Chicken, Rice and Veg Prep (5 Days)
One steady cook on a Sunday and five lunches are done — chicken, rice and roasted veg, portioned into five containers and waiting in the fridge for the week ahead. Around 520 calories and a sturdy 48g of protein per box, the macros already counted so you never have to think at your desk. This is the plain, dependable prep I come back to more than any other.
Prep 01 / Five days boxed
There’s a stretch every winter where my weeks get loud. Coaching, the gym, family, the kind of admin that piles up when you’re not looking — and that’s exactly when most people stop eating well. Not because they don’t care. Because by Wednesday they’re tired, the fridge is bare, and a sad sandwich is the path of least resistance. I’ve been that tired person. I know how fast a good plan falls apart when there’s nothing cooked.
So years ago, in that cold little kitchen in Stockholm, I made myself a promise: I’d never again let a busy week decide what I ate. Sunday evening, oven on, one pot of rice, two trays in the oven, and by the time I’d cleaned the bench I had five lunches sealed and stacked. Monday me didn’t have to think. Thursday me — the one running on fumes — just lifted a lid. That’s the whole gift of this prep. It’s not clever. It’s chicken, rice and veg, the most honest plate there is. But cooked once and boxed for five days, it quietly takes care of you when you’ve got nothing left to give yourself.
I’ve taught this one to more people than I can count — busy parents, shift workers, a young lad who’d never owned a set of containers in his life. Every one of them came back saying the same thing: it wasn’t the recipe that changed anything, it was opening the fridge on a hard day and finding lunch already done. That look of relief is the whole reason I cook. Five boxes, love. Let me show you.
01Who it’s for & when to eat it
This is for the person who’s tired of deciding what to eat every single day, especially at lunch when the week is already winning. Cook it once, eat it five times, and let the macros stay steady whether you’re holding, losing or building. Here’s how I steer the boxes depending on what you’re chasing.
Trim the rice
Keep the full chicken and the whole tray of veg, and cut the rice down to two-thirds across the boxes. You hold all 48g of protein and a big plate of volume, and each box drops toward 430 calories. Plenty to fill you; lighter on the day.
Add easy calories
Same protein, a bigger scoop of rice in each box and a good drizzle of olive oil over the veg. Add a piece of fruit on the side if you want it. You’ll clear 680+ calories per box from the same lean base — sturdy, not heavy.
Steady through the day
A balanced box — lean protein, a fist of carbs, a little fat — eaten at the same time each day keeps energy even and supports recovery without a giant evening overshoot. Dependable fuel for a normal working week.
Timing: I treat this as lunch, one box a day, Monday through Friday. But it’s yours — eat it around training if that suits you, since the protein and carbs sit nicely either side of a session. A box also makes a quiet, easy dinner on a night you can’t be bothered.
02Ingredients
Makes 5 boxes — one full work week — at about 520 calories and 48g protein each. The amounts below are the full batch; keep the proportions and you can scale up or down without losing the macros.
Per box ~48g protein · adjust on the live recipe card- Chicken breast, skinless1.1 kg · 2.4 lb
- White rice, dry375 g · 13.2 oz
- Broccoli florets400 g · 14.1 oz
- Bell peppers, sliced300 g · 10.6 oz
- Courgette (zucchini), sliced250 g · 8.8 oz
- Olive oil3 tbsp · 45 ml
- Garlic, grated4 cloves
- Smoked paprika2 tsp
- Dried oregano1 tsp
- Soy sauce, low-sodium2 tbsp · 30 ml
- Lemon, juice of1
- Black pepperto taste
- Saltto taste (go light)
Swaps I actually use: chicken thigh works in place of breast if you want it juicier — it adds a little fat, so trim a touch of oil to keep the box near 520. No white rice? Swap in jasmine, basmati, or cooked quinoa one-for-one, or run it half-and-half with brown rice for more fibre. Any sturdy veg roasts well here — green beans, carrots, red onion, cauliflower — use whatever’s good and cheap that week. Going meat-free? A block of firm tofu, browned hard, slots straight into the same box; you’ll want a little more of it to match the protein.
