Meal prep sounds great in theory.
Cook everything on Sunday. Portion it out. Open the refrigerator during the week and dinner is basically done.
Easy.
Until Wednesday rolls around and you’re staring at your fourth container of the exact same chicken, rice, and vegetables wondering why you ever thought this was a good idea.
The problem usually isn’t meal prep itself.
It’s that we tend to meal prep one flavor for the entire week.
And there’s a much easier way to do it.
The Secret: Cook Once, Season Three Ways
One of our favorite meal-prep strategies is incredibly simple:
Prep your basic ingredients in bulk, then divide them into different flavor profiles.
Instead of cooking five identical pounds of seasoned chicken, cook or portion your chicken and use two or three different seasoning blends.
Same protein.
Same prep session.
Completely different meals.
For example:
Chicken #1: sweet and smoky
Chicken #2: taco-inspired
Chicken #3: savory and garlicky
Suddenly Monday, Wednesday, and Friday don't feel like you're eating leftovers from the same meal.
And you haven't really added much extra work.
What Makes a Good Meal-Prep Seasoning?
For meal prep, we look for a few things.
A good seasoning should:
- Taste great on reheated food
- Work with several different proteins or vegetables
- Be easy to use without measuring six separate spices
- Give simple ingredients enough flavor that you actually want to eat them again
- Pair easily with different sauces, sides, and toppings
Versatility matters.
If a seasoning only works with one specific recipe, it might be delicious—but it probably isn't the shaker you'll reach for every Sunday during meal prep.
Best Perry Spices for Chicken Meal Prep
Chicken is probably one of the most common meal-prep proteins.
It's lean, versatile, easy to cook in bulk...
...and incredibly easy to make boring. 😂
Here are a few ways we'd change it up. (Want even more ideas? See our guide to the best Perry Spices for chicken.)
Honey Chipotle Charm
If you want something sweet, smoky, and savory, start here.
Despite the name, Honey Chipotle Charm isn't designed to be a hot seasoning. It gives chicken a flavorful sweet-and-smoky profile without turning your meal prep into a spice challenge.
Try it with:
- Chicken and roasted sweet potatoes
- Chicken rice bowls
- Grilled chicken salads
- Chicken with roasted vegetables
- Salmon or shrimp meal prep
Add a little avocado, fresh vegetables, or your favorite sauce and you've got an entirely different meal from traditional seasoned chicken.
Chicken Kick
Sometimes you don't need a complicated flavor profile.
You just want chicken to taste really good.
Chicken Kick works especially well for straightforward meal prep because you can pair the seasoned protein with practically anything:
- Rice
- Potatoes
- Vegetables
- Salads
- Wraps
- Pasta
This is the kind of blend we'd use when we want the protein flavorful without locking the entire meal into one cuisine.
Taco Time
Turn that same chicken into taco bowls.
Pair it with:
- Rice
- Black beans
- Corn
- Peppers
- Lettuce
- Salsa
- Pico de gallo
- Avocado
- Greek yogurt or sour cream
You can also use Taco Time on ground turkey, lean beef, fish, shrimp, vegetables, and even corn.
One shaker can change the direction of an entire week's meal prep.
Best Seasonings for Ground Beef or Turkey
Ground meats are another meal-prep staple because they're quick and easy to portion.
But again, there's no rule saying the entire batch needs to taste identical.
Taco Time
An obvious choice—but for good reason.
Use it for:
- Taco bowls
- Burrito bowls
- Taco salads
- Stuffed peppers
- Nacho-style meal prep
- Breakfast scrambles
Backyard BBQ
Want something completely different from taco flavor?
Go barbecue.
Season your ground beef or turkey and pair it with potatoes, rice, roasted vegetables, corn, or slaw.
You can take two identical packages of ground turkey and turn one into taco bowls and one into barbecue bowls without adding another major prep step.
Daily Drip
For a simple savory option, an SPG-style blend is extremely useful.
Think:
- Burgers
- Ground beef bowls
- Steak bites
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Potatoes
- Vegetables
It's the kind of seasoning that works when you don't necessarily want the meal to scream one particular cuisine.
Don't Forget the Vegetables
Meal prep vegetables sometimes get treated like an obligation.
Steam broccoli.
Put broccoli in container.
Repeat indefinitely.
