little sweet chili sauce and had a few cucumbers on the side.

Shrimp Salad Wrap

I made this wrap with a simple shrimp salad, mixed greens, and onions. For the shrimp salad, I chopped up some of the cooked shrimp and added mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried dill. I also chopped up half of a mini cucumber and added that in too. Once the shrimp salad was made, I added it to a tortilla and added mixed greens and onions. I had chips and mini peppers on the side.

Ground Turkey Pasta

This pasta was so easy to make. I diced up some of my prepped peppers and added them to a pan with some of the ground turkey. When the peppers and ground turkey were warmed through, I added the cooked pasta, dairy-free butter, a little honey, salt, pepper, dried parsley, and dried chives. I tossed everything together. On the side I had zucchini.

Shrimp Tacos

For this meal I made quick shrimp tacos. I warmed up some of the cooked shrimp in the microwave and added them to tortillas. I added mixed greens, tomatoes, and onions. I topped the tacos with a simple sauce that I made by using equal parts sweet chili sauce and mayo. I had cauliflower on the side.

Boiled Egg Snack Plate

For this snack plate I had two boiled eggs topped with chili onion crunch, a mini cucumber, and a brownie.

Egg Salad Snack Plate

This snack plate had egg salad, crackers, and blueberries. I made a simple egg salad using my prepped boiled eggs, dried chives, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, and paprika.

Tips For Making Dairy-Free Meal Prep Easier

Choose versatile ingredients: Choosing ingredients that can be used in multiple different ways makes meals very easy to put together because all prepped food can easily be paired together. This allows for a lot of variety throughout the week.
Prep ingredients you actually like eating: Using the same ingredients throughout the week feels a lot easier when you prep foods that you truly like eating. It makes mixing and matching meals feel easier and a lot more enjoyable.
Don’t prep too many things: I used to prep way too many ingredients, and it honestly made even this type of prep overwhelming. It wasn’t as easy to choose what to eat because I had too many options and I would end up throwing away food at the end of the week.
Season simply: Seasoning prepped food simply makes mixing and matching meals much easier because flavors are not competing when it’s time to make a meal. I usually season things very simply and then when I put meals together I will add extra seasonings or sauces at that time if I want.

A Few Of The Kitchen Tools I Used During This Prep

Air Fryer: I used my air fryer to cook the shrimp at the same time that I was cooking the ground turkey on the stove. Being able to cook multiple things at once helped meal prep go by much faster and made the kitchen feel a lot less chaotic.
Egg Cooker: I used my egg cooker to cook boiled eggs while I cleaned and prepped produce. It’s one of my favorite ways to save time during meal prep because I can focus on other things while the eggs the cook.
Salad Spinner: I used my salad spinner to dry the mixed greens, and also the cauliflower after washing it. It made prepping produce much quicker.
Mini Strainer: I used my mini strainer to drain the pasta without having to pull out a big strainer when I already had a lot going on in the kitchen. I just attached it to the pot, drained the pasta, and threw the strainer in the dishwasher which made cleaning up easier.

Making Eating Healthy Easier

This way of meal prepping is what I come back to the most because it makes eating healthy feel so much more manageable for me. Having proteins, carbs, and vegetables ready in the fridge makes meals so much easier to throw together once the week starts and takes the stress out of deciding what to eat every day.