Weekly Food Prep

jacquelyn_erika

Looking for any helpful tips or advice on doing a weekly food prep. I eat very clean and find myself scrambling to get everything together when it's meal time, which sometimes can be a hassle depending on my schedule. From what I've been reading, a weekly food prep that takes place on Saturday or Sunday seems to be very beneficial for most. I eat a lot of chicken, asparagus, broccoli, and sweet potatoes...all of which are easy to prep ahead of time.

Also, any of your favorite clean eating recipes would be helpful! I'm on a pretty strict meal plan per my trainers orders, but for what I am working to achieve it is crucial. I'm getting a little bored with some of the food options though and am open to any suggestions.

Thanks!

willnorton

later

Debbe2

I make double the amount for a family meal so a day or two later we have a meal already prepared that can be heated and served with no prep. I'll add a salad or veggie etc.

emtron500

Not sure exactly what your diet guidelines are, but I've amassed a pretty good selection of recipes on pinterest. I've tried almost all of them at least once, and deleted any that turned out to be gross: http://pinterest.com/emtron500/diet-recipes/

These are my main tips for weekly food prep, although they're pretty basic I guess:

- Select as many meals as possible that use similar ingredients, so that your groceries don't go to waste
- Make extra dinner and use leftovers for lunch the next day
- Get lots of baggies and/or cheap plastic containers or jars...the whole thing goes awry if you don't have good containers
- Write down what you plan to eat on which day and post it on the fridge so that you don't forget to eat one of your meals
- Make sure meals that will spoil faster (ie something with fresh produce or meat that is uncooked and unfrozen) are concentrated at the beginning of the week. Freeze the meals that you're going to eat at the end of the week if necessary, but make a note for yourself on your food schedule to thaw them a day or two before.

msfitnfoxy

I have been slowly trying to get into this myself by looking into recipes I can cook over the weekend and portion out for use over the week. Whenever I try to do a lot of new things at once it doesn't work, so for now I am starting out with breakfast. I subscribe to Jillian Michael's website and she has some great recipes on there that are good for use throughout the week. This works if you don't get bored with eating the same thing for several days in a row.

jacquelyn_erika

Thanks for the replies so far!

@Emtron500 - I have a TON of tupperware containers and that definitely helps. I would be lost without them! I'll get on pinterest and check out your recipes that you have pinned. thanks girl!

opuntia

I am doing my weekly food prep today. I have made a big salad, with nuts and cheese and all sorts of ingredients, and divided it into five portions, so I have a salad for each day of the week. I will now prepare some liver, bacon, onions, peas and potato, and divide that up into a few meals to eat throughout the week. This makes it very easy if I'm too tired to prepare a meal when I come home from work. It stops me eating junk food.

jacquelyn_erika

I have been slowly trying to get into this myself by looking into recipes I can cook over the weekend and portion out for use over the week. Whenever I try to do a lot of new things at once it doesn't work, so for now I am starting out with breakfast. I subscribe to Jillian Michael's website and she has some great recipes on there that are good for use throughout the week. This works if you don't get bored with eating the same thing for several days in a row.

It can be really overwhelming so easing into it like you are is a great idea. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day - there's so much you can do!

jacquelyn_erika

I am doing my weekly food prep today. I have made a big salad, with nuts and cheese and all sorts of ingredients, and divided it into five portions, so I have a salad for each day of the week. I will now prepare some liver, bacon, onions, peas and potato, and divide that up into a few meals to eat throughout the week. This makes it very easy if I'm too tired to prepare a meal when I come home from work. It stops me eating junk food.

This is exactly why I need to food prep. I'm definitely a grab and go eater... if it's not readily available, then I will grab something else that is. It definitely helps having healthy food ready and prepped. Does it take you awhile to get everything prepped for the week? From what I've been reading on different blogs, it's a pretty time consuming effort. Worth it in the end though

cramernh

I just did some mad prepping today actually!

Im taking a 15 minute break from prepping the following:

***Spiral Rotary Slicer***
zucchini
summer squash
daikon
carrot
sweet potato
-all stored in water, in air-tight containers with a splash of lemon juice to keep fresh
savoy cabbage
red cabbage


***Julienne/diced/sliced/chopped***
onions
colorful bell peppers
zucchini
summer squash
cucumber
romaine/iceberg

***sauces/marinades/etc***
Tzaziki
Tequila-Lime marinade
10# of compound butters, 1lb batches
4 varieties of seasoning rubs
chimichurri
salsa
pesto

***meats (chops, tips, diced, filets, etc)***
steak, eye round, shoulder, prime rib
pork loin
pork butt
ground beef for meatball batches and individual meatloaf batches
ground pork for my asian dishes, dumplings, etc

***poultry***
whole roaster chicken and turkey broken down
whole duck, halved
2 whole cornish game hens, halved
4 whole quail, halved

This was for today.

Each week though, I do like to prepare different varieties of meals but most of the vegetables will vary.

I use fresh herbs when possible (good sale prices!).

Where we have an empty nest, I still prep up enough for four servings per meal. Two for our meal, the other two to have for leftovers the next day.

I also make marinara twice per month and freeze it into quart sized containers.

Today, I made a 5 gallon batch of fresh chicken vegetable soup - which will also be frozen into quart sized containers. My husband is sick so, this was actually perfect timing. He is curled up on the couch with a honkin' huge bowl of this soup...

justjenn1977

when I come home from the store I usually do my food prep...

onions... I slice some and dice some... separate bags in the fridge... same goes for other types of veggies... I cut them the way we use them and then store them...

I buy fruit when it is on sale and slice it really thin and put it in the freezer for use in smoothies/baking (apples are awesome in smoothies... the kids also like to make some fresh warm applesauce in cool weather...

I boil about 2 doz eggs a week and shell them and keep them in a bowl in the fridge... great for quick snacks...

meat I break up into single serve portions and freeze... then when I am cleaning up from dinner I take tomorrows dinner out and put whatever marinade in the baggie and put it in the fridge... or I get the crock pot ready and put it in the fridge...

I find that just those little changes made daily food prep so much easier... I used to do once a month cooking (http://www.once-a-monthcooking.com/) but I don't have a good sized freezer and we like to have a lot of frozen treats (mainly fruit for smoothies... I have two shelves in the freezer with fruit!!) so I stopped... I intend to get a full size upright freezer and use this method again... it was very helpful and I saved a lot of money... I spent about 6 hours one day a month... and I had 30 dinners pretty much prepared... then it took about 10 min every day to make a side dish or get it ready for the oven or whatever

MogwaisGrandma

I have a large piece of paper on my pin board. It has 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 7 dinners on it for the month.

I went shopping on Friday and bought everything I needed to accommodate those meals (except for fresh veg) for 4 weeks. So yes, 84 meals. I then made chilli, bolognese sauce, and soup yesterday and it is in the freezer as they are some of the meals. I have salmon, chicken, steak, lamb, veg packs and prawns in there too. Freezer is now rammed full to the door.
I also filled my dry store with everything I need to accompany the protein and veg.

So I am prepared to have everything I need at hand, decide in advance and also save money as I spend it on stuff I do not need/should not be eating when I make trips to the supermarket. I will go to the little village green gocers for my fresh veg for the week.

My diet has been stalling and I think is going to really work for me.

Good luck on finding what works for you.

justjenn1977

I should add... for a while I had some friends who also OAMC... we would get together and each bring enough for several meals... and prep... and then you got to have different options... and you could try new things...

also I have a friend who I used to go to her house... and help her with her OAMC one day... and the next week she would come to mine... and it seriously only took me like 6 hours to prep for the month

having proper tools helped... had one friend who had one of those food processors that did everything, slice dice chop blend bring you coffee (j/k)... and that helped because you could prepare 10# of onions in minutes you just had to slice the ends and peel and pop in the machine...it made chopping potatoes easier... etc... it would take me an hour to chop 10# of onions!

now... I have teens (and an almost teen) so I get them to do the prep work... I set one to chopping this and one to chopping that...

cramernh

Does it take you awhile to get everything prepped for the week? From what I've been reading on different blogs, it's a pretty time consuming effort

After working many years in the culinary industry (I worked two full time jobs, healthcare and culinary), prepping is a piece of cake often having to work fast and on-the-fly.

You have to have a good set of knives to work with - even in the home. You dont need alot of fancy equipment.... but to have a spiral slicer (same kind as a sushi chef) for special things really does make it awesome.... AND fast!

I use vegetables for my 'pasta' so my spiral slicer comes in handy... makes for an even faster prep time!

AZKristi

I cook on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (my days off) and eat leftovers the rest of the week. Basically, each time I cook dinner I make enough for two or three meals. We eat one on the weekend and the leftovers during the week. I prep my lunch salads on the weekend as well, and just grab one each morning to stick in my lunch bag.

jacquelyn_erika

I just did some mad prepping today actually!

Im taking a 15 minute break from prepping the following:

***Spiral Rotary Slicer***
zucchini
summer squash
daikon
carrot
sweet potato
-all stored in water, in air-tight containers with a splash of lemon juice to keep fresh
savoy cabbage
red cabbage


***Julienne/diced/sliced/chopped***
onions
colorful bell peppers
zucchini
summer squash
cucumber
romaine/iceberg

***sauces/marinades/etc***
Tzaziki
Tequila-Lime marinade
10# of compound butters, 1lb batches
4 varieties of seasoning rubs
chimichurri
salsa
pesto

***meats (chops, tips, diced, filets, etc)***
steak, eye round, shoulder, prime rib
pork loin
pork butt
ground beef for meatball batches and individual meatloaf batches
ground pork for my asian dishes, dumplings, etc

***poultry***
whole roaster chicken and turkey broken down
whole duck, halved
2 whole cornish game hens, halved
4 whole quail, halved

This was for today.

Each week though, I do like to prepare different varieties of meals but most of the vegetables will vary.

I use fresh herbs when possible (good sale prices!).

Where we have an empty nest, I still prep up enough for four servings per meal. Two for our meal, the other two to have for leftovers the next day.

I also make marinara twice per month and freeze it into quart sized containers.

Today, I made a 5 gallon batch of fresh chicken vegetable soup - which will also be frozen into quart sized containers. My husband is sick so, this was actually perfect timing. He is curled up on the couch with a honkin' huge bowl of this soup...

This is quite an accomplishment in my book! What a time saver though. I'm coming over to your place for dinner! Haha! The chicken vegetable soup sounds lovely.

hesn92

I don't do it on a specific day or anything but when I cook I do make enough for a few meals... so I will cook some chicken and veggies up one night for dinner and I'll make enough to eat for lunch and dinner the next day and then maybe lunch the day after that, then I will cook again...

jacquelyn_erika

I have a large piece of paper on my pin board. It has 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 7 dinners on it for the month.

I went shopping on Friday and bought everything I needed to accommodate those meals (except for fresh veg) for 4 weeks. So yes, 84 meals. I then made chilli, bolognese sauce, and soup yesterday and it is in the freezer as they are some of the meals. I have salmon, chicken, steak, lamb, veg packs and prawns in there too. Freezer is now rammed full to the door.
I also filled my dry store with everything I need to accompany the protein and veg.

So I am prepared to have everything I need at hand, decide in advance and also save money as I spend it on stuff I do not need/should not be eating when I make trips to the supermarket. I will go to the little village green gocers for my fresh veg for the week.

My diet has been stalling and I think is going to really work for me.

Good luck on finding what works for you.

Thanks for the tips! I really like the idea of having everything planned out. That definitely leaves little to no room for error when grocery shopping, you should pretty much know what you need or don't need at that point. I need to start doing that!

ardisia32

A slow cooker or crockpot is a wonderful way too....fill it with whatever meat (or beans) and vegetables, rice even, a bit water or stock, and whatever else you like in the morning, and it's all done when you get home for supper. Many recipes can be found online, here's just one website you might find useful: http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-slow-cooker-recipes/

cramernh

I just did some mad prepping today actually!

Im taking a 15 minute break from prepping the following:

***Spiral Rotary Slicer***
zucchini
summer squash
daikon
carrot
sweet potato
-all stored in water, in air-tight containers with a splash of lemon juice to keep fresh
savoy cabbage
red cabbage


***Julienne/diced/sliced/chopped***
onions
colorful bell peppers
zucchini
summer squash
cucumber
romaine/iceberg

***sauces/marinades/etc***
Tzaziki
Tequila-Lime marinade
10# of compound butters, 1lb batches
4 varieties of seasoning rubs
chimichurri
salsa
pesto

***meats (chops, tips, diced, filets, etc)***
steak, eye round, shoulder, prime rib
pork loin
pork butt
ground beef for meatball batches and individual meatloaf batches
ground pork for my asian dishes, dumplings, etc

***poultry***
whole roaster chicken and turkey broken down
whole duck, halved
2 whole cornish game hens, halved
4 whole quail, halved

This was for today.

