Delicious Make-Ahead Meals that Aren’t Chicken and Rice

Love the idea of delicious make-ahead meals but hate the thought of yet another chicken and rice dinner? You’re in luck. Making your food ahead of time is not entirely reliant on those two ingredients. There are lots of ways for you to expand your menu and still prepare it all well in advance.

#3 Delicious Make-Ahead Meals - Salad

Did you just wince at the thought of withered salad that has been sitting, wilting in your fridge overnight? Fear not, it doesn’t need to be that way! The trick to making salads ahead of time is in knowing how to store them. In this effort, your salad spinner can easily become your best friend.

Rinse off the leaves you’re planning to use (torn, if necessary) and give them a good spin in your salad spinner. Next, leave the excess water in the bowl of the spinner, keep the lid on and pop the whole thing into the fridge. Suddenly, it’s the best container you’ve ever had for delicious make-ahead meals. It will keep your lettuce crisp and ready to go.

Separately, store your other veggie toppings, already cut up. You can even shred some chicken and store that in a container. If you love shredded cheese or cheese cubes on your salad, there’s another container for that. By keeping everything prepared but separate, you can combine them at the last moment and everything in these delicious make-ahead meals will be as you want them to be.

#2 Delicious Make-Ahead Meals - Chili

Have you ever had a bowl of your chili as leftovers? It’s better than the day you originally made it, right? That’s what makes it one of the most delicious make-ahead meals. Fire up your slow cooker and make a gigantic batch of your best chili recipe. Once it’s ready, portion it out. Some can go in the freezer for any day within the next couple of months that you’d like a no-effort heat-up meal. The rest can be stored for the next day or the day after in the fridge.

#3 Delicious Make-Ahead Meals – Overnight Oats

Not all delicious make-ahead meals are for dinner. This breakfast technique lets you make your oats the night before. This frees up your morning so that all you need to do is eat. Add whatever you want to your oats, from chia seeds for new texture, fiber and protein, to berries and cinnamon for a more dessert-like flavor!