One hour on Sunday afternoon changes the entire week. This meal prep guide is specifically designed for new parents — it prioritises fast wins, minimal washing up, and maximum payoff for a short time investment.
What to Accomplish in One Hour
Realistic targets for a one-hour session with a potentially unsettled baby nearby: 5 overnight oat jars, a batch of hard-boiled eggs, one cooked grain (rice or quinoa), washed and prepped salad leaves, one protein component (batch chicken or lentils), and one or two snack batches (energy balls or granola bars). This covers breakfasts and lunches for the week and provides components for easy dinners.
The Sunday Setup Routine
0:00 — Start the oven and put on rice
Oven to 200°C. Put 300g rice or quinoa in a pot with water. This runs passively.
0:05 — Boil eggs
6 eggs into boiling water for 9 minutes. Set timer and forget.
0:10 — Prep overnight oat jars
5 minutes to measure and fill 5 jars. Set in the fridge.
0:15 — Season and put chicken in the oven
6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, olive oil, salt (for adult meals), herbs. Oven 35 minutes.
0:20 — Make energy balls
Mix oats, peanut butter, honey, chocolate chips. Roll 20 balls. Fridge.
0:30 — Drain and dress rice/quinoa
Drain, add olive oil to prevent clumping. Store in a container.
0:35 — Peel and store eggs
Cool eggs briefly, peel, store in a container in the fridge.
0:40 — Check and remove chicken
Rest 10 minutes, cool, then fridge in the tin.
0:50 — Wash and prep vegetables
Wash salad, chop any vegetables needed for the week. Store in containers with paper towels.
1:00 — Done
You have: 5 breakfasts, hard-boiled eggs for snacks and lunches, cooked grain for dinners, batch chicken for 3 meals, prepped vegetables, and 20 energy balls.
Using Your Prep Through the Week
- Monday: overnight oats breakfast, egg and salad lunch, chicken over rice dinner
- Tuesday: overnight oats, hummus and veggie wrap (prepped vegetables), pasta with leftover chicken
- Wednesday: overnight oats, chicken and grain bowl, soup from carton with leftover rice added
- Thursday: overnight oats, sardines on toast, fried rice with eggs and prepped veg
- Friday: overnight oats, leftover anything, takeaway (you’ve been good all week)
The principle behind batch cooking for new parents
Batch cooking works for new parents specifically because it decouples preparation time from eating time. The exhausted version of you at 7pm on Wednesday doesn’t need to cook — the slightly less exhausted version from Sunday afternoon already did it. The psychological barrier to this is often the feeling that a one-hour Sunday slot is unavailable, but the maths is compelling: one hour of prep eliminates approximately 5–7 hours of weeknight cooking decisions across the week.
Storage containers matter more than most people anticipate. Wide-mouth glass jars (oats, soups, sauces) and stackable food-safe containers (rice, chicken, roasted vegetables) make the difference between a fridge full of accessible food and a fridge full of food you can’t quickly identify or access. Labelling with masking tape and a marker takes 30 seconds per item and eliminates the ‘what is this?’ problem entirely. Invest in 4–6 good quality containers before establishing a batch cooking habit — the difference in usability is significant.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if the baby won’t let me cook for a whole hour?
Use the carrier (baby-wearing while you prep is very manageable), prep during a nap, divide the session in half across the day, or ask a visiting family member to hold the baby for an hour. Even 30 minutes of prep significantly improves the week.
What containers do I need?
5–6 mason jars (overnight oats and energy balls), 3–4 large airtight containers (rice, chicken, vegetables), and a zip-lock bag for the remaining chicken pieces. Total investment: under £20 at IKEA or a supermarket.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we genuinely use.
Related Reading
- Freezer meals before baby arrives: 15 make-ahead recipes
- 30 one-handed meals for new mums (ready in under 20 minutes)
Found this helpful? Sign up to the LylyMama newsletter for more recipes, weaning guides, and honest parenting content every week.
