Mediterranean meal prep: week 1

What actually matters, in order.

1. 01

   Sunday prep, 60 minutes, whole week sorted

   This is the move. One hour on Sunday afternoon, and the weekday cooking turns into assembly. My Sunday goes: roast vegetables, cook grains, marinate chicken, make one dressing. Timer starts at 3pm, done by 4.

2. 02

   The sheet-pan vegetables, once, eats all week

   Two sheet pans at 425°F. Pan 1: broccoli, cauliflower, red onion, olive oil, salt. Pan 2: sweet potato, zucchini, bell pepper. Twenty-five minutes, rotate at 15. These become side dishes, grain bowl components, and leftovers lunch.

3. 03

   Cook the grains in batch, farro, quinoa, or brown rice

   Two cups dry, cooked in broth (Kettle & Fire or Imagine), salted. Stored in a glass container, lasts 5 days in the fridge. Farro is the Mediterranean default; quinoa bumps the protein.

4. 04

   Make the Greek-lemon marinade, use it three ways

   Half a cup olive oil, juice of two lemons, 4 cloves garlic grated, 2 tablespoons oregano, salt. Use it to marinate chicken thighs Monday night (Greek lemon chicken recipe), dress the grain bowls Wednesday, drizzle over Friday's cod.

5. 05

   One dressing covers every salad

   Lemon-tahini or red wine vinaigrette. In a mason jar, shaken. Holds a week in the fridge. Dressing prep is the sneaky reason salads collapse, if yours is made, salad is a 3-minute side.

6. 06

   Monday night: Greek lemon chicken + grains + sheet-pan vegetables

   Marinated chicken thighs, 6 minutes a side in a cast iron (Lodge is fine). 40 minutes, 4 servings, 36g protein. Leftovers become Tuesday and Wednesday's lunch.

7. 07

   Tuesday: grain bowl lunch, white bean soup dinner

   Lunch: Monday's leftover chicken, grains, sheet-pan vegetables, feta, dressing. Dinner: white bean and kale soup (30 min, Dutch oven, crusty bread). Soup makes 6 servings, covers Thursday lunch.

8. 08

   Wednesday: Mediterranean grain bowl, cold or warm

   Grains, chickpeas from a can (Jovial or Bush's), roasted vegetables, cucumber, olives, feta, dressing. Ten minutes assembly. 22g protein cold, 35g if you add another protein.

9. 09

   Thursday: sardine pasta, 20 minutes, under 500 calories

   Jovial chickpea pasta, one tin Wild Planet sardines, garlic, chili flakes, lemon zest, breadcrumbs. This is a weeknight Alison-Roman-ish move. Under 20 minutes. 32g protein. Nobody at my table objects.

10. 10

    Friday: sheet-pan Greek cod

    Cod fillets, lemon, olive oil, oregano, cherry tomatoes, olives, sheet pan at 400°F, 12 minutes. Serve with whatever roasted vegetables are left from Sunday's batch. End-of-week clean-out dinner.

11. 11

    Weekend: shakshuka, bigger breakfast

    Saturday or Sunday breakfast. Rao's marinara (the shortcut, theirs is legit good), cumin, paprika, eggs cracked in, covered till the whites set. Feta, parsley, crusty bread. 10-inch skillet.

12. 12

    Shopping list by section, $95-125 for two adults

    Protein ~$45 (chicken thighs, cod, sardines, feta). Produce ~$30 (greens, tomatoes, cucumber, lemons, herbs). Pantry ~$25 (grains, canned beans, pasta, olive oil top-up). Dairy ~$15 (feta, Greek yogurt). Costco trims this to about $95; regular grocery runs closer to $125.

The questions cooks bring us.

What if I don't want to do the full Sunday prep?

The 30-minute version: just roast two sheet pans of vegetables and cook one pot of grains. That alone covers three of the five weekday lunches. Skip the pre-made marinade and dressing, and make them fresh as you go. You'll spend 10 more minutes on weeknights but it's still a workable system.

Is this actually Mediterranean or just 'Mediterranean-inspired'?

It's Mediterranean in the scientific-pattern sense, olive oil, legumes, fish, whole grains, vegetables at every meal, moderate dairy, limited red meat. It's not regionally authentic Greek or Italian cooking. If you want regional depth, Yasmin Khan's Zaitoun and Diane Kochilas are my bookshelf picks.

Can I do this if I don't eat fish?

Yes. Swap Thursday's sardine pasta for a white bean and tomato pasta (same bones of the recipe, no sardines). Swap Friday's cod for sheet-pan chicken with the same vegetables. You'll lose the omega-3 contribution, plan for walnuts and flax on other days to partially cover it.

How much does this actually cost?

Two adults, full week, all meals: $95-125 depending on where you shop. Costco trims protein and olive oil by 20-30%. Trader Joe's is solid middle ground. Whole Foods runs high. Date sensitive, prices here reflect mid-2026 US averages.

What's the macro total for the week?

Roughly: 1,600-1,900 calories/day per person, 90-110g protein/day, 35-45g fiber/day, sodium in the 2,000-2,400mg range (controllable by how much feta and olives you finish with). Full Nutrition Ledger per recipe is on each recipe page.

Can I scale this to a family of four?

Yes, roughly 1.5x everything; not 2x, because kids tend to eat less than adult men. The grain bowl lunches scale linearly. The sardine pasta is the outlier, kids are picky about sardines. That's the night to make regular pesto pasta for them and sardine pasta for the adults.

Where's the dessert?

Mediterranean pattern treats dessert as a sometimes food, fruit, a small piece of dark chocolate, a yogurt with honey. The cottage cheese ice cream recipe fits perfectly; two of those bars a week are in my household's rotation.

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