03Step by step
Five containers, one clear bench
Pull out five meal-prep containers and clear a good stretch of bench. Set the oven to 200°C (400°F). This is a one-cook prep with the oven, the hob and a pot all going at once, so having everything to hand before you start is half the work done.
Magnus says: prep is calmer when the kitchen is. Clear the decks first, love.
Season and roast the breast
Pat the chicken dry, then rub it with two-thirds of the garlic, the smoked paprika, the oregano, black pepper and a light pinch of salt. Lay it on a lined tray and roast at 200°C for 22–28 minutes, until it reaches 74°C / 165°F in the thickest part. Rest it five minutes before you slice or cube it.
Magnus says: a dry surface and a hot oven gives you colour. Colour is flavour.
Cook the rice, fluff and cool
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then cook it however you normally do — pot, rice cooker, whatever you’ve got. Fluff it with a fork and spread it out on a tray to cool a little before boxing. Cooling it spread out keeps it from going gluey and helps it hold up all week.
Roast broccoli, peppers and courgette
Toss the broccoli, peppers and courgette with the olive oil, the rest of the garlic, a little black pepper and a light pinch of salt. Spread them across one or two trays — don’t crowd them — and roast alongside the chicken for the last 20–22 minutes until the edges char. Roasting beats boiling here; it survives five days in the fridge far better.
Magnus says: boiled veg turns sad by Tuesday. Roasted veg still tastes like food on Friday.
The little hit of brightness
Stir the low-sodium soy and the lemon juice together in a cup, then trickle it over the sliced chicken and toss. It’s a small thing, but five days of plain chicken gets dull — this keeps every box tasting alive without adding any real calories. Taste, and adjust the pepper.
Split it evenly across five boxes
Divide everything across the five containers — roughly a fifth of the chicken, rice and veg in each. Even portions mean even macros, so every box lands near 48g of protein and 520 calories. A kitchen scale helps here if you’ve got one; eyeballing is fine once you’ve done it a couple of times. Cool fully, lids on, into the fridge.
Magnus says: cool it before the lid goes on. Trapped steam is what turns prep soggy.
04The spec sheet
Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The batch makes 5 boxes of about 425g of food each. Here’s what one box and a flat 100g actually give you, with the headline of 48g protein and 520 calories per box.
| Nutrient | Per box | Per 100g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 520 kcal | 122 kcal |
| Protein | 48.0 g | 11.3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 54.0 g | 12.7 g |
| — of which sugars | 6.0 g | 1.4 g |
| Fat | 12.0 g | 2.8 g |
| — of which saturates | 2.4 g | 0.6 g |
| Fibre | 4.6 g | 1.1 g |
| Sodium | ~0.42 g | ~0.10 g |
Low for a complete, satisfying meal. That’s the gift of a high-protein, veg-heavy box — a genuinely full plate for a modest calorie count, which is exactly what you want whether you’re holding or losing.
A lifter’s metric, and a strong one for a full meal with rice and a tray of veg in it. Most of the energy you’re eating is doing protein’s job — exactly the point of a prep like this.
- Niacin (B3)~18 mg · 113% DV
- Vitamin B6~1.3 mg · 76% DV
- Selenium~40 µg · 73% DV
- Vitamin C~95 mg · 106% DV
- Phosphorus~410 mg · 33% DV
- Potassium~780 mg · 17% DV
Macros are calculated from standard food-composition data and will shift a little with your exact ingredients and brands. Micronutrient figures are estimates against general adult Daily Values. Numbers are for guidance, not medical advice — see our Nutrition Disclaimer.
05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations
One prep, three jobs. The chicken and veg stay the same — you move the rice and the fat around them. Macros below are per box, adjusted for each goal.
