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I always do mise en place for dinner at lunch time. I make sure that everything is ready for dinner so that when I am ready to get started, all of the ingredients are pulled out (and often measured out).
Lunch time is also the time that I prepare the salad and dessert for dinner. The advantage of prepping those items early is so that they are properly chilled before the meal.
My goal in doing this is to make dinner while spending very little time in the kitchen while the food is cooking which allows me to stay cooler.
I always do mise en place for dinner at lunch time. I make sure that everything is ready for dinner so that when I am ready to get started, all of the ingredients are pulled out (and often measured out).
Lunch time is also the time that I prepare the salad and dessert for dinner. The advantage of prepping those items early is so that they are properly chilled before the meal.
My goal in doing this is to make dinner while spending very little time in the kitchen while the food is cooking which allows me to stay cooler.
I buy ground turkey and make four patties and freeze them separated using wax or parchment paper as separators. We grill then slightly thawed or if I want to use them in a chili I just use 3 or four of them. I have more choices that way. Same with chicken breasts, I divide large packages into packages of two, or pound them out into cutlets ready to use.
We eat wild sockeye salmon weekly and Publix has filets for $9.99 a pound this week. I bought a pound and divided it into fours, freezing two to a pack. The sale ends tomorrow and I’m getting more tonight.
We get a box of produce from a local co-op and that keeps it interesting. It had purple small potatoes this week, a chayote last week and rambutans the week before which gets me to try things I wouldn’t pick up at a grocery store. After trying some, I still wouldn’t choose to get them at a grocery store, but many I did like and have bought again.
I like having things ready and at hand and if frozen, in sizes easy to thaw quickly.
One thing I have learned, especially being stuck at home, there aren't very many things I want to eat more than 2x-3x in a week.
I tend to make a new dish every week - or at least a new flavor combo. This helps me with the food boredom.
So I generally just make 1-2 portions of main dishes, or make something that can easily be frozen if I have more than 3 portions.
But it also means I need to cook more entrees (or have a backup plan) during the week if I am not making one of those things I can have multiple times in a week with no issues.
some people focus on the RECIPE/ingredients, because the hardest part is choosing what to buy/make. Slightly beyond the idea of 'leftovers' but overlapping with the idea, if you make the same meal but PLAN to eat it 6x, it greatly reduces cooking time and saves money.
some people focus on the prepartion/storage/portion control - because measuring the exact size/calorie count is the hardest part for them. You can't overeat if you have these uniform containers. Because you want these little brightly colored packs, it also forces you to include all the food groups (cmon I forget the salad if dinner is rushed, but not when I meal prep)
Often I forget about 'dessert' if I can rest assured that I made steel cut oats w/blueberries/bananas + chia seeds + coconut oil.
For me, I can only go about 3-4 days of eating the same thing before the texture/appeal goes. Certain things dont reheat well after so many days, and something like fresh cubed avocado looks so bright and appealing on Sunday night, not so much on Weds night.
But a quick trip to Youtube will give you lots of ideas and things to copy & try. The busier I get with work+child+workouts+et cetera, I look forward to meal prep as some degree of CONTROL and release of the pain of being a creative chef 7 nights a week.
Meal planning around here is decided by what's in the refrigerator, what's ready in the garden, what's on sale at the grocery and what we feel like eating. At the moment, I need to make some more bread since we're almost out. Been baking with sourdough lately so that takes longer than the usual yeast bread. I'll start that today and bake it tomorrow. There's tomatoes, bananas and a watermelon in the garden so those will get factored in somewhere. Maybe I'll make an additional bread for pizza dough so the tomatoes will have a place to be.
So I'm heading back to work full time tomorrow. BF works full time as well so Sundays I'll make a batch of blah, blah in either slow cooker or instant pot to make lunches and have dinner available. I'll also figure out easy meals to make: tacos, steak/veggies, SNB chicken, etc. I'll do more complicated meal on a Saturday evening when we're both off on Sundays and can stay up later.
