Personally, I find it very helpful to have my meals prepared ahead of time to make sure that I eat healthy all week. My week can get crazy in a hurry, but it helps to have a healthy lunch, plus two snacks already prepared ahead of time so that I know I getting good nutrition and clean eating foods all day.
One of my favorite meal prep recipes for lunch is Zoodles with Marinara & Meatballs. Yum!
It is a low carb version of spaghetti with meatballs! Even if you don’t eat low carb (which I don’t typically) it is still a great way to get extra veggies into your diet.
Along with my zoodles and meatballs I’ll occasionally have a slice of whole wheat toast for some carbohydrates. Toss a little garlic salt on top and it is a healthy version of spaghetti with meatballs AND garlic bread! Whaaaat?!
If you do want to keep it low carb, then enjoy this meal with a side salad, some roasted broccoli or another veggie of choice.
First of all, zoodles is the shortened name for zucchini noodles. Zoodles are made using either a hand-held spiralizer or a tabletop spiralizer. I have both in my kitchen so that I can make noodles out of a variety of different vegetables.
My hand-held spiralizer is similar to this, while my tabletop spiralizer is more like this. Both are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.
I prefer to use the hand-held spiralizer for making zoodles, while I suggest using the tabletop spiralizer for harder foods like sweet potatoes.
Once you’ve made the zoodles then cook them briefly on the stove in a large sauté pan (no oil needed). Don’t go too crazy cooking the zoodles or else they will get to soft and mushy. You want them to still have good texture so they hold up all week.
Also, this recipe for Zoodles with Marinara & Meatballs uses my 3-Ingredient Italian Turkey Meatballs. However, feel free to use your own meatball recipe or use store bought meatballs.
You could switch turkey meatballs for chicken or beef meatballs. Both will be delicious with the zoodles and marinara.
On that note, I use store bought marinara for my Zoodles with Marinara & Meatballs. You could definitely make your own spaghetti sauce or marinara.
In fact, to be even more clean eating friendly you could make your own sauce for the zoodles and keep the rest around for other dinners or meal prep ideas. I personally like the convenience of store bought marinara so I stick to that 9 times out of 10.
Once all the ingredients are combined in your meal prep containers, then store in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat.
Once you are ready to eat, either place the food on a microwave safe plate or heat the contents up in the meal prep containers. I microwave my meal prep meals before eating, so make sure you heat it long enough to get the meatballs warm all the way through before enjoying!
- 6 medium zucchini
- 2 cups marinara, homemade or store-bought
- 16 3-Ingredient Italian Turkey Meatballs*
- 1/4 cup parmesan, shredded or shaved
- Make zucchini noodles using a hand-held or tabletop spiralizer.
- In a large saute pan over medium heat, cook the zucchini noodles for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In four meal prep containers combine 1/4 of the zucchini noodles, 1/2 cup marinara, 1 Tbsp Parmesan and 4 meatballs.
- Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. When ready to eat, heat in the microwave until the meatballs are hot all the way through.
- *Sub any type of meatball of choice, either homemade or store-bought.
