Meal prep for your training week

Choose meals around your actual week.

Start with the sessions that create a practical problem: an early start, a late finish or a long run that leaves you hungry. Pick two main meals, one quick breakfast and one reliable snack. Using ingredients across recipes keeps the shopping list simpler.

For example, oats, milk or a fortified plant drink, yoghurt, bananas and berries can cover several breakfasts. Tinned pulses, tomatoes, rice and pasta can form the base of lunches and dinners.

Try this recipeTomato & red lentil pasta104 g carbohydrate · 24 g protein per default serving ↗

A short preparation session.

1. Read your chosen recipes and check the fridge, freezer and cupboard.
2. Add recipes and their adjusted quantities to your shopping list.
3. Prepare the longest-cooking sauce first, then wash and chop vegetables.
4. Mix an overnight breakfast while the sauce cooks.
5. Divide extra portions into shallow containers, cool safely and label them.
6. Freeze portions you will not eat within their safe fridge window.

You do not need a fridge full of identical meals. Preparing a sauce, washing produce or making breakfast ahead can be enough to remove one difficult decision.

Be especially careful with rice.

If rice is not eaten immediately, cool it quickly, ideally within one hour, refrigerate and eat within 24 hours. Reheat no more than once until steaming hot throughout. Do not leave a large pan on the worktop to cool slowly.

Freeze extra rice promptly if it will not be eaten within the fridge window. Follow the storage and reheating instructions on any ready-cooked rice product.

Store and reheat with a plan.

For general leftovers, cool, cover and refrigerate within one to two hours, and eat within 48 hours or freeze. Rice has the shorter window above. Follow any shorter instruction on the recipe or ingredient label.

Reheat only once until steaming hot throughout. Keep chilled food cold when transporting it, and use the earliest relevant use-by date. Storage guidance assumes hygienic preparation and a correctly working fridge.

Official food storage guidance ↗