Each week though, I do like to prepare different varieties of meals but most of the vegetables will vary.

I use fresh herbs when possible (good sale prices!).

Where we have an empty nest, I still prep up enough for four servings per meal. Two for our meal, the other two to have for leftovers the next day.

I also make marinara twice per month and freeze it into quart sized containers.

Today, I made a 5 gallon batch of fresh chicken vegetable soup - which will also be frozen into quart sized containers. My husband is sick so, this was actually perfect timing. He is curled up on the couch with a honkin' huge bowl of this soup...

This is quite an accomplishment in my book! What a time saver though. I'm coming over to your place for dinner! Haha! The chicken vegetable soup sounds lovely.

8lb freshly roasted chicken
1lb spinach
1lb freshly stewed tomatoes
1lb onion
6 lg cloves of gahhhhhhlic
4 stalks celery
4 medium sized carrots
2 bunches scallions
fresh dill
fresh rosemary
fresh thyme

My stock is extremely rich thanks to the roasted chicken. I keep the skin in while making the stock because I need the natural fat in with the stock. It helps to keep everything moist and properly cooks the vegetables too!

By the time its done, I have about 5 gallons worth provided my husband doesnt sneak in to grab a mug of of the stock! LOL!!!!!


I never make it with pasta. Pasta is cooked separately and on the side. I do the same thing with beans as well.

I am a snob when it comes to that because there is nothing NASTIER than mushy pasta. While I dont eat pasta anymore due to health issues, I still like the pasta to retain its shape when I serve it.

My bowl has light kidney beans and great northern beans to bulk up the healthy carbs, the fiber and it really adds to the body of the soup!

And.... freshly grated parmesan on top makes it one hella sexy bowl!

kittenkirst

We do a fair anount of weekend prepping. Due to work hours we tend to eat a lot of stirfrys and pasta mid week, so we then prep the following:

2 peppers, 2 courgettes, 2 onions, 3 carrots.

Pop these all through the food procesor to shred, then we add beansprouts, any greens that are in season (spinach, cabbage etc). I then divide them into quite large portions (to up our veg intake and ensure we're filled up without too many carbs!).
We then pop 2 portions in the fridge (Mon & Tues), and bag ghe rest up and freeze. As the veggies are used straight from the freezer they stay crisp and tasty.

We also prep stuff like soups and roasted vegs (used in pasta, rice or salad dishes as well as in sandwiches).

opuntia

I am doing my weekly food prep today. I have made a big salad, with nuts and cheese and all sorts of ingredients, and divided it into five portions, so I have a salad for each day of the week. I will now prepare some liver, bacon, onions, peas and potato, and divide that up into a few meals to eat throughout the week. This makes it very easy if I'm too tired to prepare a meal when I come home from work. It stops me eating junk food.

This is exactly why I need to food prep. I'm definitely a grab and go eater... if it's not readily available, then I will grab something else that is. It definitely helps having healthy food ready and prepped. Does it take you awhile to get everything prepped for the week? From what I've been reading on different blogs, it's a pretty time consuming effort. Worth it in the end though

No, it doesn't take long. It's much quicker to make one big meal and divide it up than to make several separate meals. I always tend to make a meal that is too big for me anyway. I used to eat the whole thing at once and be very full afterwards, but then I started dividing the meals in half, to eat half the next day. From that, it followed naturally to start making even bigger meals, to divide into more portions, to last throughout the week. It doesn't take much longer to cook a very big meal than to cook a small meal - just a bit more time chopping up ingredients.

Tera_M

Great ideas y'all! I really need to get into doing this because things get so busy during the week and then I'm more likely to eat unhealthy food if I don't have something prepped. I'm in nursing school and have a pre-teen daughter who has lots of sports and activities she's involved in so we are on the go a lot.