Macro-friendly meal prep: 5 recipes, 1 week, 1 grocery list

What “macro-friendly” means here

There is no official definition of macro-friendly. The phrase comes from macro counting, and in practice it means a dish whose calories, protein, carbs and fat you know for each portion, so it fits the targets you set for yourself. We held these five recipes to four rules:

• Weights, not guesses. Every ingredient has a set raw weight, and each serving is exactly half of its batch, split on a kitchen scale.
• Numbers with a source. Calories and macros come from USDA values, ingredient by ingredient, and we give the USDA code of each one so you can look it up.
• Protein leads. Between 28% and 39% of each serving's estimated calories come from protein, which works out to 38 to 49 g a serving.
• Built to keep. Each dish matches a row of the FDA's storage chart, and the meals you eat later in the week go into the freezer on the day you cook.

You'll often read that meal prep keeps all week in the fridge. For dishes like these, the FDA's chart says 3 to 4 days for cooked meat and poultry, and the UK Food Standards Agency says 48 hours. The plan below follows the shorter figure.

The five recipes at a glance

Every serving stays under 550 calories (estimated). Two servings, lunch and dinner, come to about 990 to 1,040 calories: that is two meals, not a day's food. Breakfast, snacks and drinks are extra, and how much you need over a whole day depends on your age, sex, size and activity.

The week: fridge first, then freezer

This plan is for one person, lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday. Cook on Sunday afternoon or evening. Three containers stay in the fridge; the other seven go into the freezer as soon as they have cooled, and each evening you move the next day's containers from the freezer to the fridge.

Why this split? The FDA's storage chart gives cooked meat and poultry dishes 3 to 4 days in a refrigerator at 40 °F (4 °C) or below. The UK Food Standards Agency is stricter:

Eat leftovers within 48 hours or freeze them if you think this won’t be possible.

If you cook on Sunday afternoon, Tuesday's lunch is eaten within 48 hours, so the plan fits both. The rules that make it work:

• Cool fast. Pack each batch straight into its two containers, which are shallower than a pot, and get them into the fridge or freezer within 2 hours of cooking, as the FDA advises; the FSA says one to two hours.
• Freeze on Sunday, not midweek. The seven freezer containers go in on cooking day. The FDA chart notes that freezing at 0 °F (−18 °C) keeps food safe indefinitely, and that its freezer times, 2 to 3 months for meat dishes and stews and 4 to 6 months for poultry dishes, are for quality only.
• Thaw in the fridge. The refrigerator is one of the three safe ways to thaw that the FDA lists, and the FSA calls defrosting in the fridge overnight the safest. The FSA says to use food within 24 hours of it being fully defrosted. If a container is still icy at lunchtime, use the microwave's defrost setting and reheat it right away, as the FDA advises for food thawed in the microwave.
• Reheat once, until hot all the way through. The FDA's safe temperature for leftovers is 165 °F (74 °C), and it says to bring sauces and soups to a boil when reheating: that covers the chili and the curry. The FSA adds that leftovers should only be reheated once. In this plan, a meal that comes out of the freezer is eaten the next day, never put back.
• No rice on purpose. The FSA advises keeping cooked rice in the fridge for no more than one day before reheating, which does not fit a Sunday cook for Tuesday, so these recipes use potatoes, beans and pasta instead.
• Shop close to Sunday. The same FDA chart gives raw chicken parts and raw ground turkey or beef 1 to 2 days in the fridge, so buy the meat on Saturday or Sunday.
• Toppings on the day. The yogurt and the salsa are neither cooked nor frozen: keep them in their own containers in the fridge, as their labels say, and spoon out each portion on the day you eat it. The tzatziki is made fresh each day from that yogurt.

Recipe 1: Greek chicken and potato sheet pan with tzatziki

Per serving (estimated): 508 calories, 49 g protein, 52 g carbs, 12 g fat. Makes 2 servings: Monday and Tuesday lunch, both from the fridge.

