food prepping for the week

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clneary
clneary Posts: 55 Member
in Food and Nutrition
so what types of food do you prep for the week.....

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  • jfauci
    jfauci Posts: 531 Member
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    I'm curious to see what others say. I would love to cook on the week-ends for the rest of the week, but I have trouble thinking of things to make. I will make a turkey breast and have that for the week, but I find that I don't particularly like re-heated food. Foods that are re-heated just don't taste as good to me.
  • craftylatvian
    craftylatvian Posts: 599 Member
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    I buy chicken breasts in bulk and clean/trim them all at once, and freeze in individual baggies.
    Wash & portion out fruits like grapes, pineapple so they are ready to go when I am walking out the door to work.
    I also try to plan out my meals throughout the week. Shopping day is Sunday so that makes it easier to plan out my week of food all at once. Sometimes I stray from my plan but generally I stay on track.
  • craftylatvian
    craftylatvian Posts: 599 Member
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    I don't like leftovers but I have found a few things I don't mind eating the next day or two.

    An easy quick and good dinner I make about once a week is roasted chicken and veggies (put everything in same pan & roast) and I use the extra chicken for soup, salads, etc. I roast 4 bone-in breasts at a time. Put sliced lemons on the bottom of the roasting pan, put chicken breasts on top of lemon slices. Then toss some quartered potatoes and green beans with a mix of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and rosemary, arrange those around the chicken, roast for 40-50 mins, at 420 degrees. The chicken turns out really good and there is enough leftover for sandwiches, tacos, salads, etc.

    I make lasagna with ground turkey (extra lean) and I add sliced zuchinni in long ribbons to the lasagna, almost like using it as a noodle. It makes a lot and it is really good leftover.
  • jentyler2001
    jentyler2001 Posts: 5 Member
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    I have tried cutting and roasting carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes things like that for the week. Then when we are ready to have them I just throw them back in the oven for a few...BUT... it seems they get eaten alot faster is its readily available. This is both good and bad! Good because we are eating more veggies and bad because the prepping never stops!
  • mommyshortlegs
    mommyshortlegs Posts: 402 Member
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    On Sundays I plan a weekly menu according to what proteins are on hand, what foods sound appetizing, and/or what new recipes I want to sample. Included in my menu are additional food prep notes for any given day, typically freezer food prep.

    As an example, find below this week's menu (considerably less healthy than last week's Husband-free version -- bring on the modifications and portion control). L = Lunch/noon meal, D = Dinner/evening meal, and days of the week are abbreviated.
    SU - L: Chinese takeout; D: loose meat sandwiches, potato chips [healthier mod: sandwich filling over romaine with cherry tomatoes and mustard, no chips]; freezer prep: 1 doz. hamburger buns, 2 loaves banana bread

    M - D: ham balls over rice, green salad [healthier mod: 1 ham ball over riced cauliflower]; freezer prep: 2 meatloaves, additional ham balls

    TU (grocery shopping) - D: chili con carne, cornbread [healthier mod: no cornbread]; freezer prep: additional chili

    W - D: sautéed chicken breasts, tater tots, mixed vegetables [healthier mod: no tater tots]; other prep: ciabatta

    TH - D: carbonara, ciabatta, green salad [healthier mod: no more than 2 oz. carbonara, no ciabatta]; freezer prep: quadruple batch cream of mushroom soup

    F - D: spinach rice casserole (3rd attempt in a row's a charm)

    SA - L: leftovers or Customer's Choice; D: individual pizzas, dessert pizza [healthier mod: no dessert]; freezer prep: pizza sauce
  • joleenl
    joleenl Posts: 739 Member
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    Sunday is my rest day in exercise but my food day. I do all my shopping and a lot of cooking on sundays. I make steel cut oats for the week and portion it out. I often make a whole, chicken, turkey, or roast.... then I will portion the meat and freeze it, or use it in wraps, stir frys, soups, salads or some other recipe for the next few days. I like to make a big pot of brown or wild rice so I can have it a couple times through out the week. I also like to buy melons, pineapple, and straw berries, and cut it all up in a big container ready for snacking. I often buy veggies, like celery, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and cut them up for the week too. I like to make a homemade salad with a homemade dressing and it eat for the next few days. With fresh fruit and veggies and salads.... I just prep enough for a couple days then I prep a bit more. I try not to be waste full. If the veggies are still there and starting to get too ripe, that means it's stir fry night!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    I got tired of eating cardboard food out of containers for lunch at work so on Sunday I now make a pot of something and package it in containers to grab and go for lunch. This week it was a package of bean sprouts, 2 bags of spinach, a red pepper, an onion, 4 oz of chicken breast diced, and a jar of Classico Florentine spaghetti sauce.

    Breakfast is my little crustless quiches. I put an egg, some chopped ham or prosciutto, little cheese, maybe some shredded veg into a each muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes. I put 2 in a container and that's my grab and go breakfast along with a yogurt.

    My mom is in hospital and has been for a while so supper is usually an unplanned event. If my hubby cooks, great!
  • nicola1141
    nicola1141 Posts: 613 Member
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    I make a match of meat sauce for pasta (lots of pureed veggies in the sauce for my picky husband).

    I also make turkey meatloaf muffins, which are great for easy lunches.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    Just depend what I'm doing for the week. Sometimes I'll make a giant pot of soup for the work week. I like the ideas of precooking oats and rice. I will have to try that. My ALWAYS prep for the week though is...

    1. Hard boiled eggs
    2. A gallon bag filled with roughly cut vegetables.
  • BCSMama
    BCSMama Posts: 348
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    I also try to cook/prepare as much as possible on Sundays for the week. Yesterday, I made:

    a batch of granola for snacks/breakfasts

    a batch of Greek Yogurt for snacks/breakfasts

    broccoli, potato and cheese soup for dinner tonight to be paired with a salad

    a casserole of shredded sweet potato, black beans, broccoli, cheese, egg, and crumbled bacon and sausage for dinner on Tues

    chopped tons of veggies for a stir fry on Wed (will add chopped tofu and make brown rice the night of)

    kimchi soup for me to take to the office for lunch a couple of days this week

    This week is kinda crazy in that Thursday I will have to grab something since I won't even get home with the kids until 8:00 due to their extracurricular activities and that's just too late to sit down to dinner for them. Then Fridays, we just have leftovers from the previous week and usually there are enough leftovers for me to take to the office for lunch a couple of days as well.

    I also almost always chop fruit and veggies for snacking.

    I plan according to what's in the garden and what's on sale at the grocery store. I find doing this has saved us lots of money, helped us eat healthier and saved lots of time during the hectic work week.
  • nicola1141
    nicola1141 Posts: 613 Member
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    a casserole of shredded sweet potato, black beans, broccoli, cheese, egg, and crumbled bacon and sausage for dinner on Tues

    Yum! Recipe, please!!
  • ryanwood935
    ryanwood935 Posts: 245 Member
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    2 weeks ago I got a great deal on chicken. Got 15 pounds total. Cooked up 10 pounds right away, shredded most of it, cubed a little bit, and had some delicious chicken breasts for dinner, smothered in Tabasco chipotle sauce (nom nom!).

    Most of the shredded chicken I mix in some low sodium cream of mushroom and use it for anything from enchiladas and casseroles to creamy chicken sandwiches. The plain shredded chicken I use to make pulled chicken sandwiches on hamburger buns.

    The cubed chicken is great for recipes. A good bit of chicken fettuccine alfredo was the result this time around. I scoop up all the chicken I can when it's on sale, because the low cal, high protein makeup is awesome for a body in motion.

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