Weekend Prep Food

Chop and cut up veggies in sandwich bags so they are ready to grab for snacks or meal finishing.

I try to have two dishes that can just be heated up - e.g. bolognase sauce / stew / curry. I aim for two for a bit of variety - put left overs in single portions in the freezer. I eat these on their own, don't bother with rice or anything else. Maybe some extra veg.

A roast of some sort on sunda+ roasted veg - does dinner and lots of left overs.

winter - Soup - ideally two, but portioned up for the freezer.
Summer - Salad dressing

Lots of 'easy' food - eggs/single portion veg sugar snap peas/advocado/tomatoes (stuff I don't have to prepare I just eat as is.

boiled eggs - if you like them (I wish I did, I just scramble mine in the morning, but wish I could boil up 6 at the start of the week) I've been toying with making small little fritattas or baked omlettes in the oven in silicon cupcake cases - I could grab these in the am, but I havn't actually tried this one yet.

I'm very easy, food can be cold/room temperature/etc... but must be easy to grab.

I do so much food prep on the weekends. Pretty much every Sunday on salad, chicken and eggs. Every other Sunday for the rest. My usual big Sunday list includes:

Roast chicken (shred for salads)
Hard boiled eggs
Cut and blanched veggies for dipping
Cut kale, cabbage, green onions for salad
Salad dressing (I'm stuck on making a creamy thai salad dressing lately)
Marinated chicken pieces for kabobs. My faves; http://kitchenmeetsgirl.com/honey-lime-chicken-skewers/ and http://withstyleandgraceblog.com/2012/09/13/healthy-chicken-skewers-tzatziki-sauce/

Marina sauce
Sometimes meatballs because they freeze so well: http://amazingpinterestworld.blogspot.com/2012/10/chicken-parm-meatballs.html

And, if I'm really ambitious, I'll throw a soup in the crockpot.

I freeze the kabobs, meatballs and most of the marina.

I make soup, healthy casseroles (chicken black bean), curries, frittatas. As someone else also mentioned, I portion it and freeze individual servings so I don't eat the same thing every day and have some variety to pull out of the freezer.

I really enjoy salads for lunch.

I cut up all the veggies I need and put them in separate baggies- red pepper, orange pepper, cucumber, tomato, onion, etc. Also I make whatever else I like to put in salads- ground turkey, black beans, rice, etc.

I package them all up separately, usually just in plastic baggies or tupperware containers.. then when I go to make my salads for lunch I just have to shake a few of the baggies on top of my salad instead of cutting up the veggies every morning.

When you freeze food does it reheat well?

Potatoes always seem funky when they reheat!

Never tried rice r quinoa reheated after frozen, how is that in a soup or casserole?

Certain things freeze better than others. I don't usually freeze potatoes unless they are in a soup....

Most soups freeze great.
Meats in marinades also freeze great and there's the additional benefit of actively marinating while thawing for more flavor (although when I freeze meats in marinades, I usually let them sit for an hour in the fridge before transferring them over).
Meatballs freeze very well.
Pasta sauce freeze very well.
You can also freeze some ingredients that you don't use up. I often end up freezing ginger, rosemary, stock, bacon, etc.

When you are planning to freeze a hot liquid, let it come to room temperature first. Or, put it in the fridge with an opening on the cover. This will help release the steam. Before you throw it in the freezer, wipe the cover and seal. This will prevent icing on the top.

I keep soup (or stew or chili) in the freezer as well as a few other meals (I usually do this prep once a month).

I chop fresh veggies and big fruits like melon.

I prep lettuce for salad or I make the salad depending on what it is.

I make hummus.

I might roast a chicken.

I might make a pot of rice or other grain.

I haven't done it 5 years so I can't remember the specifics but I used to make mashed potatoes and put them in ice cube trays to freeze and then pop them out into a freezer bag and reheat them a few at a time. I'm sure I just cubed the potatoes, boiled them, drained them, returned them to the pan, cooked them again just until they were dry and mashed them up and then portioned them and froze them and reheated them in the microwave a few seconds at a time with milk and butter and remashed them with a fork.

Also in the summer I make ice pops or yogurt bars.

One thing I don't do and would love to try one day is making my own bread. I think it would be awesome but I'm not that brave.

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