Meal prepping on a busy schedule?

[HelenaFitbit]

Hey there! I was wondering if you had any meal prep tips or recipes that can be done in a bulk and eat throughout the week?

What containers do you use? Do you have a special set of veggies? Do you need a cooler? How much ahead can you prepare?

[PamelaHazelton]

There are lots of great online resources for this. To name a few:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/easy-recipes

https://www.pinterest.com/millicent71/cook-once-eat-all-week-menus-and-freezer-meals-to-/

http://happymoneysaver.com/making-50-freezer-meals-in-one-day/

There's also a membership site that takes all the guesswork out:

https://www.onceamonthmeals.com/

[JollyRed]

I use glass containers made by rubber made and ziploc, i like these better because they seem to not stain. My husband cooks alit of acidic meals and those seem to damage the regular plastic containers. When we make dinner we just make extra and put it into containers for the next day. I freeze alot of veggies and breakfast meals like pancakes and biscuits with sauage. stuff thats easy to throw in a pan and sir fry or steam in the mircowave. 

Our main problem is not making enough food for lunch the next day. Normally we only have enough for one adult and the other adult has to scrounge for other leftovers. But the freezer is your friend we have meals in there that are going on 6 months old.

[WendyB]

I have found that just about any recipe will freeze well.

There are only 2 of us and I make 6 servings and freeze in 2 serving sizes for another 2 meals

[HelenaFitbit]

How do you avoid getting freezer burns @WendyB ? I've stored meatloaf, oatmeal cups, quiche cups and rice and they all got it 

[WendyB]

I store my Meatloaf in Plastic Zip containers. I now make my Meatloafs in a Cupcake tin. I swear they taste better

I would never freeze Oatmeal or rice. Or Noodles. I always make fresh. I also make sure that anything frozen will be eaten with in a month.

Things are suppose to last 3 months but I have never had much luck with that.

[3Salesviews]

wrap the meatloaf in foil before putting it in a ziploc.  This keeps the air off the meat.

[PamelaHazelton]

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@helenarriaza wrote:

How do you avoid getting freezer burns @WendyB ? I've stored meatloaf, oatmeal cups, quiche cups and rice and they all got it 

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I use a vacuum sealer with the bags. And not so much waste is Ziploc bags because after I cut them along the seam, I can rinse out and reuse them immediately. The trick is to introduce the opened bag to the freezer for a few ours, and then seal it (so you're vacuuming "hard" food, not sucking out all the water and moisture).

[RumpleSchwarzen]

posted this on the breakfast thread, but I'll post here too. I make it on Sunday and it tastes good all week!

Lean ground poultry (chicken or turkey), mix in some spices and then press flat into a casserole dish. Cook it in the oven and then pour a mixture of egg whites (or whole eggs), peppers, onions (or whatever veg you like) on top and cook until the middle is no longer liquidy. 

Cut into squares and you have an easy low carb, high protein omelet to go for every day of the week. 

I make most of my food on Sundays because I work and go to school full time. I'll post some more as I think of them. 🙂

[SunsetRunner]

I make refrigerator oatmeal and salad in a jar for the 3 of us. That means 21 small jam jars full of breakfast, and 21 pint jars full of salads. The oatmeal recipe is tasty on it's own, warmed for a few seconds in the microwave, or topped with seeds/fruit.

It takes a lot of room in the fridge but once it's done we don't need a bunch of random things so there's still room for sauces and milk and veggies for snacks..

[kelfran]

You can also find websites and books that have great recipe ideas by searching "once a month cooking" or "freezer meals". This will turn up all types of recipes that can be made in bulk once a week or once a month and then portioned out and refrigerated or frozen until you would like to eat it. It takes a bit of planning upfront, but makes for easy meals when the time comes. Good luck!

[kelfran]

I was just on another website and saw this blog post about healthy make-ahead recipes that you can freeze and pull out quickly on a busy night. Hope this helps! 