• 10½ oz (300 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast, in 1-inch pieces
• 14 oz (400 g) gold or red potatoes, skin on, in ¾-inch cubes
• 1 red bell pepper (120 g), 1 medium zucchini (200 g) and ½ onion (55 g), in chunks
• 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tsp dried oregano, salt and pepper
• For the tzatziki, made on the day: 6 oz (170 g) nonfat plain Greek yogurt, 3½ oz (100 g) cucumber and 1 garlic clove, split between the two days

• Preheat the oven to 425 °F (220 °C). Toss the potatoes with half the oil and roast them for 15 minutes.
• Toss the chicken and vegetables with the rest of the oil, the lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Add them to the pan (use a second pan if it's crowded) and roast for about 20 minutes more, until the thickest piece of chicken reaches 165 °F (74 °C).
• Weigh the tray's contents, split them evenly between two containers, then cool and refrigerate.
• On the day: grate half the cucumber into half the yogurt with half a garlic clove and a pinch of salt.

Recipe 2: Beef taco bowls with pinto beans and corn

Per serving (estimated): 503 calories, 43 g protein, 58 g carbs, 13 g fat, salsa and yogurt included. Makes 2 servings: Monday dinner from the fridge, Thursday lunch from the freezer.

• ½ lb (227 g) 93% lean ground beef
• 1 can pinto beans, drained (277 g)
• 1 heaping cup (150 g) frozen corn
• 1 red bell pepper (120 g) and ½ onion (55 g), diced
• 1 tsp olive oil, 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, salt
• On the day: ¼ cup (65 g) salsa and 1¾ oz (50 g) nonfat plain Greek yogurt per serving

• Soften the onion and pepper in the oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Add the beef and cook, breaking it up, until it reaches 160 °F (71 °C), the FDA's temperature for ground meat.
• Stir in the spices, beans and corn and cook until everything is hot.
• Split between two containers. Refrigerate Monday's container and freeze Thursday's as soon as it has cooled. Add the salsa and yogurt after reheating.

Recipe 3: Turkey and kidney bean chili

Per serving (estimated): 491 calories, 42 g protein, 54 g carbs, 15 g fat, yogurt included. Makes 2 servings, both frozen: Tuesday and Thursday dinner.

• ½ lb (227 g) 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained (266 g)
• 1¼ cups (300 g) canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 onion (110 g), 1 red bell pepper (120 g) and 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp dried oregano, salt
• On the day: 1¾ oz (50 g) nonfat plain Greek yogurt per serving

• Soften the onion, pepper and garlic in the oil for 5 minutes.
• Add the turkey and cook, breaking it up, until it reaches 165 °F (74 °C), the FDA's temperature for poultry, ground or not.
• Add the spices, tomatoes and beans with ½ cup of water and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring now and then.
• Split between two containers, cool and freeze. Bring it back to a boil when you reheat it, then spoon the yogurt on top.

Recipe 4: Turkey meatballs with whole-wheat spaghetti

Per serving (estimated): 543 calories, 38 g protein, 61 g carbs, 19 g fat. Makes 2 servings, both frozen: Wednesday lunch and Friday dinner.

• Meatballs: ½ lb (227 g) 93% lean ground turkey, 1 large egg, 3 tbsp (20 g) dry breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp (10 g) grated Parmesan, ½ tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp dried oregano
• Sauce: about 1 cup (244 g) canned crushed tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp dried oregano
• About 4 oz (112 g) whole-wheat spaghetti, and 1 tbsp (5 g) grated Parmesan to finish

• Preheat the oven to 425 °F (220 °C). Mix the meatball ingredients, shape about 10 meatballs and bake them on a lined tray for about 15 minutes, until they reach 165 °F (74 °C).
• Meanwhile, simmer the tomatoes with the garlic, oil and oregano for 10 minutes, then add the meatballs.
• Cook the spaghetti a minute or two short of the time on the package, so it holds up when reheated, and drain it.
• Split the pasta, meatballs and sauce between two containers, top with the Parmesan, cool and freeze.

Recipe 5: Chicken and chickpea curry with spinach

Per serving (estimated): 492 calories, 48 g protein, 49 g carbs, 13 g fat. Makes 2 servings, both frozen: Wednesday dinner and Friday lunch.

• 10½ oz (300 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast, in 1-inch pieces
• 1 can chickpeas, drained (253 g)
• About 1 cup (250 g) canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 onion (110 g), 3 garlic cloves and 2 tsp grated fresh ginger (4 g)
• 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp curry powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, salt
• 3½ oz (100 g) baby spinach

• Soften the onion, garlic and ginger in the oil for 5 minutes, then stir in the spices for 30 seconds.
• Add the chicken, tomatoes, chickpeas and ½ cup of water, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165 °F (74 °C).
• Stir in the spinach until it wilts, split between two containers, cool and freeze. Bring it back to a boil when you reheat it.

