32 Easy Meal Prep Ideas for Nurses & Doctors

The healthcare industry is notorious for brutal hours. Residents working 80+ hours a week.  Nurses working 12 hour shifts. Surgeons being stuck in the OR for hours on end. 

You’re often running from room to room with little time to pause to eat. You’re probably lucky to get 20 minutes uninterrupted to eat. 

That’s why I came up with this list of easy meal prep ideas for nurses and doctors. 

I want to help you get the food you need to press through those long shifts and weeks. 

Why Should Healthcare Professionals Meal Prep? 

For one, the long hours and demanding workloads caused many doctors, nurses, and public health workers to adopt bad diets. 

One of the biggest issues is lack of time. Workers hardly have time to eat while they’re at work and then when they get home, the last thing they want to do is cook a full meal. 

Nurse practitioner and mom of seven Tara W. shared that before shifting to a remote telehealth practice to free up her schedule, her work at rural clinics often took away from the time she spent with her family.

What Foods Should Healthcare Workers Meal Prep? 

Healthcare workers who need to press through long shifts should try to avoid meals that are high in fats or super high in carbs. The key is to load up on protein and veggies to get the nutrients you need and then to eat snacks like nuts or bars throughout your shift to keep you going.

You don’t want to eat a big meal and then crash after. You should eat a balanced meal: high in protein and moderate in carbs or fats. 

The key is to meal prep foods that are easy to reheat and that you can eat on the go if you can. 

32 Meal Prep Ideas for Nurses, Doctors, Surgeons

1. Slow Cooker Chipotle Bean Chili (vegan)

This delicious Slow Cooked Chipotle Bean Chili is easy to make and costs only $1.61 per serving. All you need is a slow cooker, a handful of ingredients and 5 minutes to prep. It’s high in protein and low in calories, vegan and great for batch cooking. 

This is one of my favorite vegan meal prep ideas!

2. Healthy Air Fryer Turkey Burger (low-calories)

These healthy air fryer burgers are perfect for a cheap meal plan. They’re super lean, containing just 3 grams of fat and net carbs while having a whopping 28 grams of protein. They take just 5 minutes to prep, making them a super quick, easy recipe to add. Plus, they’re delicious!

3. Quinoa and Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables (packed with veggies)

This super healthy quinoa and roasted vegetables is as close as it gets to super food! It’s packed with complex carbs, fibre, healthy fats, whole proteins and vegetables whilst being low in saturated fats.

This is one of my favorite recipes when I am looking to give myself a health kick! Plus it’s so affordable, each portion costs less than $2 per serving.

4. Slow Cooker Carnitas and Rice (less than $1 per serving)

This is one of my go-to recipes made by yours truly! These slow cooker carnitas are amazing and when you pair them with some loaded up mexican rice–it makes for some incredibly cheap meals. I’m talking less than $1 per serving. This is also one of the best meal prep ideas for college kids. 

5. Grilled Italian Sausage Wraps

Sausage wraps were a staple in my house growing up. My dad would fire up the grill and 15 minutes later I’d be chowing down. This recipe definitely dresses them up a bit more but the mix of garlic, cheese, and tomatoes definitely take this to the next level. These sausage wraps are one of my favorite meal prep ideas for nurses!

6. Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep Sandwiches

Easy healthy breakfast meal prep sandwiches made with baked eggs and veggies, topped with crispy bacon and cheese on an English muffin. These sandwiches are delicious, packed with protein, and convenient! This one only takes 20 minutes to prep!

7. Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Legend says the mysterious jambalaya hails from the French Quarter of New Orleans. At its heart is sofrito — a mixture of celery, green pepper, and onion that offers complex flavors. With a slow cooker, you can simply add the protein you want and let the concoction simmer throughout your day off. You’ll then have a large batch of Cajun goodness you can consume the entire week!

8. Chicken and Sausage Meal Prep Bowls

Chicken sausage meal prep bowls are an excellent sheet tray recipe for meal prep! With minimal prep, these chicken sausage, brussels sprouts and sweet potato bowls can be a quick and easy hot lunch meal prep for the whole week on a few sheet trays in the oven.

 This one only takes 15 minutes to prep!

9. Spicy Rainbow Salad

This salad is perfect if you’re anxious about eating the same meal repeatedly. The veggies this recipe requires can all keep well in the fridge for several days — and it tastes great with no-fuss protein like nuts. All you need to do is throw everything in a Mason jar and shake it out at lunch! You can try this method with other salad recipes, too.

10. Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Much like salads, pasta is versatile and easy to prep. You can cook a large batch and eat it through the week by topping it with various sauces. This red pepper pasta sauce is a must-try: it only requires 6 ingredients, all of which are nutritious and have a long shelf life. The best part is that it’s vegetarian — but it gives you room to add meat, as well. This pasta is one of my favorite lunch ideas for nurses.

Meal prepping pasta is one of the easiest things to make a big batch of! 

11. Oatmeal-Banana Balls

Instead of grabbing no-effort, sugary confections from your ward’s vending machine, try these homemade grab-and-go snacks instead. Oatmeal-banana balls are arguably the easiest healthy snack in the world to make. You quite literally need just oatmeal, bananas — and, of course, some chocolate chips to sate your sweet tooth. After a mere 20-minute bake, you’ll have multiple weeks’ worth of work snacks. These oatmeal balls are the perfect meal prep idea for nurses because you can quickly eat 1-2 in between patients.

12. High-Protein Overnight Oats

Breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day when it comes to energizing yourself before your shift. You can do this quickly and effectively with overnight oats. These can stay in the fridge for a maximum of 5 days, so you can easily prep them in large batches. One nutritionist-backed strategy is to add either protein powder or high-protein foods like blackberries and almonds into the mix.

13. Basil Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner

You can prep these ingredients in under 5 minutes, cook them in 30, and end up with a wonderfully-flavorful meal helped along by a mix of asparagus, baby potatoes, a winning tomato-basil sauce — and organic chicken, of course. It makes this recipe perfect for busy nights when you have just enough time to cook something fresh.

14. Leftover Chicken Fried Rice

If you feel like your schedule won’t allow you to be perfectly consistent with meal prep, this chicken fried rice recipe is your friend. It’s perfect for utilizing leftovers from your previous weeks of meal prep. Leftover rice also makes the best fried rice — so simply mixing everything together in a pan with some eggs and garnishes will reward you with a deliciously nutritious last-minute meal.

15. French Dip Sandwiches

Ditch the tuna-and-mayonnaise sandwiches — you can make these with just as much effort. With some hoagie rolls, Swiss cheese, and slow-cooked chuck roast, you can easily prepare large numbers of top-notch French dip sandwiches on your day off. You can also choose to take some beef consomme to work to dip your sandwiches in — it’s an optional step, but it’ll make all the difference.

16. Whipped Feta Dip

Fans of savory will love this easy no-cook recipe that can be done in 10 minutes or less. Simply chuck some feta cheese, cream cheese, and seasonings into a food processor and whirr away. Top it with some parsley and bring it to work along with some crackers for some serious snacking sessions at the ward. This dip keeps easily, too, so you can make large batches to last you for days.

17. Chicken And Slaw Wrap

Wrapping up this list (no pun intended) is this chicken and slaw recipe that’s easy to both prep and eat on the go. All you need are some broccoli, carrots, spinach, and chicken in a toasted tortilla wrap. What you get is a full meal that’s also fresh, nutritious, and almost criminally tasty. It might give you ideas on what other things you can put in a wrap, as well. This is one of my favorite meal prep ideas for nurses because it’s easy to eat on the go.

18. 4-Ingredient Keto Coconut Chicken Curry

This one comes from one of my favorite food bloggers out there, FitMenCook. With only 4 ingredients, it is one of my favorite, cheap meal prep recipes for novices in the kitchen. Loaded with flavor, this chicken curry is a great high-protein option.

The best part is, this recipe only takes about 20 minutes start to finish, so you can pull it off when you’re in a hurry! For those who are low-carb or keto dieting, this chicken is a great staple to put on a salad or in a veggie wrap. 

This recipe is one of my favorite Indian meal prep ideas!

19. Healthy Roasted Chicken and Veggies

Want to know how to meal prep a week’s worth of food in an hour? Sheet pans. Load up a baking pan with chicken, different veggies, drizzle some olive oil, and season it all to your preference. The Italian seasoned broccoli, red onion, and cherry tomatoes go great with the chicken and pair well over rice or quinoa. The next four are all sheet-pan, easy meal prep recipes you can prep in 30 minutes or less!

20. Sheet Pan Roasted Cilantro Lime Chicken

One of my secrets to meal prepping is cooking a main dish of protein that can be dressed up and served a number of ways. This cilantro lime chicken is just as good in tacos as it is over a salad. Or you stuff them in a burrito or layer it on a bed of rice. Have kids? Make them some delicious, protein-filled quesadillas.

21. Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

Even though I’ve always been a huge fan of slow cookers, I’ve only just started using them to make soups and chili! It takes 6-8 hours to cook, but will give you 6+ servings. Put this on right before you go to bed, wake up, and pack your lunch!

