7 easy Mediterranean-diet meals I batch-cook

I've followed the Mediterranean diet for more than five years and meal prep to save time and money. The way of eating emphasizes unprocessed foods and healthy fats, with vegetables, seafood, whole grains, and beans featuring regularly. I cook larger batches and freeze portions to eat through the week.

My go-to make-ahead dishes include chicken meatballs—ground chicken with red onion, egg, breadcrumbs, olive oil and herbs, cooked in the air fryer—and stuffed peppers filled with ground turkey, onions, canned tomatoes, garlic, tomato purée, chicken stock and herbs, baked and frozen for later.

For colder days I simmer a big beef stew: browned beef with onion, rosemary, garlic, red wine, beef stock, chopped tomatoes and jarred grilled peppers, finished with butterbeans, olives and a cornstarch slurry to thicken. I also make fishcakes from tilapia, leeks, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon and cumin, and a one-pan chicken traybake with potatoes, onions, lemons, capers, jarred peppers, sundried tomatoes and roasted chicken thighs.

mediterranean diet, meal prep, batch cooking, chicken meatballs, stuffed peppers, beef stew, fishcakes, chicken traybake, olive oil, tilapia