Food prep help and advice!!!

metalflowa71

Anyone out there would like to share their holy secrets on food prep? Especially on how you save money?? Help!

enterdanger

I like to buy and cook in bulk, but not make actual meals ahead of time. So, the family size chicken breasts at $1.99 a lb baked with minimal seasoning at 375 for 30 minutes. Then I can use the chicken a million ways like tacos, chicken salad, chicken sandwhich, chicken soup, chicken chili, etc. I just season it when I'm finishing the meal.

I also buy eggs and hard boil them.

For lentils and beans dried is so cheap.

Veggies...during the summer I buy local and fresh from the farmer's market. So much cheaper than the grocery. Don't be afraid of frozen veggies though. They are inexpensive and easy to prepare

Oh and most farmer's market have an "ugly produce" section. This is the produce that grew funny or has a minor spot on it and just doesn't look all pretty and uniform. This is usually heavily discounted and there is nothing wrong with it. I've heard walmart is even looking to start an ugly produce section. These can be real money savers.

kschramm7

The best advise I can give you is to meal plan, make a grocery list, and stick to it. That way you minimize waste. Nothing drives me more nuts than throwing food away simply because I forgot we had it or we didn't eat it fast enough and it went bad (expired yogurt hiding in the back of the refrigerator). Sometimes with produce it's unavoidable, but more times than not, if I washed and sliced the strawberries when I bought them, I'd have eaten them in the next 3 days and they wouldn't have gotten fuzzy (just an example).

It seems eating healthy continues to get more and more expensive...but then so does dealing with weight related illnesses like diabetes and hypertension. As much as I complain about our grocery bills, we don't have doctor bills.

RoxieDawn

Fall and winter, my crock pot is used relentlessly. I can cook 6- 8 - 10 servings and eat on that till we get almost sick of it or it gets frozen.

Summer time I buy 5 and 10 pound bags of chicken breast, I buy a local grocery store bulk tilapia and whit fish. I also buy frozen vegetables in bulk in 5 pound bags too. I buy separate fresh items each week like fruits, onions, bell peppers, potatoes, etc..

There is about 15-20 ways I do chicken.. we eat a ton of chicken in my house so need a lot of ways to not make that boring. Fish nights are sort of boring. but tolerable.

We made a huge batch of homemade chicken salad (we roasted a whole chicken and used 1/2 and froze the other half of the meat and actually got great broth from the cooking to use later) for both me and my husband to eat for lunch this week.

I buy yogurt by the pound, etc.

Salk252

These are some awesome tips! What i love to do is overnight oats for breakfast too, quick and easy with minimum worry if you have a busy morning.

cariduttry

sundays are meal prep for me. fresh veg, rice, & chicken breasts all the way for my work lunches. i make crock pot dinners for me & the fam to have on weeknights (yesterday i made pork & sauerkraut and beef & noodles). just made a huge batch of tomato basil soup from my garden and i also use squash & zucchini from there weekly. i try & buy all produce and fruit from farmer's stands. you need cash (which i don't have other than for this), but are def much cheaper.

kommodevaran

My tips for health, taste, savings - would be these:

• Spend the least possible effort to get the desired result. For instance, don't make elaborate dishes for every day dinners.
• Buy, cook and eat food you like. If you don't like it, you won't eat it, and that's money out of the window.
• Don't make big batches of food you aren't already familiar with and know will be eaten.
• Get your whole family engaged. Ask all members that can talk, for their favorites, and incorporate them in the meal plan.
• Plan meals. Look at your family's schedule and find where you will be eating at home or out, when or whether you will have extra time to prep. A weekly rotation plan based on themes can help you with both structure and creativity.
• Make and keep updated a list of what's in your cupboards, freezer and fridge. Certain foods are more versatile and sturdy than others, and should be staples. Exactly which will vary with taste, routines and availability.
• Write shopping lists based on food plan minus stock. I have two main shopping days per week, but this will vary from family to family. Some items may need backups, in case your first choice is sold out.
• Don't shop hungry. Stick to shopping list. If you bring young children, engage them. Ask them to help you find a red vegetable, or their favorite fruit etc.
• Buy in season and aim for variety. You will save money by buying what's cheap and in abundance, and that will vary through the year. It can also be interesting and you may end up looking forward to the return of a favorite food. For perishables, try to buy just what you need and will use up until next shopping trip.
• Buy fresh, frozen, dried or canned according to price and quality.
• Avoid name brand, health food, organic, gluten free, low carb, low fat, sugar free etc., as these usually are marked up. If they have the same price as ordinary items, it's okay.
• Don't pay extra for chopped, packed, cooked etc., unless it's a real time saver for you and worth the price.
• Don't waste money on drinks - ordinary tea and coffee is okay, but fruit juice is no better than soda. Don't buy water unless your tap water is undrinkable.
• Buy in bulk, buy on sale. As long as you have the appropriate storage facilities, as long as having a large stock won't entice you to overuse, and conversely, you know you won't get sick of it, and as long as it really is a good deal - look at the price per pound and compare with real ordinary prices - stock up.
• Don't feel that you are married to recipes. Use them as inspiration. Replace and leave out as you please, and combine ingredients for several meals to use it up. Read the recipe thouroughly, try to make out what it's meant to accomplish, simplify and use techniques you already master.
• Stick to old, familiar dishes most nights, and try new recipes now and again. Include successes into repertoire.
• Don't be too rigid with nutrition. When you have your basics covered (protein, fat, vegetables, fruit), you can fill out with whatever hits your fancy. Indulge yourself from time to time. When most of what you eat is cheap, you can afford some luxuries.

It may seem overwhelming, but these are routines that have emerged gradually and you aren't supposed to get everything right at first attempt, you aren't even supposed to adopt anything that doesn't fit with your personal preferences. Your needs and preferences will also evolve, and the plan evolves along with you. After a while it tends to work like clockwork most of the time. Until you make a big mistake, haha. It will happen, and it's no big deal.

wildtxn

I meal prep quite a bit myself and have tons of recipes I know I like. almost all of my meals I make and prep for around 8 servings per and usually split that out with a decent portion of veggies and sometimes about 1/2 a cup of rice or sweet potato or a carb I like. I try to plan everything out so my meals are between 300-400 calories each since I eat more than 3x a day.

I use mrtakeoutbags.com for containers and buy them by the case (150count) for tons cheaper than the 3-5 packs at your local market. freezer, microwave and dishwasher safe. I usually freeze half of my meals and use the others for the next few days. anytime i'm behind or don't have time, I always have meals in the freezer to pull out and rotate menu around.

I use pinterest and yummly quite a bit to find new ideas to change things up a bit. Also second shopping your local farmers market when in season or plant your own garden if you have space/time to do so and watch for sales to buy in bulk and freeze if need be.