The lean default
Keep every gram of protein and the full tray of veg, but cut the rice to two-thirds across the boxes and go light on the oil. Maximum food on the plate, calories pulled down. This is how I run it when I want the scale moving and still want to feel full at my desk.
Build it up
Same protein, a bigger scoop of rice in each box and a good drizzle of olive oil over the veg. Add a piece of fruit on the side if you want it. Sturdy, calorie-dense and easy to eat across a busy day.
Steady & balanced
The standard box, eaten at the same time each day. Moderate carbs, lean protein, a little healthy fat from the oil. Full, steady energy without a big evening overshoot.
06Meal prep & storage
This whole recipe is built to be made days ahead, so storage is the main event. Cool everything fully before the lids go on, label the boxes with the day if it helps you, and treat the rice with a little respect — it’s the one component that doesn’t love sitting at room temperature.
Boxed and sealed, chicken, rice and roasted veg hold beautifully across a full work week. Cook on Sunday evening and you’re sorted clean through Friday lunch — that’s the whole design.
The chicken and rice freeze very well; the veg softens a little on thaw but still eats fine. Cool fully, freeze flat, and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Microwave the box for 2–3 minutes, stirring once, with a splash of water over the rice to bring it back. A lid or damp paper towel over the top steams it gently and stops the chicken drying out.
A word on the rice, because I’d be a poor cook not to say it: cool it quickly, keep it cold, eat it within five days, and only reheat each box once until it’s piping hot all the way through. Treated kindly, rice is the backbone of cheap, easy prep all week long.
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07Common questions
Is five days too long to keep cooked chicken in the fridge? +
Five days is the sensible upper edge for cooked chicken kept cold and sealed, and this prep is built to land right on it. The two things that matter most: cool it fast after cooking and keep your fridge properly cold. If your fridge runs warm or you know you won’t get to the last box, freeze days four and five on prep day and thaw them the night before — nothing ever sits too long that way.
Can I swap the chicken for something else? +
Easily. Chicken thigh makes the boxes juicier (trim a little oil to hold the calories), turkey breast keeps it just as lean, and a block of firm tofu browned hard takes it meat-free — you’ll want a touch more of it to match the 48g protein. Whatever you choose, the box structure of protein, rice and roasted veg stays exactly the same.
How do I keep the rice from going hard in the fridge? +
Two things. Cool it spread out on a tray rather than in a lump, and when you reheat, add a splash of water over the rice before it goes in the microwave. The steam loosens it right back up. A lid or a damp paper towel over the box while it heats helps too.
Can I eat it cold, straight from the fridge? +
You can — plenty of people eat this as a cold lunch and it’s perfectly good. But it’s at its best reheated: a couple of minutes in the microwave with a splash of water over the rice brings the whole box back to life. If you’re eating it cold, that little soy-and-lemon dressing earns its keep, since brightness reads stronger when food is cool.
How do I keep five days of the same lunch from getting boring? +
This is the real question, and I love it. Vary the veg across the batch — peppers and broccoli in some, carrots and green beans in others. Keep a few sauces in the fridge to add at the table: hot sauce, a spoon of Greek yoghurt, a different dressing. Same base, different finish each day, and the prep work stays the same. Variety lives in the last thirty seconds, not the cook.
This prep is the backbone of a full week of meals.
These boxes are the engine room of my meal plans — seven days of high-protein meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths and the cooking order.
See the meal plans →08Pairs well with
Magnus Olafsson
I’m Magnus — twenty years under the iron, from a cold gym in Stockholm to the classic-physique stage, and now mostly in my kitchen in a pink apron. I’ve cut for shows, bulked through winters, and I’ve been on TRT since I was thirty-five. I know what it takes to eat for the body you’re chasing, and I know it shouldn’t come with a side of shame.
Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.
Slim Diet Era shares recipes and general nutrition information. It is not medical or dietetic advice, and we do not provide guidance on obtaining or using any controlled substance. See our Medical Disclaimer and Nutrition Disclaimer.