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I’m in trouble! I tried meal prepping and my guess is that I made it too complicated, got frustrated and quit. Do you meal prep 2 or 3 times a week? If you prep on Sunday what are you eating Wednesday? What’s a meal prepped breakfast? Are you eating the same things every week?
I’m in trouble! I tried meal prepping and my guess is that I made it too complicated, got frustrated and quit. Do you meal prep 2 or 3 times a week? If you prep on Sunday what are you eating Wednesday? What’s a meal prepped breakfast? Are you eating the same things every week?
You're making it too complicated. Meal prepping for breakfast might include making a big batch of steel-cut oats or other whole grain and portioning it, so it can be reheated on busy weekday mornings. It could also include washing and cutting up fruit (for smoothies or to add to oats) or veg (to make a quick omelet). Additionally, I think hard-boiling a dozen eggs or so and storing them in the fridge is a convenient way to prep for breakfast. Something a bit more involved might include making breakfast burritos or breakfast sandwiches. My son loves breakfast burritos, which I make ten at a time and freeze. The burritos can be placed in the fridge to thaw overnight and then heated in a cast iron skillet with a tiny bit of oil in the morning, which crisps up the tortilla. Takes just a few minutes.
Lunch prep for me is often a big pot of stew, which can be made on Sunday, portioned, and reheated each workday. Served with a small green salad or a sandwich, it's quick and easy. Our go-to is vegetarian three-bean chili, which can be served on its own, bulked up with a bit of elbow macaroni and cheese for chili mac, or poured over a baked sweet potato (my personal favorite). Sweet potatoes can be made ahead of time, too, and just stored in the fridge. A short spin in a microwave or electric pressure cooker will warm them up.
Grain bowls are another lunch idea, and they come together easily if all the components are prepared ahead of time. Cook a pot of grains (farro, quinoa, rice) and store it. Make a pot of beans and/or poach some chicken and shred it. Make some dressing (I love tahini lemon dressing.) Chop up some veggies (radishes, cabbage, beets, carrots, broccoli, peppers, etc.). Keep everything in the fridge. In the morning before work, toss everything in a container with the dressing separate, and you'll have a nice lunch ready for you. You might also want to check out mason jar salads. Google it. Lots of great ideas out there.
Last edited by randomparent; 09-12-2018 at 11:22 AM..
I buy one of those rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. I take the meat off of it and portion it out. I add some cooked veggies (you can buy steamable veggies). Put it all in containers and put them in the freezer.
I also do a similar prep with ground turkey - add some seasoning and veggies - and portion it out into containers.
The only breakfast prepping I've done is oatmeal and hard boiled eggs.
I don't meal prep (other than keeping hard boiled aggs on hand), I simply stick with easy meals -- sandwiches, cheese + crackers, bacon and eggs, frozen pizza, quesadillas, cereal.
What's meal prep, lol. All I've ever done is put cereal bowls and cups out the night before. No time to cook if you have to go to work. Maybe get the coffee maker set up.
For dinner I might peel and chop some carrots or take some frozen vegetables out of the freezer or wash and chop some fresh broccoli and put it into a steamer to finish later. Make a salad and put it into a bowl to go into the fridge. Get some chicken breasts marinating. Might form hamburgers and put them onto a platter or make a meatloaf to bake that night. Whatever I can do fast when half awake and stick into the fridge for the rest of the day.
I don't cook fancy! (Weekends I might thaw out some blueberries for blueberry pancakes or get out the ingredients for eggs benedict.)
What's meal prep, lol. All I've ever done is put cereal bowls and cups out the night before. No time to cook if you have to go to work. Maybe get the coffee maker set up.
For dinner I might peel and chop some carrots or take some frozen vegetables out of the freezer or wash and chop some fresh broccoli and put it into a steamer to finish later. Make a salad and put it into a bowl to go into the fridge. Get some chicken breasts marinating. Might form hamburgers and put them onto a platter or make a meatloaf to bake that night. Whatever I can do fast when half awake and stick into the fridge for the rest of the day.
I don't cook fancy! (Weekends I might thaw out some blueberries for blueberry pancakes or get out the ingredients for eggs benedict.)
Meal prepping isn't about being fancy. It's about controlling and managing your food intake.
Eat simple basic foods and you do not need to prep much or any. They also digest much easier and faster. You should be real guru to know what can be mixed with what.
Also, cooking ingredients basically ruins nutrients in them.
I can share "lazy" - but smart - way of making your grains. Personally, I really like Winco 5 grain mix. I add a bit of quinoa to it, for fluff.
Say, you take 2 liter pot with a lid. Pour some good oil at the bottom of it. Fill half way with grain. Pour more oil on grain top. Boil 1 liter of water. Set pot in the middle of trifolded warm blanket. Pour hot water into pot, till it reaches it's top. Cover with lid, wrap into blanket completely, leave overnight.
You will have EXCELLENT grain, soft, fluffy and with all nutrients preserved - at literally no effort to make it.
Eat simple basic foods and you do not need to prep much or any. They also digest much easier and faster. You should be real guru to know what can be mixed with what.
Also, cooking ingredients basically ruins nutrients in them.
I can share "lazy" - but smart - way of making your grains. Personally, I really like Winco 5 grain mix. I add a bit of quinoa to it, for fluff.
Say, you take 2 liter pot with a lid. Pour some good oil at the bottom of it. Fill half way with grain. Pour more oil on grain top. Boil 1 liter of water. Set pot in the middle of trifolded warm blanket. Pour hot water into pot, till it reaches it's top. Cover with lid, wrap into blanket completely, leave overnight.
You will have EXCELLENT grain, soft, fluffy and with all nutrients preserved - at literally no effort to make it.
Simple meals or not, some people need to meal prep. They have to control calories and macro nutrients.
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