MEAL PREP (my last post was worded poorly)

I certainly don't have any recipes, but I can tell you what I'm doing, because it's definitely working for me.

During the week I come up with a plan, on Friday evening or Saturday morning I shop, and I break the actual cooking up between Saturday and Sunday. Honestly I've never eaten lunches this good on a regular basis. It doesn't take much effort, and it's fun coming up with a new menu each week.

Breakfast doesn't involve any thought because I do the same thing every week: an egg bake with zucchini, onion, tomato, green chiles, and cheese. Easy to grab in the morning and microwave for a minute. I do slightly undercook them before storing them so the microwave doesn't get them overcooked. By the time they're hot they're perfect.

My lunch is different every week, but I really make an effort to make it delicious. Usually I pick a part of the world and develop a menu around its flavors. Indian this week, Mexican last week, Southwest USA week before, Thailand before that, etc etc etc.

I always have a starch (spiced basmati rice this week), a protein (chicken tomato curry), hot vegetables (veg kurma), and I usually also have a cold salad (kachumber salad). I cook each item and store it in the fridge, taking careful note of ingredients and amounts. After all the cooking is done, I enter it all into MFP as recipes, and calculate how big each day's serving should be. Once all the cooking and math is done, I divvy it up into days and I'm done!

As far as freshness problems, I have a couple of suggestions. Take reheating into consideration when you're cooking. Better to (VERY) slightly undercook the first time and bring it the rest of the way in the reheat, than to cook it all the way through at first and overcook it in the reheat. Mushy veg and tough meat is no fun, but it's avoidable if you plan ahead.

I don't really make the whole week's worth of salads over the weekend. I don't do any more than a day or two, but it's literally three or four minutes of chopping vegetables and making a quick dressing, so the freshness is worth it. This goes for things like celery sticks, as well. In my opinion, spending a minute cutting them the night before is worth it.

These tiny night-before things usually take no more than five minutes total, and I do them after dinner before cleaning the kitchen.

OH that reminds me of an important tip. Make sure you have eaten a full meal BEFORE cooking for the week. Cooking delicious food you can't eat yet is absolutely miserable if you're hungry.

A lunch idea: A low carb wrap with some healthy deli meats. This would be easy to make the night before.