Meal prep?

californiansun

Hello!
I've just caught on the trend of meal prepping (making meals in advance), and I have found a lot of tools/ideas so far. But, a trend I keep noticing is pretty much chicken, rice, veggie. That's boring to me... So does anyone have any ideas?! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack are ALL welcome! Thank you!

Alatariel75

I'm a huge fan of chillis, curries, soups and stews! At the moment I have a freezer full of Shepherds Pie, Turkey and black bean chilli, Eggplant and lentil curry, ham potato and pumpkin soup... I like skinnytaste.com for ideas, so many make and freeze ideas.

spamarie

I make a few things in advance at the weekend to make life easier during the week.

Oaty banana cakes, not my own recipe. It's just equal parts oats and mushed up bananas made into patties and baked for 20 minutes. I have them for breakfast or a snack with some pb on top. They also freeze okay.

I make a big fish pie about once a month or so and portion it up and freeze it. I use half potatoes/half swede (rutabaga) for the top so there's extra veg in there, any kind of poached fish and a sauce made of the milk I poached the fish in with a little flour and a tiny bit of butter to thicken it up. You could add cheese, but I find as long as there is a little smoked fish in the mix, there's no need. Just be sure to reheat it thoroughly after freezing to avoid fishy food poisoning! I prefer to reheat slowly in the oven, but have used the microwave if I'm at work.

Chia pudding, not my own recipe, mix about 20g chia seeds with 120ml milk, add cocoa powder, vanilla essence and a sweetener if need be (honey is nice) mix and leave in the fridge for at least six hours. Makes a weirdly textured but nice pudding with lots of protein/good fat/fibre. Sometimes I smoosh in some very overripe bananas too. You can blend it for a more traditional texture, but I actually prefer 'chocolate frogspawn'.

Quiche freezes well and is nice hot or cold. If pastry is an issue, you can make small individual quiches using some kind of ham instead of pastry. Those are very nice!

Homemade burger patties or meatballs are usually cheaper and healthier than store bought, and you can make a batch, freeze them raw and then they're pretty quick to cook when needed. I like to use turkey mince but beef is good too.

Those are the things I prep quite regularly (as well as chicken and veg, but you'e right that can get a bit boring on its own!).

Lissa_Kaye

I love making spaghetti and lasagna and freezing. I have these great little anchor dishes that I can bake single servings of lasagna and freeze them, I always add more veggies for filling in them and go easy on the cheese. I also love to make quinoa. It freezes very well. If you want a recipe pm me. The quinoa can be made into a nice breakfast dish if you scramble egg and veggies into it, and add a little diced bacon or ham.

GeorgiPorgi1989

I tend to stick to chicken or salmon with veg and sweet potato. I keep it interesting by using different spices and flavours and mixing up veg.

I'm abit odd though and love just steamed veg, could eat platefuls of it...

I also make up homemade granola bars or protein balls or other sweet baked goods.

I also tend to prep overnight oats, apple oatmeal, protein pancakes etc for breakfast.

californiansun

Thank you all so much!

hesn92

Whenever I make lasagna I make 2 dishes and put one in the freezer for an easy meal in a few weeks or whenever we're feeling lasagna again.

I made a big pot of ham and beans soup and froze individual bags of it.

I freeze bags of fruit for smoothies.

I made chicken salad wraps with avocado instead of mayo plus black beans (got that idea from someone on here except I changed it a little) so I have 9 wraps in there waiting for me.

I freeze a lot of vegetables too so that they won't go bad before I use them

LuckyStar813

I do sunday morning meal prep for my work week. I do breakfast, snack and lunches. I hate boring food! But to make life easier I will eat the same few meals for the week.

Here is what I made this week:

Breakfast: crustless quiche with bacon and leftover veggies: mushrooms, kale, mini peppers and 12 eggs.
Snack: 5 small containers with 1/2 cup plain yogurt, diced apple, celery and walnuts.
Lunch: 4 Jar Salads with chopped carrots, cucumbers, mini peppers and lettuce. 2 will have chopped chicken and feta, 2 will have taco beef and guacamole. One lunch will be leftover day.

californiansun

hesn92 wrote: »

Whenever I make lasagna I make 2 dishes and put one in the freezer for an easy meal in a few weeks or whenever we're feeling lasagna again.

I made a big pot of ham and beans soup and froze individual bags of it.

I freeze bags of fruit for smoothies.

I made chicken salad wraps with avocado instead of mayo plus black beans (got that idea from someone on here except I changed it a little) so I have 9 wraps in there waiting for me.

I freeze a lot of vegetables too so that they won't go bad before I use them

Do you cook the lasagna then freeze or just put it in the freezer without cooking?

Thank you guys for these great ideas!

californiansun

Thanks! I'm trying to cut down on carbs so that's perfect!

Liftng4Lis

Definitely lasagna! Stews, soups, etc. You can cut up your veggies for the week.

