I need meal prep help!

raeloowho

I have been doing the same things and I'm sick of them. But I don't have much time to do meal prepping all day. So I need variety and easy!! High protein please!!

paints5555

All I do for meal prepping to to make extra servings when I prepare a meal. Then I freeze the extra. Over time, I get a variety of meals I can just pull out of the freezer.

LilRock25

I'll make extra & freeze some. Casseroles and soups/stews are great for this.

I also try to find recipes that use the same ingredients so I can prep once but use multiple times.

Do you have time to do one or two days of prep/cooking a week?

nossmf

Not sure what you mean by "meal prepping all day." I have an excel list of meals my family enjoys, roughly three dozen or so, which I cycle through. On grocery day (usually Saturday) I figure out the menu for the coming week and shop for those items, but through the rest of the week my meals (with rare exceptions) take 30 minutes from start of cooking to sitting down to eat.

If you meant, "don't have much time to do meal prepping EACH day" then I understand the desire to keep meal preps short. After working all day and driving a 90-minute commute home, the last thing I want to do is start a lengthy cooking process for my family. But you can have an incredible variety of meals all with 30-minutes-or-less prep time. Lots of websites can offer suggestions, but some of my family's preferred menu options include:

Hamburger based - tacos, chili, sloppy Joes, meatloaf, ground with rice, grilled burgers, spaghetti (two different versions)
Pork based - sweet and sour, pan-seared BBQ chops, schnitzel, pot roast, ham and fries, ribs
Chicken based - stir-fry, baked with noodles, fried, crockpot honey, fajitas, parmesan, spicy peanut, garlic soy, chicken spaghetti, casserole
Fish based - fish sticks, baked salmon
Other/Non-meat based - pancakes, sautéed summer sausage, lasagna, roasted hotdogs, homemade pizza, French dip

...and on and on. That's 32 meals right there, each of them requiring 30 minutes or less of hands-on; this isn't even the entire list, just what comes readily to mind. (Some meals, including the chili, pot roast, crockpot honey chicken, ribs and pizza require a couple hours to complete, but the actual time is still under 30 minutes of activity, the rest being do other things while you wait for the heating to finish.) If any of these catch your fancy, PM me and I'll be glad to share the recipe with you.

CalisthenicsTraining

Tuna and beans has around 45g of protein. If you can find a cheese high in protein you can have potato cheese beans and tuna

amandafroiland

Not a meal, but if you wanted to add variety or a sweet snack, try popping open a can of mandarin oranges or pineapple tidbits! Low calorie, high volume. I like to prep taco meat either with lean ground beef, ground turkey, shredded chicken, or even lentils I heard is good, with taco seasoning and add on top of shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, onion, quartered limes, etc for the rest of the week. You can add a serving of shredded cheese OR sour cream for fat to round out to be a more balanced meal. It saves well in the fridge and is quick to heat up the meat in the microwave. I like to make "adult lunchables" for lunches, this can be easy protein. Ham/turkey lunch meat, fat free or low fat laughing cow cheese, boiled eggs, fruit, cucumbers, pretzel thins or trisects.

kshama2001

When I worked in an office, I would meal prep for 2-3 hours on Sunday and make 4 dinners and 4 lunches, plus snacks.

I was just cooking for myself then - my partner likes more variety. For most of our relationship, I worked from home. I would often prep a meal at lunch time, put it in the slow cooker, and it would be ready for dinner. Many slow cooker meals can make large quantities so there would be leftovers for other dinners, lunches, and they often freeze well. In the summer, he grills meat and I make the carb and veg.

These days, I usually get a rotisserie chicken weekly. I debone it when it is still warm. I make stock from the carcass and freeze it in various size containers. I make lunches and snacks from the chicken - sandwiches or wraps or chicken, rice, and beans. An example of a quick dinner using rotisserie chicken is warmed chicken, tortellini or ravioli, and spinach.

Other favorites of mine for dinner after a busy work day are egg-based meals more traditionally served for breakfast. He likes corned beef hash from a can, which makes me think of dog food and a scene from "Prince of Tides," but I keep it on hand for him. I like bacon, egg, and cheese on bread or an English muffin. We both like eggs, bacon, and tater tots. He also has toast.