Once a week cooking and prepping ideas

Nice post! I have been using SKINNYTASTE much more frequently and many of my recipes for the week will come from that. Considering its only my husband and myself, we generally make the full batch and freeze whatever is left or have leftovers throughout the week. For lunch, i generally stick with salads or leftovers.

Anyway, for lunch today and dinner tomorrow (for me)...Flounder Milanese with an Arugula Salad. On Thursday, we are doing a Crockpot Corn Beef and Cabbage (I know a tad late for St. Patricks Day but the husband and I work in the evenings and its our only night off together). Both of these recipes are found on SKINNYTASTE.

I happened to get a pack of fresh flounder from Costco so I will cook half now and freeze the rest. I also got a 4-pack of ground turkey from Costco so I am debating making a turkey and bean chili or turkey lettuce wraps.

I usually eat a lot of fresh veggie and fruits during the day with one protein. My goal is to keep lunch at 400 calories and snacks around 200 because I need extra calories at supper - which are not as diet friendly, which is also why I don't bring it for lunch - I want more to eat then the small portions my calories allow. I buy and clean all my veggies and fruits on the weekend so they are ready to go for lunchs and snacks for myself and the kids. I also have boiled eggs handy.

This Sunday I made a lot of chicken breast in the crockpot so I can bring that as the protein side first few days of the week. I like Tuna but not everyday. I also like deli meats but they are not as good for you. Most of my day food is assembled rather than cooked. I also made some brown rice I can bring although I'm not sure exactly what to do with it other than eat it plain, lol.

Great topic! I prep/cook all of my food ahead of time, usually on Sundays.

Chili is a really good make-ahead dish and actually seems to improve the longer it's stored.

Egg casseroles are also really good make-ahead meals and can be stored for future use. The beauty of these is that you can toss in whatever ingredients dazzle you. I usually use egg whites, a couple of whole eggs, sauteed spinach, goat/feta cheese, chopped tomatoes, chicken sausage (cutting that out though, too much sodium), and whatever else sounds good. I just toss it together, bake it, and cut it into 4 squares (I treat myself to lunch out once per week).

Yesterday I made 4 recipes - mediterranean chicken salad (recipe is on bodybuilding.com website), sticky chicken, turkey meatloaf, and a YUMMY cinnamon walnut quinoa with raisins (something to have for a little "treat"). I have my lunches and dinners for this week, lunches for next week, and something slightly sweet to eat if I desire.

The possibilities really are endless.

Bump for the cinnamon walnut quinoa recipie!

I tend to do most of my meal cooking on Saturdays or Sundays. I utilize a freezer to help me add variety as I also tend to buy a "family pack" and I'm one person so I don't want to be eating the same meat source each week. But here is what I do. Last week I bought a family pack of b/s chicken breasts. I then cut them into 4 ounce servings. I utilize a large pan but then seperate the pan into sections. 3 servings I baked with a BBQ rub seasoning, 3 servings I baked with a mix of shake n bake, paprika and parmesean cheese, 3 servings I baked with crushed doritos. 9 servings baked and then transfered into individual containers. The ones I would use that week I left in fridge everything else goes in freezer. Week before I cooked up a large serving of lean ground beef into "taco meet" and then put them in 2 ounce (lunch) and 4 ounce (dinner) containers. I then will make tacos or nachos with that. A large package of ground beef makes me between 10 and 15 servings. I will also throw b/s chicken breasts or a lean pork tenderloin in the crockpot then pull it at the end and transfer them to 3 ounce and 5 ounce servings. I might add bbq sauce to some and fajita sauce in others.

Great ideas, i sometimes refer to this website, and then I cut the calories as I need to. http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/shows/rachael-rays-week-in-a-day.html.

So how what kind of veggies store better than others, that are already prepped? I found I can keep a bell pepper for up to a week in the crisper in a produce bag that has already been cut. I have terrible luck with cherry tomatoes, they get all wrinkled up in a few short days. I have great success with cucumbers, only slice off a chunk at a time to peel and eat. Wrap unused portion in plastic wrap. I can keep a cut cucumber for 3 days like this.

I have tried bell pepper, onions, chopped Kale/swiss chard(if not rinsed), carrots, asparagus, broccoli, celery, potatoes(soak in water so don’t turn brown), cubed sweet potatoes, cubed butternut squash, zucchini and yellow squash (depends on how fresh it was before), radishes, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, beets, cauliflower. I think the key is to keep them pretty dry before you put them in the crisper.

I make breakfast on Sunday that last me all week. I put light sausage or turkey sausage in a skillet and brown it and then add whatever veggies I have (bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, potato, jalapeno pepper and some rotel, well drained) and some sort of cheese (the last time I made it I added a can of Campbells nacho cheese soup, undiluted) I also add in one small carton of egg substitue and one small carton of egg white substitute. Very good and can be made different by the veggies that you put in it and it lasts me all week (about 7 servings)

Last week I made a Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Steel-Cut Oatmeal. I cook it overnight in the crockpot, take out a portion in the morning to eat, and put the rest in mason jars in the fridge. I can then reheat a portion everyday. A 1 cup serving works out to be 116 calories, not counting any additional toppings or sweeteners I might add. I used this recipe as a model: http://www.rachelcooks.com/2013/10/11/slow-cooker-pumpkin-pie-steel-cut-oats/ I used Almond Milk instead of Skim and added 2 bananas and some chia seeds.