22. Healthier 20 Minute Sesame Chicken

What I love about asian dishes is how easy they are to make and how they stay good for several days! This healthy take on sesame chicken is lighter on the brown sugar and honey but still heavy with flavor. I wish it had some veggies tossed in, but get creative and add them yourselves! Red bell pepper, snap peas, and broccoli would be great to add.

23. Slow Cooker Peanut Butter Oatmeal

I have an unhealthy obsessions with peanut butter so this recipe totally caught my eye when I saw it. This slow cooker oatmeal takes about 7-8 hours so you can put it on right before you go to bed or before you leave for work in the morning! You’ll have breakfast ready to eat. This is one of my favorite breakfast meal prep ideas!

24. Rockin’ 5 Ingredient Sweet Potato Turkey Chili Recipe

This recipe comes from my wife! Last fall she I came home to the amazing smell of this sweet potato turkey chili! I’ve asked her to make it several times since then because it is so good! Healthy and with only 5 ingredients + spices, it’s so easy to make. If you’re a fan of chili, you will love this one.

25. One Pan Healthy Italian Sausage and Veggies

If you haven’t caught on yet, but of my favorite recipes are some form of meat & veggies. I generally try to avoid carbs, but sometimes it’s hard to eat on a budget this way. This recipe of turkey sausage and veggies is amazing! Super healthy, super easy, and a budget friendly meal you can cook over and over. 

Sheet pan meal prep is one of the best ways to make a bunch of food quickly. 

26. Crockpot Chicken and Rice

There is no doubt that chicken and rice were made for each other. This is well-known, as it’s one of the most popular dishes around the globe. This crockpot chicken and rice dish can be cooked in a single pot. Just add chicken and veggies first, then when the dish is close to finished, add the rice. Chicken and rice is so customizable, you can add any fresh vegetables your family prefers, or use whatever you have on hand. Use seasonal veggies to make it even more affordable! 

27. Crockpot Honey Garlic Chicken

Crockpot honey garlic chicken is super easy to prepare, and so delicious. Just toss the ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning and by the time you return from work this shredded chicken dish will be ready to serve. You can serve it with rice and a side of steamed veggies for a complete meal, or serve it on a bun with a side of coleslaw for a little lighter meal.

This recipe is on my list of my favorite cheap crockpot recipes!

28. Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

This Chinese food favorite makes for a cheap crockpot meal, and tastes just as good as you’d get in a Chinese restaurant. This easy to make dinner calls for steak and a handful of other ingredients you likely have on hand, making cooking a breeze. 

Read more: How to meal prep steak

Tip: Did you know you can actually make rice in the slow cooker and freeze it so that you always have some on hand?

This is one of my favorite Asian meal prep ideas!

29. Fajita Meal Prep Bowls

Easy to prepare and easy to reheat, this recipe always a good idea. And who doesn’t love Mexican food? I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t.

These bows are great on the go or to eat at home. Plus, with tons of optional toppings, they are completely customizable.

This recipe is one of my favorite Mexican meal prep ideas!

30. BBQ Chicken & Roasted Sweet Potato Bowls

If anything on this list is synonymous with summer, it’s these bowls right here. They look seriously tasty, but at 447 calories per serving, this is still some healthy meal prep!

With lots of lean protein and greens, this dish will fill you up without feeling guilty.

31. Buffalo Turkey Meatballs with Easy Meal Prep Bowls

Honestly, buffalo sauce is one of my favorite toppings. I think it’s the vinegar base that I love, but it makes everything better in my humble opinion.

Spaghetti squash, lettuce, and turkey make this a healthy prep recipe that’s as healthy as it is delicious! This is one of my favorite meal prep ideas for nurses. 

This recipe is one of my favorite ground turkey meal prep ideas!

32. Chipotle Lime Shrimp Bowls

So much goodness in just one bowl! Chipotle, lime, and shrimp gives this a sort of southwest feel that’s too good to pass up. And they’re protein-packed with lots of healthy fats, so you definitely won’t go hungry with this one.

This recipe is one of my favorite pescatarian meal prep ideas!

Summary: Meal Prepping For Nurses

There’s no doubt that healthcare is a challenging career. Yet as healthcare professionals oversee patients, are they taking care of their own well-being? 

This list provides some tasty and easy meal prep ideas for nurses that they can easily try despite their own busy schedules.

The healthcare profession upholds caring for others above all else — but that doesn’t mean you have to neglect yourself in the process. These easy meal prep ideas deliver on the taste and nutrition you need to do your life-changing work to the best of your abilities.