Meal Prep - How do YOU do it??

I like to cook a family-value pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts at 450 in a pan of water, with a bit of garlic and jalapeno. The water seems to help keep the chicken from drying out, and the spices make it bearable to eat as-is, but I rarely do that. After they cool, I take them out of the water, trim, and put in plastic to eat throughout the week as needed.

The chicken breasts as prepared don't have so much flavor that they overwhelm other things. So it's a perfect blank slate and I weigh out however much I need as I go:

--House of Tsang makes some very nice sauces: Hunan, peanut, Korean BBQ, etc. The ingredient lists don't hurt me to read, and they're few calories for a lot of flavor. 30 sec in the microwave to take the chill off the chicken and it's done.
--Homemade kung pao sauce
^^both of these applications are awesome with veggies, too. Which I really need more of on any given day!
--New Mexico or Chipotle chili powder - throw in some cumin if I'm feeling chili-ish. Perfect addition to quesadillas.

Basically, I lean on chicken to see me through the "what's easiest" times without reaching for bread. Not that there's ANYTHING wrong with bread, but not as 90% of your daily intake - which I could do, since it's right there & ready!

If chicken doesn't happen, getting sliced deli turkey can save me, although I do get tired of it. If you look at my diary, the current 5-day streak shows what happens when I get OUT of the prep habit. If you look back ~March, it was pretty dialed in. HTH!:drinker:

Great ideas bumping for reference

bump

I meal plan and prep 2 weeks at a time but don't actually cook much of it. I cut (if needed) and bag meat in ziplock bags for each meal, then label and freeze, that way I can take out just 2 chicken breasts, or 1/2 lb hamburger instead if an entire package when I need it for that nights dinner and it's ready to use.

I also make up 4 slow cooker freezer meals (we're home late every tues/thurs) so I have to do thaw/put in crockpot.

Veggies get chopped, ready to eat/use.

And I make muffins, pancakes and waffles for the kids and freeze them for easy breakfasts.

I do the same thing! I prepare all my breakfasts and lunches on Sunday. Family knows the Tupperware is MINE! If I don't prep ahead of time, I will not stick to my food plan! Being prepared ahead of time helps out....ESPECIALLY if you have hectic mornings!

Each Thursday/Friday I write out the dinners I plan to cook for the following week and make a list of what I need from the store for these meals (I also keep a list of the items I buy each week on the same piece of paper -- I created a template in Microsoft Word so it's easy to print and I also put space on there to include a total for budget tracking).

I shop on Fridays and prep on Sundays. My prep involves cutting all fresh fruits and veggies then putting them into containers for each day of the week. I also hard boil enough eggs for the week and throw them in the container with the veggies. I have found that brown eggs are better for boiling as they shell seems a little thicker making them less likely to crack in the boiling process and easier to peel.

I generally plan a Sunday dinner that will result in at least one to two days of lunches for my boyfriend (I generally eat plain greek yogurt flavored with nuts, cinnamon, and honey or a bed of spinach and sliced veggies with tuna for lunch so I will prep these at the same time for ease. If doing the salad type of lunch I put my more water saturated veggies on the bottom to help keep the spinach fresh!).

Other than that, the meals I plan throughout the week (I cook dinner pretty much every day) provide enough left overs to give my boyfriend variety and keep me from having to cook several meals a day.

Breakfast I usually cook that morning but will occasionally reheat scrambled eggs/turkey bacon or do a protein shake.