Name: Beef Meal Prep Bowls
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 600 g beef sirloin, sliced into thin strips; 4 tbsp soy sauce; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 300 g brown rice, uncooked; 500 g sweet potatoes, cut into 2 cm cubes; 400 g broccoli florets; 1 tsp salt; 1 tbsp honey; 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Beef Meal Prep Bowls

Seasoned beef strips with brown rice, roasted broccoli and sweet potato, portioned into four containers for lunches that keep for 4 days.

45 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

What Makes Beef Meal Prep Bowls Work

Plan the week on a Sunday. That is the whole logic of a meal prep bowl: one session of cooking, four lunches in boxes, and a fridge that does the rest. This version uses beef, rice and two vegetables, so that each box has protein, carbohydrate and something green.

Cook everything so that it still tastes good on day four. Beef strips seared in a very hot pan and tossed in soy, garlic and ginger stay tender when cold, as long as they are not overcooked. Roast the sweet potato and broccoli on one tray at 220°C / 430°F, which takes 25 minutes, and they keep their texture better than steamed vegetables, which turn watery in a box.

Cool everything before packing. Hot food sealed in a lid creates steam, which drips back down and makes the rice mushy and the vegetables limp. Spread the rice on a tray for 10 minutes, then divide. Leave the sauce separate if you can, in a small pot, and add it just before eating.

Keep the boxes in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes, stirring halfway, or eat cold with the sauce poured over.

Making Beef Meal Prep Bowls

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Heat the oven to 220°C / 430°F. Cook the rice in boiling water for 25 minutes, drain and spread on a tray to cool.
While the rice cooks, toss the sweet potato and broccoli with 1 tbsp of the oil and the salt on a large tray and roast for 25 minutes.
Toss the beef with 2 tbsp of the soy sauce, the garlic and ginger. Heat the remaining oil in a very hot pan and sear the beef in 2 batches for 2 minutes each.
Mix the remaining soy sauce with the honey and stir into the beef for 30 seconds.
Divide the rice, vegetables and beef between 4 containers, scatter with the sesame seeds, cool and seal.

Small Things That Help

Cool everything before putting on the lids.
Roast the vegetables rather than steaming them.
Keep sauce separate if possible.

Ingredient Swaps

If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What Goes With Beef Meal Prep Bowls

Chilli sauce
Pickled cucumber
Fresh fruit
Boiled egg

Storing & Reheating Beef Meal Prep Bowls

Keeps for 4 days in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes.