Need help with food prep

abungay

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone could give me a few tips on meal prepping. My life is about to get very hectic. This term I am working full time but also have to complete my thesis (and one full experiment) for my masters degree. I expect I will be at my office/lab for lunch and supper and won't get a chance to cook at home every evening. I have some ideas right now like bulk freezer meals like Lasagna(cook it portion it and freeze it) that I can throw in the microwave for supper.

I do meal planning right now, but everything I plan I cook the night I am eating it.
Basically I need some beginner tips to meal prepping, like if I cook chicken on Sunday and refrigerate can i still eat it Wednesday or Thursday?

Any basic tips will help out a lot and get me started at least. Thanks a bunch!

callsitlikeiseeit

yes to the chicken (i do it all the time, if its in a coered dish and kept in the fridge itll be fine)

the crock pot is your friend. limitless things to make, a lot can be low cal and easy to eat on for a couple of days and lunch. Cook big batches and freeze into smaller portions on weekends.

planning ahead will be your friend. pinterest is great for crock pot and freezer meal ideas .

maybe1pe

I cook once a week usually. Make 2 different things on Sunday and then portion them and put in the fridge for me and my SO to eat all week. Done.

At most on the night of I have to open a can of veggies and heat or heat up some frozen veggies if we run out.

This week I made Jap Chae or Korean glass noodles as you may know it and we made a ham that SO got from work. I don't eat much for lunch at work, usually just pick at some snacks. But you could also make a third thing to portion out for lunches or have things for healthy sandwiches if you needed a lunch.

maybe1pe

Also, my crock pot is life. If I cook day of meals I start it in the crockpot when I leave for work and when I get home there's a cooked warm meal ready for me.

toxikon

I love meal-prepping! I bought 150 reusable plastic containers on Amazon for around $20.

Here's my usual routine.

1. Pick out 3 freezer-friendly recipes to make in bulk for the week, make a grocery list. Usually on Saturday.
2. Get my groceries Sunday morning, then spend the afternoon making my 3 big batches. I keep a notepad handy to write down the grams of each ingredient to easily input them into the MFP Recipe Builder.
3. Divide the meals into my containers. With 3 big batches, I usually get enough food to fill around 20-30 containers.
4. Put some meals in the fridge (enough for 2-3 days) and the rest in the freezer. We restock the fridge as needed.
5. Input all my recipes into the Recipe Builder.
6. Enjoy not cooking for the rest of the week!

My favourite things to meal-prep are: stew, chili, curry, casseroles, quiches, chicken pot pies, soups, pasta, lasagna, meatballs. I avoid meal-prepping fresh fruit/veggie dishes or anything that can dry out or won't reheat well.

We eat our meal-preps for lunch and dinner, supplementing with some easy fresh stuff like fruit, steamed broccoli, cheese slices, yogurt, salads, etc.

abungay

Thanks guys