Meal Prep

I do prep for the week. It has saved so much time and effort and easy throw together meals when I come home hungry! Having something ready to roll makes it so much easier and I am less likely to grab those Tostitos! I prep my chicken into bite size, tenders, and I also do a crockpot full of chicken to shred and freeze; wash and cut my veggies for snacks and salads; put together small containers of natural peanut butter and hummus to go with those snack bags of veggies; a container of Quinoa so I can add that to whatever I am making. I also make, on most Sundays, roasted butternut squash and bake some sweet potatoes. Some weeks I will make a pot of Chicken Quinoa chili to have - or a different soup/chili. I have tried the mason jar salads and am not a fan -- they tend to all taste blended. I do cut up all the fixings and put them in separate mason jars and that throws together quickly in the morning for lunches. I also boil 12-16 eggs for to grab. In all, I usually spend a total of 2-3 hours through the weekend and it gets us through the week.

I think the main thing is to prepare a bunch of food that you can combine into different meals rather than making a large quantity of 1 thing.

Examples would be: washing greens and lettuce, roasting veggies, chopping veggies to add to salads, cooking meats and proteins, making some cooked quinoa and grains that you can make into pilaf, stock the freezer with soups and sauces, pizza dough, etc.

I usually buy my groceries and prep and cook them right away, store them in tupperware and ziploc in the fridge and freezer. I focus on making a variety of foods that I can throw together into different meals in 10 minutes, depending on what I want to eat.

If you are relying on convenience foods, takeout and restaurants then you will likely lose weight just by switching to food you prepare yourself. Instead of ordering pizza, I have everything in the freezer and I transfer it to the fridge in the morning so when I get home I can make my own pizza with defrosted dough, homemade sugar-free marinara sauce and lowfat mozzarella--and it's really good! My own freshly made hot pizza with a salad is a much more nutritious and satisfying dinner than ordering pizza and it takes minutes to prepare. This is just an example of how to modify your habits and lose weight relatively painlessly (not saying you order pizza all the time, this is just an example of a change I made).

As above, I do boil up eggs, those are great for a quick protein snack ( I ditch the yolks for cholesterol reasons). I mostly prep the next days meals while cooking supper. I've found if I prep too much I can't always eat up what I've got. Keeping some vegis whole until I use them sometime makes them last a little longer in the frige. BUT yes, prep, prep & prep, a great diet hack!

I freeze what I call Bags o' Dinner -- uncooked ingredients frozen in gallon bags meant to be thawed and cooked in the crock pot.

I find this very useful for days when everyone is on the go, and no-one is home to prep meals.

Totally peasant cooking, but really nice for when you're working hard.

I do. I prepare 1 or 2 meals over the weekend, portion them in individual containers and freeze them, so that all I have to do is pop them in the microwave for dinner. It helps to have some tried and true recipes that are easy and use few ingredients. I make a batch of egg muffins to take to work for breakfast and when the weather is warmer, I fire up the grill and make a crapload of meat. I did this Saturday when it was 60 degrees. I like that I get most of my cooking done over the weekend when I have more time to clean up and not have to worry about a messy kitchen during the week when I have less time.

I make a calendar for the week and write in detail all of the meals for myself for breakfast and lunch, and for my family of four (my husband, myself and our two roommates). I pick a couple of recipes that I like and meals that I'm used to. I compile a grocery list with quantities of each item as I fill in the calendar. I do this on an excel sheet so I can keep a running total and make sure that I check my fridge and pantry for items I already have. I do shopping and prep on Sunday. I try to prep as I put away groceries so I don't do double and triple trips to the pantry and fridge.

I like to cook up several cups of brown rice and quinoa. I keep them in Tupperware for use through out the week. I hard-bake 12-14 eggs for myself and others. Pop them in a muffin tin and bake for 35 min at 300 degrees. Chill them down with ice water. I can task a roommate or my husband with peeling them and putting them in a gallon bag for me. I also like to chop up veggies for salads and meals. I usually do two heads of celery, 2 lbs of carrots (i like these better than the baby ones), 6 bell peppers, English cucumbers, a bunch of radishes, 1 onion, etc. I like to do Spaghetti Squash Mondays, so I will half, de-seed and wrap a spaghetti squash. That way, I can just pull it out of the fridge when I get home and throw it in the microwave. I buy a big carton of mixed greens. I also get some green leaf lettuce for wraps. I make energy bites and wrap those in case my sweet tooth attacks. I used a lot of ideas for lunches from this blog with the recipe.

http://darlingbedaring.com/healthy-girl-on-the-go/

This last Sunday I also did a big pot of chicken stock from the leftovers from my Costco Rotisserie chicken and my veggie scraps that I froze from the week before. It is so good and low-sodium. It just sits on the stove while you do other stuff. I also did a crock pot full of white bean and chicken chili. I try to always use crock-pot liners for easy clean up. They are located near the foil and plastic wrap in the stores. They are a life-saver.

During the week, I make my quick meals, and, while it is cooking, I throw together one of my planned lunches. When I feel generous, I will make one for my hubby to take too. I am slowly getting used to it, but it is money and time well spent. I give up 4-5 hours on Sunday and I get it back in spades throughout the week. I can email you my grocery list, planning calendar and recipes if you would like to see it. Just let me know where to send it.