Meal prep and planning BEGINNER

nicholehollis9

I am struggling with meal prep! I need help on what is healthy that can be cooked and frozen to heat up later. My family is not on a diet and it's terribly frustrating trying to accommodate everyone when I have no idea where to start. Please any thoughts or tips or even beginners lessons will help tremendously.

cwolfman13

I just eat food...IMO, meals prepared using primarily scratch, whole ingredients are pretty healthy...I eat all kinds of stuff.

I don't usually do full on meal prep...my wife and I just decide what we're planning on making for our respective KP nights and go shopping. We usually make double of whatever for dinner so that we can have leftovers for lunch the next day

nutmegoreo

Just finished some batch cooking. I made pork in apple sauce (with sliced apples), chicken with peanut sauce, manicotti stuffed with chicken and cheese, and chicken corn chowder. I divide them up into serving size containers, and then freeze them. The recipes are entered in as I make them, so that I can be sure the serving size ends up being between 300-500 calories. Add some fruit/veg and my lunches are ready. I often change the recipes a bit, usually increasing the vegetables, to help bulk up the servings without adding a lot of calories.

There are many websites out there that can you can pull recipes from. I find most foods freeze fairly well (potatoes are an exception). Play around with it and have fun.

kommodevaran

For a procedure to be useful - and meal planning/prepping is supposed to streamline the process of eating, not to be an additional chore - you have to start in the right end.

First, don't go on a diet. You can eat anything you want. Just hit your calories (and macros).

Second, find out what healthy eating means. Then decide what foods and meals fit that description AND your (your AND the rest of your family's) taste preferences, budget, allergies, availability, storage facilities, cooking skills.

Then find recipes for those meals, if needed.

Then plan your meals - this is just deciding what to eat, and when. When do you have time to cook, who will be eating, are any meals going to be eaten outside of the house? Find a suitable time to shop, write a list of what you need, bring it, follow it. Decide what will need prepping in advance, what to do, and when to start. Decide what to make in larger batches for fridge and/or freezer.

So it's neither mysterious nor overwhelming when you just break it down. (But when it's really working, it is a bit magical )

robininfl

Cooking Light magazine is surprisingly helpful for this, if you eat meat and have a pretty open budget for food. Meal planning does save money even if you eat more expensive food, because there is less waste.

Otherwise, just sit down on the day before you shop and work it out - say you want black beans and rice on Monday, black bean tacos on Tuesday, and so on - make a shopping list based on this, plus whatever you need for breakfasts, and plan the cooking. In the above example, put the black beans in the crockpot when you go to work Monday, cook the rice when you get home, save half the beans for the tacos on Tuesday...

MFP has a guide to meal planning here

ritzvin

I do stir fry rice a lot - particularly easy to do in very large batches. (example below). You can adjust the calories per portion by how much you 'dilute' the calorie dense rice with vegetables and how much (if any) meat you add. (not listed below are some red chili flakes, various random seasonings or any ingredients that didn't contain salt or calories)(Monday's batch contained 5 cups rice from rice-cooker, 1 rotisserie chicken, and various cans/frozen bags/half or frozen bags of beans/vegetables - it divided out to slightly less than 17 entree containers worth).

ritzvin

Slow cookers are great for batch cooking as well..Can throw a large cut of meat in at night or in the morning and have it be cooked & ready to divide in the morning or after work.

LenGray

Meal prep is very much an individual process. You have to do what works for you. For some people that means making extra portions so they can prepare their lunch the day before and for others it means making a week's worth of food that is fairly similar but with different spices/veggies/sides.

Figuring out your budget, your family's preferences, and what you personally like are things that are necessary with meal prep and that you only discover through experimenting and adaptation.

Right now when I meal prep, I just do three main courses at a time-- one for the oven, one for the slow cooker, and one for the stove. My family and I like a lot of variety, so it just isn't feasible for me to make a week's worth of meals in one day and this way I get all of my prep and cooking done at the same time.

I also have individual baggies of frozen veggies that I can steam and I cook rice, noodles, or have some rolls for the second side. Desserts are either made in the crockpot (such as apple betty's) or are easy mixes that I can throw in the oven while we eat.

I switch them out every week (or try a new recipe so it doesn't get boring) but if you're looking for ideas, lately these have been my meal prep go-tos:

Oven- Quesadillas/calzones, lasagnas, casseroles, fish

Slow Cooker- Pulled meats, stew, mushroom chicken/salsa chicken, stuffed bell peppers

Stove- Soup, stir fry, spaghetti/pasta, tacos