Meal prep recipes taking less than an hour

laraaragon
laraaragon Posts: 90 Member
edited November 29 in Food and Nutrition
Any recommendations for meal prep recipes that take less than an hour to prepare? Thanks!

Replies

  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    I'll stir fry a bunch of chicken and veggies all at once and then divide it up into Tupperware for the week.
    I'll also scramble a bunch of eggs for my breakfasts.
  • jennismagic
    jennismagic Posts: 243 Member
    It's never taken less than an hour for me. I think it would be hard to do, especially if you're eating a lot of fresh foods. Maybe try to break everything up into little tasks that you can do at different points, instead of trying to do it all at once?
  • provencal73
    provencal73 Posts: 1,275 Member
    I prep for two people, definitely takes over an hour. :neutral:
  • cat_lady77
    cat_lady77 Posts: 203 Member
    I can normally bake a pan of chicken, roast some veggies, & make some rice in about an hour. Just trim the chicken breasts & put them in a pan with some kind of sauce (asian, BBQ, etc). Chop up veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, brussel sprouts, & pan roast with some olive oil & seasoning. Rice cooks in rice cooker til it's done!
  • mjwarbeck
    mjwarbeck Posts: 699 Member
    I cook for five of us mostly from scratch...it is very rare that it takes more than 1 hour from start to finish.....and often I'd cook a different meat or protein for wife or kids.

    Examples of meals
    Mushroom risotto with arugula and pistachio and a salad
    Baked chicken (shrimp for wife), sweet potato mash and green chick peas
    Every Sichuan themed meal, Indian themed meal, Thai themed meal
    Pastas, gnocchi
    Fresh soups in the pressure cooker

    The only time a meal would take longer would be if I was slow cooking ribs or a roast on the bbq (as this would take 3-5 hours)...or slow braising in the Dutch oven.
  • caroldavison332
    caroldavison332 Posts: 864 Member
    Shop Saturday. Cook Sunday. Breakfast: make tub o oatmeal. Lunch: Hard boil and egg for each day. Dinner: Make tub o soup/chili or Make 12 beefburgers and 2 salmon patties. I also nuke a bag of mixed veggies daily.
  • blondierunner2015
    blondierunner2015 Posts: 129 Member
    Roast a bunch of veggies while baking a couple of sweet potatoes, while baking a pan of chicken and steaks (or grill). I also like to make zuchini spaghetti - just zuchini noodles, organic spaghetti sauce, chicken (that you have already baked) and some mozerella cheese on top, bake in the oven 350 for 20 minutes or heat in the microwave.
  • jbee27
    jbee27 Posts: 356 Member
    I try to do my breakfasts and lunches for the week on Sunday. Here is what I did last night, probably took me just slightly over an hour.

    Breakfasts--cooked steel cut oats, divided into five small containers, added dried cranberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon. (I'll add 1/3 cup of almond milk each morning, and then warm in the microwave at work).

    Lunches--Barley salad and grilled chicken.
    Cooked 2 cups barley, made dressing (2 finely diced shallots, 5 oz lemon juice, 3 oz olive oil, salt and pepper). Divided into five small containers. Each night I'll dice up a tomato, 1/2 cucumber and a few radishes and add it to the next days container. (I don't like to predice the veg, they get mushy).
    Used a grill pan to grill three large chicken breasts, sliced, divided into 5 containers with ~150g in each container.

  • elaineamj
    elaineamj Posts: 347 Member
    Our lunches are typically leftovers from dinner the night before. It usually takes me anywhere from 30mins to 1hr or so to cook dinner. We usually have 2-4 portions of leftovers from dinner so I have been building up a backlog in my freezer. I have about 4 lunches frozen that we haven't had time to eat yet. Kinda nice to see them sitting there for sometime in the future when we need food.

    I'd like to do more meal prep on the weekends though :)
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    Boil 10 ounces Noodles (your choice), brown 2lbs 85/15 ground beef 1lb Ground Turkey 85-15 pour in once Jar of Spaghetti sauce split into 5 containers takes me about 30 min every sunday.
  • sarahhuntting15
    sarahhuntting15 Posts: 11 Member
    I like to check out pinterest. I usually use the tags "healthy" and one or more of the ingredients I have on hand and see what comes back. You sometimes have to do a lot of digging to find recipes that will work with your schedule, but you can do it!
    I cook for 4 people, and there are very few meals I've made that take longer than an hour for all the prep and cook time.
    And your knife skills will improve the more you use them, so that will help, too.
  • iecreamheadaches
    iecreamheadaches Posts: 441 Member
    I just really started prepping stuff for lunches and I dont think its possible for me to prep in under an hour because one of the three im prepping for has an OCD where her food cannot touch, and the other one is lactose intolerant. Two of my favorite people in the world though, what can you do?
  • bmayes2014
    bmayes2014 Posts: 232 Member
    edited February 2016
    salmon, sweet potato and veggies in the oven on a cookie sheet (lined with foil) at 375 or 400 degrees. Package into containers for the week once finished and cooled. Breakfast - boiled eggs with fruit. easy peasy. I hate long meal preps too!! I prep on Sundays. This usually takes me about 15 minutes for the fish and 45 minutes for the rest. I remove them separately.
  • fitmiss_alyss
    fitmiss_alyss Posts: 1 Member
    Frozen Vegetables have cut my meal prep down by hours! You can literally just throw them in containers and they taste great with a little seasoning! Ground Meat (chicken, turkey, ground beef etc.) takes like 5 minutes to cook completely. Throw chicken in a crockpot on High in the morning and 4 hours later you have awesome tasting chicken and you don't have to do anything. Instant Rice for 7 days can take 10-15 minutes. Even Lentils are quick and easy. My meal prep takes less than 30 minutes now
  • NinjaUnicornPirate
    NinjaUnicornPirate Posts: 43 Member
    karla24687 wrote: »
    I can normally bake a pan of chicken, roast some veggies, & make some rice in about an hour. Just trim the chicken breasts & put them in a pan with some kind of sauce (asian, BBQ, etc). Chop up veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, brussel sprouts, & pan roast with some olive oil & seasoning. Rice cooks in rice cooker til it's done!

    I do this a lot, as well!! Also, the ziplock steam bags are incredible. I strongly recommend them. And anything I can rock in a crockpot. Also, this takes about 30 and is DELICIOUS.
    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-turkey-chili/?mxt=t06dda
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