Meal prep?

I do true meal prepping. It's all all day thing, literally: I spend 10 hours on Sundays breaking down my entire following week, grocery shopping, weighing/measuring, cooking and packaging.

Now, there are simpler meal preps that most people would prefer. Making enough for next day leftovers, is a meal prep.

Snacks are a great place to start. Buy the bulk snacks - this also helps on grocery bills(grapes, goldfish crackers, nuts, carrot sticks, melon). Weigh out single serving sizes and put them into little Ziploc bags. Easy food logging and kids will be more likely to eat something when they have a choice. (Pick out one fruit & one snack...yes ANY one you want, they get excited to be able to pick thier own).

Sandwiches are also a good idea. Premake sandwiches omitting condiments (unless you like soggy bread). I do the entire loaf of bread at once for mine and my daughter's lunches. That's an easy one to get kids involved in, make it into an assembly line and have fun. Let then choose which cheese or meat they want, if they want extra pickles or lettuce. And because there are no condiments involved in the prep, it's less messy.

Meatloaf is easy too. I premake 5lbs at a time, separate them into single serving balls/lumps and freeze them. Then, I just thaw out what I need for the next day and pop them into the oven. Now this is a messy one to have little kids help, but kids love messy so they might have fun. If they have fun, they aren't whining or complaining = mommy/daddy is having a better day as well.

Microwave breakfast bowls: Regular biscuits(prepacked ones are great, just use the regular ones, not the flaky or fancy variety.) Scramble eggs add precooked meats/veggies. Roll the biscuits flat, put them into cupcake pans with liners, fill with egg/meat/veggie mix. Bake. They can be frozen and used as a quick microwaved breakfast. Again, let your kids help. Let them pick some meats or veggies or cheese. If they make "thier own" they will be more likely to eat them. (Child pshychology 101).

Now, I had my nephew for three years (long story). He was so used to eating junk (a diet of mainly fast food, chips, sweets). My house was a shock to him. It took about 2 weeks to break him of his picky eating habits. Because I am his Aunt (at the time mother figure), not his best friend. Dinner is what I make, that's it. It was VERY hard at first, I cried in frustrating more than a couple times at night. Then I figured something out, when introducing new foods, introduce them as something disgusting (I don't get it, but it works) such as asparagus. When we asked me what they were I told him "Mutant grasshopper antenna". He argued that they weren't, I ate one and said that they were. He the proceeded to take a bite out of one to "prove" they weren't....he ate asparagus, that's all that matters. Avocados were "Monster eggs". Brussle spouts were "Alien eyeballs", black olives were "Giant spider heads". A month in and he started requesting spider heads and antenna and monster eggs with dinner.