Do you like eating delicious, healthy homemade food on a regular basis… but hate doing dishes every night?
Does deciding what to eat multiple times a day, every day, make you feel exhausted?
And are you tired of scrolling Pinterest for hours looking for trustworthy meal prep recipes?
I know I was! That’s why I created Workweek Lunch in 2016.
Workweek Lunch is a meal planning subscription, blog and cookbook that helps hundreds of thousands of busy people all over the world create a system around food that gets them more out of life (aka meal prep).
Instead of focusing on helping people lose weight or “eat clean” like most meal planning and meal prep sites, we advocate for intuitive eating and help people save time, save money, have more energy, stress less over food and reduce food waste. In the process, our readers and customers learn to be better cooks, better planners and be kinder to themselves.
Want to get in touch with me directly? Connect with me: talia[at]workweeklunch[dot]com
Do you represent a brand and are you looking to collaborate? email: alyssa[at]workweeklunch[dot]com
What's In This Post
About Me
Hi, I’m Talia Koren and I’m a self-taught chef. I’m 29, I’m from New York but now live in Seattle, Washington with my dog, Coconut. Meal prepping vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian and omnivore food (and teaching others to do it) has been my thing since 2015.
I found my love of cooking through my desire to save money for snowboarding trips (and life). After graduating from Ithaca College in 2014 and starting out my adult life in Manhattan, I quickly realized my daily takeout habit added up! So I started cooking and took homemade lunches to work instead, and fell in love with cooking in the process.
When I’m not developing recipes or making videos for TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, I’m planning my next big trip, adventuring with Coconut, bouldering or eating my way through Seattle with friends.
Workweek Lunch started as a blog and Instagram in 2016 as a side hustle. It has since grown into a small but mighty business with an amazing team.
In 2018, I launched the Workweek Lunch Meal Prep Program, a weekly meal plan subscription where members get a new menu, grocery list and recipes every week with access to an amazing private community for just $9.99/month.
In 2021, I wrote my first cookbook dedicated to packable, creative lunches which publishes on March 29, 2022!
Why I started Workweek Lunch:
The idea for my blog and the name Workweek Lunch came to me during a vacation with my mom in Thailand. It was one of those “duh” moments because clearly, I had a skill that my peers didn’t! So I got to work on building the blog with the help Zero To Launch (now Earnable), a self-guided course about creating an online business.
I started WWL to teach and show my peers how easy, efficient and cost-effective cooking can be. Meal prepping is the easiest way to eat healthy consistently without breaking the bank.
By making meals at home, we can customize every single aspect. We have full control over the flavors, textures, ingredients and portion size. And by making a bunch of meals at once, we eliminate the need to make fast decisions about what to eat. Instead, our homecooked meals just waiting for us, ready to go.
I wanted to help people experience the feeling of accomplishment that comes with cooking 12 meals in two hours. There’s something so satisfying about being able to open the fridge, pull out a home-cooked meal and head out for the day, knowing lunch is taken care of. One less thing to worry about. One more thing to feel good about in so many ways.
To the novice cook or someone who has never cooked more than one or two servings at a time, meal prep seems daunting. It’s this whole big project that requires planning, grocery shopping, having the right equipment and the ability to multitask in the kitchen — quite a tall order!
I started WWL to remove those barriers, break down the process and provide all the resources someone would need to get started and then make it a habit.
My food and cooking philosophy:
Meal prep is a tool to help you save time, save money and eat the way you want to eat.
This journey has never been about weight loss, restricting foods, hopping on the next fad diet or eating boring sweet potatoes and chicken every day.
I’m not a dietitian or nutritionist, and I have no formal training in health or medicine. I have no business telling people what or how to eat. Instead, I’m teaching people how to use meal prep to consistently eat in a way that’s most satisfying, affordable and healthy for them as individuals (aka intuitive eating). You won’t find “keto” or “low carb” recipes here, or anything referencing restricting food to lose or manage weight. I believe it’s time to separate weight management from healthy eating. Meal prep isn’t a lifestyle, it’s a tool you can incorporate into your life however it makes sense based on your family, needs, preferences and resources.
My philosophy shows up in every recipe I write, where I offer extensive alterations and substitutions to show readers and members of our program how to customize their meals. We produce breakfast, lunch, dinner, baked goods and snack recipes for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, omnivores and gluten-free eaters alike. My team and I explore many different cuisines and enjoy encouraging our members to try new flavors and ingredients they’d normally only encounter at restaurants.
There’s something about being hands-on with food in the comfort of your own kitchen that makes it easier (and fun!) to try new things. Members of the WWL Meal Prep Program tell me over and over again how they wouldn’t have tried certain meals or cuisines if it weren’t for my recipes! And they love that I encourage customization too.
You can learn more about the WWL Meal Prep Program here.