We can do better. 😂
Season vegetables before roasting or air frying them.
Try different flavors across the week:
Daily Drip: potatoes, green beans, zucchini, broccoli
Backyard BBQ: potatoes, corn, Brussels sprouts
Taco Time: peppers, onions, zucchini, corn
Pizza Spice: zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, roasted vegetables
Even if your protein stays the same, changing the vegetables and seasoning profile can make the finished meal feel completely different.
Use One Base Carb in Different Ways
You don't necessarily have to cook three different carbohydrates either.
Take rice, for example.
One basic batch can become:
Taco bowl: rice + Taco Time chicken + corn + salsa
Sweet-smoky bowl: rice + Honey Chipotle Charm chicken + roasted vegetables
Savory bowl: rice + Chicken Kick chicken + broccoli
Same prep session.
Three different meals.
That's the goal.
Should You Season Everything Before Cooking?
It depends on how you're preparing the food.
If you're grilling, roasting, baking, or air frying your protein, seasoning beforehand usually gives you the best flavor.
But there's another strategy that works really well for meal prep:
Portion First, Then Season
Say you're preparing three pounds of chicken.
Instead of seasoning all three pounds the same way:
- Divide the chicken into three portions.
- Season each portion differently.
- Cook them during the same prep session.
- Pair each flavor with slightly different sides or toppings.
You've barely added any work—but you've dramatically increased the variety.
Not sure how much to use on each portion? Here's our guide to how much seasoning to use per pound of meat.
Sauces and Toppings Are Your Friend Too
Seasoning is only one part of keeping meal prep interesting.
Use toppings strategically.
The same seasoned protein can change depending on what you add:
- Salsa
- Avocado
- Fresh lime
- Greek yogurt
- Hot sauce
- Pickled onions
- Fresh herbs
- Cheese
- Slaw
- Chimichurri
- Barbecue sauce
You don't necessarily need seven different recipes.
Sometimes you just need one solid base with a few different finishing touches.
How Many Flavors Should You Meal Prep at Once?
You don't need six.
For most people, two or three flavor profiles is plenty.
More than that and meal prep can start becoming unnecessarily complicated.
A simple approach could be:
Protein #1: Honey Chipotle Charm chicken
Protein #2: Taco Time ground turkey
Protein #3: Daily Drip chicken or steak
Then rotate those between your carbohydrates and vegetables throughout the week.
That's enough variety without turning Sunday meal prep into a full-time job.
What If You're Tracking Calories or Macros?
This strategy works especially well for people tracking their food.
Your basic meal structure can stay almost identical:
Protein + carbohydrate + vegetable + optional fat/sauce
You simply change the flavor.
That means you don't have to completely reinvent your meals every day just to keep your diet interesting.
Chicken and rice doesn't have to taste like chicken and rice five days in a row.
And consistency gets much easier when you actually look forward to eating the food you prepared.
Do You Need a Huge Spice Cabinet for Meal Prep?
Not necessarily.
Individual spices are great—and we use them too.
But this is where quality seasoning blends can make meal prep significantly easier.
Instead of pulling out garlic, onion, paprika, cumin, oregano, black pepper, cayenne, and several other bottles...
you grab one shaker.
Season.
Cook.
Move on.
For someone cooking several pounds of protein and multiple trays of vegetables at once, that convenience adds up quickly.
Our Favorite Meal-Prep Rule
If there's one idea we want you to take from this article, it's this:
Cook once. Season three ways.
You don't need completely different recipes every day.
You just need enough variation that Thursday's lunch doesn't feel exactly like Monday's.
Different seasoning profiles.
Different toppings.
A different vegetable here and there.
That's often all it takes.
The Bottom Line
Meal prep is supposed to make eating easier—not make you dread opening your refrigerator.
If you're tired of eating the same meal all week, don't necessarily change the entire meal.
Change the flavor.
Prepare your proteins in bulk.
Split them into two or three seasoning profiles.
Rotate your sides and toppings.
And let your seasonings do some of the heavy lifting.
Because eating consistently is a lot easier when the food actually tastes good.
Ready to make meal prep less boring?
Explore the Perry Spices lineup and find a few flavors you can rotate throughout the week.
Shop Perry Spices → PerrySpices.com
Boring food ends here.