The Sunday session, in order

• Before you start: clear room in the freezer for seven containers, and get out 10 lidded containers that can go in both the freezer and the microwave.
• Chop everything first: 3 onions, 3 bell peppers, the zucchini, 9 garlic cloves (keep the tenth for the tzatziki) and the ginger. The five recipes share them.
• Oven at 425 °F (220 °C): the potatoes go in first, then the chicken and vegetables for recipe 1; the meatballs for recipe 4 bake on a second tray.
• Two pots on the stove: the chili and the curry simmer side by side while the oven works.
• One skillet, then a pot of water: brown the taco beef, then cook the spaghetti.
• Pack as you go: each dish goes into its two containers as soon as it's done, so everything is in the fridge or freezer within 2 hours of cooking.
• Label the freezer containers with the dish and the day you'll eat it.

One grocery list for the week

Here is everything for one person and 10 meals, added up across the five recipes; the weights are the ones behind the estimated values above. One 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes covers recipes 3, 4 and 5, and one pound of ground turkey covers recipes 3 and 4.

How we calculated the macros

We set a raw weight in grams for every ingredient (beans drained, pasta dry) and multiplied each weight by its value per 100 g in USDA FoodData Central, the US Department of Agriculture's food composition database, using its SR Legacy data as the site showed it on October 15, 2026. We added up each batch, divided it by two and rounded each serving. A few choices to know about:

• Calories are the sum of USDA's own energy values, ingredient by ingredient. They are not recomputed at 4, 4 and 9 calories per gram of protein, carbs and fat, so if you do that sum from the rounded figures above you land 4 to 28 calories higher depending on the recipe: 512 instead of 508 for the Greek chicken, 519 instead of 491 for the chili, estimated either way.
• Carbs are USDA's carbohydrate by difference, so they include fiber.
• Cans: we used USDA's weight for one drained can, 277 g of pinto beans, 266 g of red kidney beans and 253 g of chickpeas. Yours may differ by a few grams depending on the brand.
• Counted: oil, spices, lemon juice, the yogurt and the salsa. Not counted: salt, pepper and the water added to the chili and the curry.
• Splitting: cooked food weighs less than raw, because water evaporates, so never divide by the raw weight. Weigh the finished pot or tray, minus the weight of the empty pan, and put half in each container.
• Protein share: protein grams times 4, divided by the serving's calories. That gives 28% for the meatballs and 39% for the Greek chicken and the curry, estimated.

Kitchen measures (a medium onion, a tablespoon of oil, a drained can) are based on the gram weights USDA gives for each food, rounded. Your own ingredients, brands and portions will differ a little, which is why every figure on this page is an estimate.

If you're trying to lose weight

Meal prep is a way of organizing your week, not a method in itself. MedlinePlus, the health site of the US National Library of Medicine, sums up the principle:

To lose weight, you need to take in fewer calories than you use up.

That gap is what people call a calorie deficit. Its size depends on each person: talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian. MedlinePlus also advises checking with your health care provider before starting a weight-loss plan.

What these recipes give you is a known starting point. If your targets call for a little more or a little less, adjust one ingredient and keep the dish:

If you change a recipe, weigh the new batch and redo the math the same way, so the numbers for each serving stay honest.

Let an app do the math

Doing this by hand takes a kitchen scale, a food database and a spreadsheet. MacroRecipe plans your week of menus around your macros and the goal you choose, with the grocery list. It works from the dishes you pick, with ingredient data from USDA and CIQUAL (ANSES), sizing portions so each day lands near your estimated calorie and protein targets. Swap a dish and the portions and the list follow, with quantities added up across recipes.

MacroRecipe runs on iPhone only. You can preview your first menu, then there is a 3-day trial if you are eligible, after which it is a paid subscription.

If you would rather compare planners first, our guide to Eat This Much alternatives looks at apps that build meal plans from calorie and macro targets, and our MacroFactor guide is for people who track macros and would rather cook from a plan.

Frequently asked questions