EmmaFitzwilliam

I buy cherry tomatoes and snap peas in medium size containers, and prep individual servings on Sunday night (and usually again on Wednesday night, since I don't like to buy too much produce at a time. I buy high quality deli meats, and prep 2oz portions for lunch. Deli meat, cherry tomatoes, and snap peas, with an apple and/or a kiwi (or two) and/or a wasa cracker with hummus are pretty much my lunch mainstay.

For breakfast, I cook steel cut oats Sunday and Wednesday nights, and prep individual portions to heat up. (2 minutes in the microwave with 1T water.)

For dinner, I bake chicken breasts (http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-moist-tender-chicken-breasts-every-time-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-36891), and then dice them to heat with an Indian simmer sauce or marinara sauce. I also bake chicken breasts in salsa verde, and occasional grill chicken breasts to serve with dipping sauce (satay sauce, barbecue sauce, kung pao sauce, etc.)

I also have the occasional order of sushi, or an Elk Burger (no fries, and I eat only half of the bun) at Fuddruckers.

kbmnurse

I make a batch of Spark recipe Low Fat Banana Muffins, yummy. The recipe makes a dozen and each with only 80 calories. Every morning after my workout I get my snacks and lunch ready for the day. I log ahead of time so I stick to what I logged. I have the luxury of working from home. No eating out or temptations at the office. Thank You!!!!! Priceless.

californiansun

Thanks everyone! I'm going to put all of these recipes on rotation!

FreakinFlabuless

One of my dieting obstacles was dealing with a picky family. Now, going at it again, the kids are older and less picky, as is the hubby, and now they like most of what I make that fits into my plan. Whenever I have leftovers for something that doesn't disappear, it goes into a container in the freezer to grab later when they are eating something I should avoid for success. I have a Food Saver, which I love! I usually only prep a bunch at one time to avoid the spoilage of ingredients. For example, I make a smoothie with avocado, green apple, banana, and spinach in it. If I didn't freeze those items, they go to waste before I can consume them, so I freeze them on cookie sheets, then package with Food Saver, so each morning I grab a "baggie," cut it open, plop it into my blender and add the 2-3 remaining ingredients I didn't freeze.

veanna111

For me I always have breakfast and lunch planed out. Dinner is the hardest for me to organize. Once in a while I get bored of chicken and fish plus my boyfriend and daughter always want different from what I want. Sometimes I end up cooking 2 meals.
Breakfast: 1. protein shake and banana for late morning snack.
2. scrambled eggs and half grapefruit
3. Rolled oats with brown sugar, dried cranberries a little 2% milk
4. Greek yogurt with blueberries
i like to alternate breakfast but I always take protein shake as I need to have a big breakfast so I don't over eat at night.
Lunch: 1 canned tuna with 6 ritz crackers
2. Chicken and cucumber whole wheat wrap
3. Spinach and chicken salad with some balsamic vinegar ( you can add more veg like celery, cherry tomato, orange etc...) to feel fuller

I hope any of these help

californiansun

Thank you so much! These ideas are great!

paj315

For breakfasts and snacks I make a baked Pumpkin Protein Oatmeal and then freeze and reheat individual servings. Comes out more like a bar than actual oatmeal.
2 1/2 c Rolled oats
4 scoops protein powder ( I use unflavored whey but vanilla would work well)
1 can pumpkin
1/2 cup egg whites
3/4 c dark brown sugar
pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp aluminum free baking powder

Mix together wet ingredients then add them to the dry. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min or until set. Macros are 215 cals 36c/15p/2f

Makhai_

Break out the slow cooker, endless options.......

californiansun

These ideas are great! Thanks!

WinoGelato

Whenever I prep food ahead, I always think I should do it more often. Check out Pinterest there are lots of recipes on there...

You've gotten some good suggestions for full meals like lasagna (you asked about cooking it or just assembling, I just assemble and freeze and agree with the suggestion of making two at once - one to eat now and one for later). I also do chicken enchiladas, chili (white and red), beef stew, spaghetti sauce, etc.

Another thing I do is cook some components ahead of time. I buy family packs of ground beef, or smaller packs of ground beef and ground turkey, and cook about 4-5 lbs at once, then drain it and divide into 1 lb portions in ziplock bags. I freeze these and those are perfect to pull out for tacos, spaghetti, chili, even Hamburger Helper on busy week nights.

I do something similar with salsa chicken in the crockpot. I will put 6-8 chicken breasts (even frozen) in the crockpot with a jar of salsa, or a can of rotel and some lime juice. You can use other seasonings/ingredients you have on hand like diced onion, cumin, can of corn, black beans, etc but chicken and salsa are the primary ingredients. Cook on low 4-6 hours, then shred the chicken. I use it the first night for taco or enchilada filling or rice burrito bowls. Then I either freeze the leftovers or make tortilla soup with them back in the same crockpot. Add chicken broth, seasoning, corn, diced tomatoes, Velveeta if you want a cheesier soup. I put all that together, stick the crock in the fridge and heat it up next day. I've had two plus meals and haven't had to do dishes yet...