[ChelleBelle418]

i really dislike meal prep, but find it totally necessary to stay on track!!  i love my crock  pot....for everything.  

it's great for for meat prep....seals in the flavors and delivers a tender meat, plus you just put it and and go about your merry little way!  so usually on sundays i cook a trimmed pork roast or pork loin in the crock pot.....i trim off the fat if there's any remaining (on a pork roast or boston butt, you cannot possibly get off all of the fat prior to cooking) lightly season my meat, rub it down with evoo and minced garlic, put in the crock pot with a little water and cook on low until it's done (time depends on the size of the roast/loin but when you can put a fork in and the meat tears, it's done!)....sometimes i'll rub that roast down with a little bbq sauce too.....it's so super tender, makes perfect sandwiches, tacos, anything.  i also like boneless skinless chicken breasts, sprinkle with taco seasoning (low sodium for me) and a little dry ranch powder, cover with a jar of salsa and a little water and let them cook on low until tender....shred them when they come out...it's awesome over rice, tacos, wraps, whatever you want.  i do a whole turkey breast or boneless turkey breast this way as well, rub down with olive oil and seasoning, minced garlic, little water and let her cook.....

it's great for making dry beans (red beans, black beans, whatever you want!).....i eat a lot of black beans, great source of protein and no fat.  i throw the black beans in with a can of low sodium chicken broth, a couple of cans of water (depends on how many you're making, but you want alot of water as they'll soak it up!), a can of rotel tomatoes (don't drain them), little garlic (see a pattern with the garlic??!), some onions......cook them on high for about 4 hours or so, until they're tender...again, depends on how many you're cooking.  sometimes i do this in the morning before work, leave it on low all day and when i come in, they're perfect.

the crockpot is my friend.... 🙂

[KarlaFitbit]

Great topic, @HelenaFitbit! I discovered this yesterday actually: bagel with cheese cream, cured ham and some capers. 

Delicious! 

What do you think?

[WendyB]

@KarlaFitbitThat sounds good I love capers! I will give this a try!

[KarlaFitbit]

Sure thing, @WendyB!  

If want to go extra healthy, you could try a low fat cheese and whole wheat bagels. 

I hope you enjoy it. 

[MRose]

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@helenarriaza wrote:

How do you avoid getting freezer burns @WendyB ? I've stored meatloaf, oatmeal cups, quiche cups and rice and they all got it 

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Ziploc bags and foil!! Buy the freezer bags (the normal ones, sadly, just don't cut it) and store a foil-wrapped (when possible) meal in it.

I got this particular idea from researching Whole30 meal planning, and it works like a charm (and saves your hard earned money): Cook 1-3 lbs of your ideal go-to meat (I use ground chicken or turkey). I brown and season it very generically with something like oregano, black pepper, or garlic. Let it cool and toss it in the freezer bag. Then either steam or just chop your favorite raw veggies and put them in a seperate freezer bag. When you're ready to cook it, just toss it into a skillet and either "dry-fry" it (there should be enough fats from the meat to do this without adding oil). You can add more seasonings, add some rice or legumes (if you like them), make it into soup, add some egg and turn it into a casserole, whatever suits your fancy! This might not be ideal for every day (it can get old if you don't vary the meat/veggie styles), but it works very well for a few mights per week! 

There are some good tips here too, although I have not personally made any of those recipes.

[HelenaFitbit]

Thank you very much for the tip! I'll be trying this this week 

[jessicabraemer]

Jar salads are the best!! You can make 5 on sunday and they keep fresh all week.

Put the salad dressing on the bottom, and make sure the next layer is something that won't get soggy. (cherry tomatoes/chicken/beans).
Keep layering until you get to the top, try to keep the more dense food at the bottom, like nuts or peppers, and save the lettuce/cheese/etc. for the top.

I do this often and keep a bowl at work that I just dump the jars into and I'm good to go!!
Good luck!

[3Salesviews]

Breakfast is good for lunch

• Make veggie omelet on the weekend.  They last for days in the frig. I can eat them hot or cold
• Yogurt with fruit or granola on top for the Chew Factor
• Sam's club has a pre-cooked bacon that is only 40 cals per slice (thin)  grab and go. BLT's always make me smile.
• bag of grape tomatoes and a cuc.  Throw in  a high fiber bar and you feel like you ate.

• I love pizza so I make one on high fiber tortilla with lots of veggie and 4 sl of turkey pepperoni. I mix low and FF Cheese.  Look for sauce with lowest calories.  Bake it the night before. Eat cold or hot.