Laidback Meal Prep Series Week 2: Complete Grocery List + 3 Dinner Recipes

Meal prep can be our best friend and worst enemy—it’s great for saving time when the clock is ticking towards the dinner hour, but setting aside time earlier in the week to prep everything ahead isn’t always feasible. That’s why we’ve come up with a more relaxed approach: To give you the freedom to meal prep as you please. Whether you prep all at once or take it in stride, we give you three meals to work with, allowing you the flexibility to add in your favorite recipes for the rest of the week, too.

This week’s menu features cozy fall flavors including a skillet pot pie, one-pot takeout fakeout dish and Italian-inspired biscuit bombs. Here’s the nitty gritty on each recipe.

Ready to meal prep? First, let’s get the groceries. Here’s what you’ll need:

Print Grocery List (pdf)

Finding one hour at the start of the week to meal prep everything can be a challenge, so here’s our advice: If you have the time to make ahead as many ingredients as possible, go for it. Store everything you’ve prepped in labeled containers and group them together by meal in your fridge or pantry. When dinnertime approaches, you’re already halfway to eating time! Below is a suggested timeline.

However, if prepping everything all at once just isn’t happening, you can easily adapt this meal prep plan to suit your schedule. Prep just a couple of recipes at a time, or prep everything for tomorrow’s dinner the night before (B onus if you can clean up the dinner dishes and the meal prep dishes all at the same time!). This is laidback meal prep and we refuse to make it complicated.

Creamy Chicken and Fall Vegetable Skillet Pot Pie

Sunday Prep Plan:

• Mix flour, salt, pepper, thyme and sage together in a bowl
• Peel and chop carrots, parsnip and sweet potato
• Chop onion
• Portion and chop 2 cups deli rotisserie chicken

Day-Of Prep Plan:

• Cook filling ingredients
• Assemble pie crust; bake as directed in recipe

One-Pot Ten-Minute Beef and Broccoli

Sunday Prep Plan:

• Cook beef
• Chop and separate green onion whites and greens
• Cook white rice

Day-Of Prep Plan:

• Heat beef; stir in green onion whites
• Cook as directed in recipe

Expert tip: This dish can also make for a great make-ahead lunch for the week! Prep a batch from start to finish on Sunday, portion it into individual storage containers and take it to-go for lunches all week long.

Chicken Parmesan Biscuit Bombs

Sunday Prep Plan:

• Portion and chop 1 1/4 cups deli rotisserie chicken
• Cut mozzarella cheese into quarters

Day-Of Prep Plan:

• Assemble chicken filling as directed in recipe
• Assemble, fill and bake biscuits as directed in recipe

In case you missed the first week of our Laidback Meal Prep series or you’re craving more, here are all the guides right at your fingertips: