Meal prep ideas

Hi has anyone got any meal prep ideas please?! Really struggling at the moment....

Replies

  • Thank you very much :)
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,961 Member
    Bolognese sauce, meatballs, meatloaf. Any braised dishes freeze well. Braised chicken with vegetable dishes include dak dori tang, chicken cacciatore, coq au vin, curry chicken. Braised red meat dishes include lamb shanks, Irish stew, beef rendang, curries.
  • pitponies
    pitponies Posts: 8 Member
    it can be very difficult to think of something that is delicious, filling and that fits in with the calories, check out the post on volume eating as there are some great ideas there. I find it easiest to start with whatever protein I am having ( for dinner) then plan vege or salad around it. Spiralized Courgette really helps bulk out what would normally be pasta recipes. I also add 28g finely grated Parmesan, believe me it goes a long way! adds so much flavour to salads and pasta style dishes
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    i just borrowed (and plan to buy) - cook once, eat all week - its 26 weeks worth of recipes with 3 main ingredients (i.e. chicken, rice, broccoli) and then she gives you 3 recipes you can make with those 3 (and then what she has identified a standard pantry ingredients) - https://amzn.to/2Iiq2eC
  • Kelly_2013
    Kelly_2013 Posts: 117 Member
    I have had pretty much the same meal prep for months for my lunch and its easy and not expensive and it's delicious! I get the Turkey smoked sausage (I now use two packages for my 5 lunch meals) I cook that and then I add in 2 bags of frozen onions and peppers (I use the kroger brand) I also add two bags of cauliflower rice and then this week I sauteed some mushrooms to add in as well. I absolutely love this meal and it's not very expensive and my calories with what I just stated is less than 400 calories and it keeps me full!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    My meal prep typically consists of making extra of whatever we're having for dinner so I can have leftover for lunch or maybe two lunches. I kind of have a rule about leftovers over 48-72 hours though, so I pretty much never prep for an entire weeks worth of lunches.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I do the same thing that @cwolfman13 does. I don't have the patience to spend all Sunday cooking. When I make dinner each night, I'll pack up the leftovers in individual serving containers and grab those for future breakfasts or lunches.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    No dietary restrictions?

    Meatballs are so flexible. Right now we're doing the Spicy Thai turkey meatballs, the recipe for which I saw here on MFP

    https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/thai-turkey-meatballs-with-spicy-cilantro-dip/

    The only difference is I bake them instead of sauté them. I think they'd taste better sautéd, as the recipe suggests, but I'm making about 60 meatballs at a time (giant package of ground turkey from Costco). No way am I sautéing that many. Put them on three large baking sheets, throw them in the oven for 20-30 minutes, done!

    Throw them in my containers, put them in the deep freeze at about -20F and I'm good for three weeks. Easy to dial in calories or protein by adjusting how many meatballs you have per meal.

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,961 Member
    Batch cooked gratin dauphinois cooling before going into the freezer.
    ytshjjygdf4a.jpeg
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    I do the same thing that @cwolfman13 does. I don't have the patience to spend all Sunday cooking. When I make dinner each night, I'll pack up the leftovers in individual serving containers and grab those for future breakfasts or lunches.

    Same here. I make extra of whatever protein and veg we are having for dinners. I try to make extra starches but my kids and husband tend to go back for seconds on those during dinner so a lot of times I don’t have leftovers or those - so I keep a lot of the ready rice packets on hand and can take those to work in a pinch or else just eat a lower carb lunch anyway.

    One thing I do try to bulk prep is cooked ground beef and shredded chicken - whenever I am making a recipe that calls for those I tend to cook up about 5 lbs of the meat and then after using what I need for my recipe I divide the others into “recipe sized portions” so if I’m making weeknight tacos for example - I have frozen cooked meat on hand for it to speed up the time to table.
  • tufntender
    tufntender Posts: 98 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Batch cooked gratin dauphinois cooling before going into the freezer.
    ytshjjygdf4a.jpeg

    Isn't that super dense and high in Calories?
  • Dorgle690
    Dorgle690 Posts: 230 Member
    edited March 2020
    I like to make overnight oats for my breakfasts. Just use one part old fashioned oats and one part liquid! I usually do 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cup 2% milk. Then you can add spices and/or sweeteners to your hearts content!
    If you make it sweet enough it even doubles as a dessert! YUM!
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,961 Member
    tufntender wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Batch cooked gratin dauphinois cooling before going into the freezer.

    Isn't that super dense and high in Calories?

    Replace the cream with milk in this recipe.

    https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/gratin-dauphinois-recipe
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,961 Member
    Meatloaf cooling before going into the freezer plus one to have tonight.
    m9dldfm0dyz4.jpeg
  • Foodfavor
    Foodfavor Posts: 94 Member
    The SkinnyTaste website has a free 7 day meal plan that I look at for inspiration. I am a pretty lazy cook so I haven't actually followed the meal plans, but I have cooked a lot of her recipes and they have all been great (check out the hamburger salad) :)