I plan on trying some of the Overnight Refrigerator oatmeal recipes when the weather warms up.

I have been making a lot of soups and doubling the recipes so I have extra portions to freeze, that way I can just pull one out the freezer and heat it up for a quick meal. Chili, Chicken/Turkey Noodle, and most other non-cream soups work really well for this.

I buy whole Turkeys and Chickens on sale. I'll brine them and roast them, serve some of the meat and some veggies for the first meal and then make freezer meals from the leftovers. Usually I can get 2 Pot Pies, several soups, and have some cut up meat left over for salads/sandwiches for a few days.

As for veggies, once they are cut it seems to drop their shelf-life pretty drastically. Cherry tomatoes, and other tomatoes, generally last a little longer outside of the fridge for a few days and taste better. Lettuce and spinach keep longer if you put it in a container with paper towels to absorb the moisture. Most veggies, I wait to cut them as I use them (onions, bell peppers, etc) although they do keep okay in a plastic container.

I don't always have full meals cooked ahead, but I always cook on Saturday to make prep easier for the rest of the week.

For instance, this is what I prepped this Saturday:

Home made wheat pancakes for my son (he ate some and I froze the rest)
Boiled and soaked black beans for the week
Baked tofu to use in several dishes
Washed/cut all the fruits and veggies I wanted cut up
Crock pot oatmeal for five days
Made spaghetti squash to use for the week

I also enjoy making soups or sauces ahead and freezing them. I'm always looking for new ideas!

Tonight, I'm prepping 20 individual breakfast burritos to go into the freezer. I'm using regular flour tortillas, southwest style egg beaters, diced potatoes with onion and pepper, shredded cheddar cheese, turkey breakfast sausage, and salsa. Each burrito will be 260 calories, wrapped up in saran wrap, and put in a gallon bag in the freezer. Then I can just pull one out in the morning and microwave as needed.

My normal dinner is a fruit, a vegetable, and some sort of meat (chicken breast, fish, etc.) So my biggest goal in the early part of the week is to have two giant bowls in the fridge. One bowl of cut up fruit, another of cut up vegetables that are ready to be grilled or roasted.

I used to love to make the meals that just involve putting a bunch of cut up meat/veggies/sauce in a freezer bag and freezing it until it is ready to be dropped in the crockpot. (See - http://www.mamaandbabylove.com/category/slow-cooker/) Since I moved recently, I don't have adequate freezer space, and don't do this as often. If I were to start doing this again, as a single person that doesn't care for left overs, I would probably get smaller bags and freeze them as individual portions, and drop them in my tiny crock pot meant for things like dip and little smokies! :-)

Saturday I cook a pound of beans. I reserve 2 cups for hearty soup making sunday and freeze the rest in 2 cup portions.

Sunday I make hearty soup by browning meat and onions. Adding broth spices beans and kale.
I eat out of it all week.

I cook 2 quarts of cinnamon steel cut oatmeal. I eat out of it all week with flax and fruit.

I also make a fish or meat loaf Into burgers and grill on my george foreman. I freeze individually in a ziplock.

I also hard boil a dozen eggs for meals snack and protein.

I grill fish friday with a tablespoon of pesto. Ginger. Mustard or other sauce.

I eat fish again on friday.

I have a dr. Joel fuhrman gombs salad daily. Bitter greens collards kale turnip greens watercress. Onions. Beans. Berries. Seeds. No dressing cheese or meat.

On Sundays, I cook a huge batch of eggs/veggies. Super easy and yummy for any meal.

Just heat up a little olive oil, add chopped baby bella mushrooms, onions, peppers, or whatever you like. Sautee them, then add the eggs. I usually make my skillet with about 7-8 eggs. Lasts me the whole week. I usually just grab a low carb/high fiber tortilla and wrap up the heated egg mixture in it. Maybe add a little sour cream and hot sauce. Delicious breakfast!

We make quesadillas in the batches.
Thinly slice and marindade the meat as per your tastes. We marinade for 1-2 days. We use a different meat each time we make these for variety.
Saute sliced onions, mushrooms, peppers, pickled jalapenos, olives with salt, pepper and garlic. This is the minimum base. We've added other veggies as desired and available (cooked asparagus or broccoli...anything that can take a spicy touch).
Saute the meat.
Mix the meat & veggie mixes together.
Sprinkle some grated cheese around the edges of half a tortilla wrap, add some of the meat/veggie mix to center of that half & sprinkle a bit more cheese around the meat edges. Fold over the tortilla wrap and press flat. In a dry pan, saute the quesadilla until the cheese melts (1-2 minutes per side) and holds the halves together. Remove from heat and cool.
These can be kept frozen for a long time. We usually make about 24 quesadillas, using a variety of tortilla wrap flavours.

Pea or Lentil soups freeze well. And I always make chili in the largest pot we have when I make it.

Another thing I'll do is make up about a large batch of meatball mix and bake the meatballs in the oven on cookie pans, then freeze them in bags of 10-12. Four to five lbs of meat makes about 100 or more meatballs. Good for spaghetti sauce, soups and stir-fries.

Once a week, I throw any "old" veggies (those left from last week, lettuce that's getting a bit wilty, etc) into a juicer and freeze the juice in ice cube trays (later put them into a freezer bag) to use for soups, sauces and/or gravies.