My meals are very simple, usually fresh, many times
mono-meals, so no need to fuss.
My meals are the same way. I can have a 3 course dinner prepared and cooked in under 1 hour.
The only time I might make a meal or side dish ahead of time is during the holidays.
Do you all have "meal templates" if you will? I know for me I have some unofficial rules for each meal.
Breakfast: I tend to be one of those people who likes "sweet" breakfast and I aspire to savory breakfast. I also need to make it quick and easy to heat up/create/eat at my desk. What ends up happening in reality, I'll have a sweet breakfast 4-5x in a week, and a savory one for a couple of days. While I prefer the "sweet" breakfast - I try to not have added sugar in the AM, because it ends up leaving me hungry all day! And if I don't have carbs at breakfast I end up feeling starving all day.
My template is something carby with fiber + at least a little protein and fat + maybe a veggie
Typical breakfasts for me:
overnight oats (I have my own little blend that is lower carb with hemp seeds, quinoa flakes, chia seeds, some seed based vegan protein powder I am trying to get rid of) - I'll prep this the night before with whatever nut milk I have in my fridge, a few spices. Then heat it up in the morning and add some fruit, nuts or nut butter.
eggs with veggies and toast or a baked good. Sometimes it is toast with avocado. Sometimes it is toast with butter. And occasionally cinnamon toast! When I go to my favorite deli, I love to get the Brazilian cheese bread - one of my faves and it is gluten-free.
[new] mashed sweet potatoes with nut butter and chili flakes
[occasionally] frittata or Spanish tortilla (+ something carb-y if the egg dish doesn't have enough)
greek yogurt + berries + nuts or granola
Lunch time for me is where I like to double or triple up on veggies. And make sure to have a good chunk protein and I also need a starch here. If I play my cards right with a sufficiently hearty lunch, then I'll skip a snack between lunch and dinner. The template here is protein + starch + 2 kinds of veggies.
I usually make some veggie side that can work with a variety of meals, and grab a serving for lunch. Otherwise I'll just add a salad, chop up some raw veggies. Or whatever to make sure a second one shows up in the meal. I have been getting cherry tomatoes in my CSA box lately, so this is the second veggie pretty often. I also do things like roast a couple of veggies, or make a coleslaw, or incorporate a significant amount of veggies in the main. Last week I made fried rice, I have been making veggie scrap kits for a future fried rice or stir fry if I am chopping up things to roast. I also made a little sautee with squash, corn, peppers, beans, and a meat.
Mostly I try to have leftovers, but some weeks I'll plan to do light cooking. And chop things up ahead to make it fast.
And the dinner template is meat + veggies + beans. I try not to have a starchy carb at dinner. Or if I am planning a rice dish I try to throw in some cauliflower rice too. I don't always get that second kind of veggies in at dinner. Most of the time I do, but if for whatever reason I don't have one, I just give my self and extra big portion of my veggie. This is where I often have cooked leafy greens on most days. I typically add a good amount of onion as another veggie serving.
So I typically plan the meal around some beans. But I also find that I can't have vegetarian or vegan meals that often. I need to get a solid piece of protein in just about daily or my energy levels tank! And have tried every permutation of not having it come from meat, but it ends up not working out. So I plan my meals around having meat once a day!
Snacks: typically nuts and maybe a date or two. Sometimes a chocolate bar or half of one.
Dessert: some seasonal fruit or fruit and nuts. Maybe half a chocolate bar. Obviously sometimes I'll want ice cream.
So these "templates" leave me with prep during the week that looks like:
1. make beans
2. roast veggies (or make another veggie side)
3. chop veggies to use later
4. cook some greens
5. cook a main that has 2-3 servings that are reheating friendly
6. make a starchy side (maybe it is is rice, maybe it is potatoes if I have suitable things to pair)
7. Decide what the week's breakfast will be (I tend to have the same thing for a week then something different for the next or I might just have two things in rotation on a given week)
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