12.23 pm in the open-plan office. The first stomachs are growling, someone is already opening the delivery app, others are discussing whether the bakery round the corner will have a long queue again today. One person gets up, takes a prepared box from the fridge and sits down in the sun with the food before the lunch team has even set off.
What looks like perfect organisation is actually a smart principle: Meal Prep. Instead of spontaneously looking for a quick solution every day, meals are prepared once and ensure healthy, cost-efficient and stress-free lunch breaks during the working day.
Do you want to 'meal prep' too, but need ideas beyond the simple sandwich?
Here are the best hacks, practical tips and three simple recipes for the perfect meal-prep start.
Meal Prep stands for "Meal Preparation", i.e. the targeted preparation of meals for several days. Ingredients are planned once, purchased and prepared in just a few steps into ready-made or almost ready-made dishes. This saves time during the working day, reduces stress during the lunch break - and is usually much cheaper than daily snacks from the bakery or spontaneous delivery orders.
The difference to the classic sandwich lies in the concept: instead of a quick emergency solution, Meal Prep focuses on balanced, varied meals with vegetables, proteins and complex carbohydrates. This creates a lunch break with little effort that not only fills you up, but also provides energy for the rest of the working day.
Meal prep doesn't fit into every working day - for example, when a long meeting or workshop is coming up. For such cases, Office Club offers nationwide flexibly bookable conference rooms. With catering for meetings and events on request, so that teams can concentrate fully on content and exchange.
What ends up on your plate at lunchtime has a direct impact on concentration, energy levels and performance.
A study by the Harvard Business Review shows that employees with healthy eating habits work up to 25 per cent more productively on average than colleagues with unbalanced eating habits.
Conversely Employees with predominantly unhealthy eating habits are up to 66 per cent more likely to report a loss of productivity in their day-to-day work. At the same time, a YouGov study commissioned by Sodexo Germany confirms confirms that over 80 per cent of employees directly associate healthy meals with better concentration.
In short: eating a balanced lunch keeps energy levels and focus more stable. This is exactly where Meal Prep comes into its own. Prepared meals help you to make healthy decisions even on hectic working days.
Meal prep in everyday life: no kitchen should be without these basics
If you want to start with Meal Prep, you don't need a professional kitchen. A few practical basics are all you need:
- Meal prep boxes or glass containers - ideal for portioning, transporting and storing in the fridge
Professional tip: Quality pays off here: it's better to use tightly sealed boxes than a rinsed ice pack. Nothing is more annoying than leaking dressing in your bag.
- Kitchen scales or portioning aids - help to prepare balanced meals and plan quantities better
- Blender or hand blender - perfect for dips, dressings, smoothies or overnight oats
- Large pan or pot - ideal for several portions at the same time
- Weekly plan & shopping list - bring structure to planning and shopping
With this small set of basic equipment, meal prep quickly becomes a routine.
