Weekend prep of food for work week.......

Teachinjen

From the top left corner going clock wise, chicken white bean chili, Chicken and wild rice soup, freezer meal of Teriyaki stir fry, cooked spaghetti squash "noodles", Spaghetti sauce with ground turkey, and the stuffing for my husbands amazing poblano's! Go ME! We have just found that the weeks that we plan like this, life is so much smoother.........

Don't know why part of my picture is cut off on the right side.....

I have been asked by some of my friends on here how I do my meal planning to save money and time....If you are interested keep reading.....if not ignore...... I am also open to what others do to stay on track......

This is basically it. On Friday Evening my husband and I decide what we want on our dinners for the following week based on what we have in the pantry, fridge and freezer. Plus we are sticking to mostly from scratch meals, not using boxed meals. We do a big trip at the beginning of the month for the meats, any cupboard staples we have used up, and frozen veggies. I then make a small shopping list for fresh vegetables, milk, or eggs as needed. I then always try to use the crock pot at least once during the weekend.

This week my husband and I decided we were going to have wild rice and chicken soup, chicken white bean chili, spaghetti squash spaghetti with ground turkey, stuffed poblano chiles with ground turkey, turkey burgers and Teriyaki chicken stir fry...

I had the spaghetti squash which I bought last week at our main monthly shopping trip. I had to buy anaheim chiles, poblano chiles, snap peas,spinach, lettuce, tomato, and green onion.

Last night I put 4 large chicken breasts in the crock pot to cook overnight. This morning I shredded all four, and added two back into the broth and added my ingredients for the soup and let it cook in the crock pot. The other two I shredded and made 6 couscous/spinach/chicken lunches for me, 3 went in the fridge, 3 went in the freezer. I then cooked a spaghetti squash and then scraped the squash for the "noodles". I also made a ground turkey spaghetti sauce. I diced up two more raw chicken breasts and made a white bean turkey chili. I prepped all the ingredients raw for the stir fry and stored them in individual bags inside a larger freezer bag, including: red onion, anaheim chiles, snap peas and cubed chicken. I threw that bag in the freezer. Last I cooked up some ground turkey, rice, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce for my husband to use on his stuffed Poblano chiles. Usually if any chiles, spaghetti, or soup is left over, we will freeze it for a quick dinner or lunch later on......

All in all the cooking took me a little over two hours today, but it saves us everyday this week from trying to decide what's for dinner, and having to cook after a full day of work. My husband's work hours got expanded last week, which we are thankful for, but it also means he is working longer hours and the last thing he or I wants to do during the work week is cook dinner...Both of us work long hours....... Plus we make enough food that both of us have some for lunch the next day...... That is basically it.

I have also lost 34 pounds planning my meals like this....So that is part of the motivation that keeps me going.....

Pixie8504

Wow you are organized. I have a basic plan for my meals for the week, but no where close to you. I am trying to do better and use my crock pot more to help plan and stay on track

PaleoPath4Lyfe

We do the same thing.

This week we are having vegetable beef stew, brocolli chicken alfredo, stuffed peppers, spaghetti squash with italian sausage meat sauce, bratwurst and grilled chicken ceasar salads.

Fresh vegetables I bought carrots and cut up, brocolli, cauliflower and radishes.

Fruit is apples, red pears, oranges and pineapple.

cristeberga

This is amazing!! I desperately need to start planing my meals. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

NuggetLovesEdie

Man... I wish I were that organized.

I'm sure it saves a ton of time during the week.

I've been doing "oatmeal in a jar" for breakfast and "salad in a jar" for lunches, but have been struggling with dinner ideas.

This is where I get hung up... How to decide what to make for my "make ahead" dinners.

Any advice is appreciated.

frenchfacey

i don't do this as often as i should but when i prep i have a much better week...takes some of the guess work out of meal planning and snacks.

frenchfacey

Man... I wish I were that organized.

I'm sure it saves a ton of time during the week.

I've been doing "oatmeal in a jar" for breakfast and "salad in a jar" for lunches, but have been struggling with dinner ideas.

This is where I get hung up... How to decide what to make for my "make ahead" dinners.

Any advice is appreciated.

on Sunday i make a whole chicken or a large turkey breast or tonight i made a big pot of turkey chili. always something i can throw in the oven all day...makes the house smell lovely and then i have meat for sandwiches and salads or this week ill have chili to take to work for lunches cuz its so cold and Im sick!

Debbiedebbiey

I would love the recipe for your chicken white bean chili. Mine never tastes good & I end up throwing it out & wasting all that food bc no one likes it. Thanks, if u have the time I'd appreciate it !!!! If not I understand: )