The Costco rotisserie chicken is just the start of your meal-prep haul.

Patty is a food and drink writer/editor whose work has appeared in Eater, Food Network, The Kitchn, and more.

If breakfast is the meal you always forget to plan, these protein oats are an easy one to keep in rotation. Prep a few servings ahead of time, and you've got a grab-and-go breakfast ready before you even think about making coffee.

A good jarred sauce is one of the best meal-prep shortcuts because it can turn whatever you have in the fridge into dinner. Carbone's Spicy Vodka brings restaurant-quality flavor and a kick of heat to spaghetti and meatballs, chicken Parm, and other Italian dishes.

This pasta cooks (and tastes!) like the regular stuff but brings extra protein to the bowl. The variety pack comes with two boxes each of fusilli and curly mac, both of which are great for dishes such as mac and cheese, noodle casseroles, and pasta salads.

Meal prep gets significantly easier when you can prep and store in one bowl. These Pyrex bowls come in four different sizes with lids, so you can mix, cover, refrigerate, and serve everything from a small batch of overnight oats to a dense bean salad for the week.

Keep these noodles on hand for those nights when you have vegetables and protein but no actual plan. They cook quickly and can become everything from a noodle soup to a stir-fry, depending on what ingredients you need to use up.

Compound butter (aka a fancy restaurant term for flavored butter) is a shortcut that makes meal-prepped food taste less like meal-prepped food. Melt this garlic butter over vegetables, toss it with pasta, spread it on bread, or use it to finish chicken, shrimp, or steak. Don’t be surprised if you go through the tub faster than expected.

Frozen shrimp are a meal-prep MVP because they cook in just a few minutes. Keep a bag in the freezer, and you can turn rice, pasta, tacos, salads, or grain bowls into a filling meal without thawing an entire package of meat.

Greek yogurt is more than just breakfast food. Yes, it’s a great protein-packed way to kick off your morning, but you can also mix it with herbs for a quick sauce or dip, dollop it onto grain bowls for a creamy tang, or use it anywhere you'd normally reach for sour cream.

You probably already know where this is going: One rotisserie chicken can cover a lot of ground. Shred it for sandwiches, tacos, salads, soups, or grain bowls, and you've got a head start on several meals without roasting a whole bird yourself.

Between the measuring, rinsing, and, if you’re using the stovetop method, babysitting, making rice can sometimes feel like a chore. This cilantro-lime version gives you a flavorful base for burrito bowls and tacos in minutes with the help of a microwave.

Spam is the kind of pantry staple you can turn into dinner with very little advance planning. The new variety pack gives you four flavors (Bacon, Teriyaki, Hickory Smoke, and Gochujang) to work with, and a few slices can add a savory, salty boost to rice, noodles, eggs, or breakfast bowls.

Eating more vegetables sounds great on paper, but difficult in practice when there’s so much washing and chopping to get through. These frozen sheet-pan vegetables skip most of that work, so you can roast a batch and portion them out alongside chicken, rice, pasta, or whatever else is on the menu.

These trays are for anyone who has ever frozen something in a giant container and had to defrost the whole thing just for a bowl or two. This set comes with various sizes that work for portioning ingredients like sauces and broths, or for turning full dishes and leftovers into individual servings, so you can grab exactly how much you need.

When you’re craving pasta, want more than just straight-up carbs, but don’t have time to cook a protein, enter ravioli. Make a big pot, toss it with pesto or marinara, and you've got a dinner that can go from the fridge to the table in under 10 minutes. The filling for this one even has spinach, so you can even skip the veggie prep.

One good sauce can make the same meal-prepped chicken or vegetables taste completely different from one day to the next. Bachan's is not just good for adding a sweet-savory punch to meat, but also as a sauce for rice bowls, noodles, and roasted vegetables.

This frozen salmon takes care of the part of meal prep that requires a surprising amount of decision-making: figuring out how to make the protein taste good. The individually portioned fillets are seasoned with herbs and cracked pepper, then finished with real dairy butter, so all you have to do is focus on a side dish.

Croissants can turn into breakfast, lunch, or a snack with very little effort. Use them for breakfast sandwiches, make quick ham-and-cheese melts, or slice them in half and fill them with chicken or tuna salad when you need to turn leftovers into lunch.

These frozen chicken strips solve the eternal meal-prep problem of needing a cooked protein everyone will actually eat. Crisp up a batch for copycat Chick-fil-A sandwiches, to toss on salads, make a shortcut chicken Parm… you get the idea.

Keep a few cans of tuna around for the meals you didn't actually plan for. It can become tuna salad, a rice bowl, a pasta dish, or a quick sandwich — exactly the kind of flexibility you want from a meal-prep staple.

A prepared quinoa salad can do double duty as a side or the starting point of a main dish. Add chicken, salmon, chickpeas, or even extra salad greens you have around, and you've got a filling meal in no time. 

An air fryer is truly an indispensable meal prep tool. This countertop system has six functions, and its ability to crisp, reheat, and bake will make both cooking from scratch and air-frying your favorite freezer foods a breeze.

Pitas are basically a meal-prep blank canvas: Stuff them with rotisserie chicken for sandwiches, serve them with hummus and crudités for a snack dinner, or top with cheese and leftover marinara to form mini pizzas. Keep a stack in the freezer, and you'll always have a carb ready to turn whatever's in the fridge into a tasty meal.

Beets are delicious, but require so much work and time to prep. These are already cooked, so you can slice them straight into salads and grain bowls without spending your afternoon roasting and peeling beets.

This frozen hash includes several breakfast components in one package, which means there's less chopping, cooking, and pan juggling involved. Heat them up alongside eggs or eat them on their own when you need breakfast to happen quickly.

Tofu is a meal-prep workhorse that can take on just about any flavor you throw at it. Roast, pan-sear, or air fry a batch at the beginning of the week, then use it in stir-fries, rice bowls, salads, or noodle dishes.