Meal Prep ideas

[amymsoftballmom]

Hello, I am a nurse and work 10-12 hour shifts.  Looking for meal prep ideas I can do on my off days for the week ahead.  Thanks!

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @amymsoftballmom - Welcome to the forums. What a great question! I do meal prep ahead of time but must confess, I only do it because I’m lazy and don’t want to prep meals every day. Here are two of my favorite meals to make ahead of time.

  - a hearty soup, like bean, pea, chili or lentil. Those freeze nicely and make nice meals. All you have to add is a nice piece of fruit or a salad to round it out.

  -  I cook pork chops in my slow cooker, usually enough for 3 meals. The trick is to cover them with half reconstituted Healthy Choice cream of mushroom soup. Make sure it gets in between the chops. Also, make sure the pork chops are covered with the soup when you freeze them. This helps make sure the meat stays nice and moist. I like a nice bagged salad with this dish. I will eat half and save the rest for the next day.

Finally, since I am watching carbs, I keep Atkins snack bars in the pantry in case the meal did not fill me up enough. These satisfy my sweet tooth while keeping the calorie, sugar and carb counts low. They are individually wrapped so I am not forced to keep looking at a tray of brownies or bookies. 

[Drumbob]

Hey @amymsoftballmom , I just started meal prepping and I love it. There's a couple different people on you tube that have healthy, easy to prepare, delicious recipes. Just search meal prep in you tube and I'm sure you'll find a lot of choices.

[Maliardo]

I'm the kind of person who doesn't like eggs in any form other than scrambled eggs.
  Of course-then sometimes I force myself to eat boiled eggs, but often that would reduce the time, I prepare a very tasty and fluffy omelet, there are many recipes on the Internet, I use the easiest one.
For me, it is very tasty, fast, healthy, and saves time.

[Kelmeister]

I'm very vigilant about clean eating so I usually only eat what I cook for myself. I cook usually 3x a week. I'll cook enough protein to cover my dinner and 2 more (take to work) meals. I try to pickup whatever is green that's in season, asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts etc and also cook either an ancient grain, rice, lentils and/or sweet potatoes. I've been buying the "Melon Trio" and seasonal fruit from my local grocery store and that'll last a couple of days for snacking. I also keep mixed nut snacks for in between. It takes a minute to get in the groove of shopping and cooking efficiently, but so worth it to be healthy. Good Luck!

[BASILCHIVES]

What you prep ahead will depend on whether it is just for you or a family.  I will assume it is just for you.   I like to have grab and go food in the fridge.  Invest in some single serving containers.   If you are going to bring food to work and reheat in microwave, then get some decent glass ones too.   When I worked I did prep twice a week.  On Sunday, I made a big salad that would be my lunch for at least 3 days.  Portion it out ahead of time into containers so you can quickly pack.   I am ok having the same thing for dinner several days in a row when it is something I like.   Cut up mixed veggies and fill containers, also grapes, cut up watermelon, etc.

  Casseroles reheat well:  1.) ground beef with pasta and sauce add mushrooms to fill it out and increase volume without adding a lot of calories.  2) Crockpot chicken cordon bleu- make 3-4 of the chicken pieces and portion out.   3.) Beef Stew.  4) lasagne or stuffed shells with sauce-add meatballs if you want extra protein. 5) Enchiladas.

Depending on your tastes you can make up a large batch and portion out,  Any of the dishes with the pasta freeze and reheat well.    If you want a lighter meal have a small portion with a salad or veggies