Meal prep

I meal prep about two hours a week, in two sessions. I prep two different ways: whole meals which are complicated and meant to be eaten over several days, such as chili and Indian food; and components for meals which take a long time to cook, but can be easily turned into meals with the addition of quick cooking vegetables or added sauces.

To be specific, my breakfast right now is steel cut oats made with milk, chopped Granny Smith apples, and chopped walnuts, with cinnamon. It takes about 45 minutes to cook and I make four servings ahead. I add peanut butter and a side of cottage cheese in the mornings. This ends up being about 500 calories total and 36g carbs, which is just right to keep my blood sugar in line during the mornings. (I'm a diabetic so being consistent with my carb choices is helpful.)

Whole meals I like to prep include black bean pumpkin turkey tacos and turkey chili - both use ground turkey with chili and other seasoning, so I make the chili and the meat for the tacos at the same time. Both come out to four servings, which is two meals for me and my husband of each. I also make Chicken Saag, Raitha, and Aloo Gobi in big batches, along with basmati rice for my husband - that makes about three meals for both of us. When the weather is colder I also cook soup in large batches. Usually whatever we eat, I make enough for dinner and then lunch the next day.

Meal components I like to prep include whole grains such as quinoa, roasted vegetables, and proteins such as roast chicken and pork tenderloin. Since I eat red meat and my husband doesn't I often cook a 1 lb rare steak for myself, and eat it in salads, stir fry, etc., over the course of several days. When the grains and meat are ready to go, I can quickly add vegetables for a whole meal.

I don't like to prep sliced raw vegetables ahead, because the quality of vegetables deteriorates after they are cut, and I can slice them so quickly after years of practice that prepping them isn't necessary.

As far as calories, I usually aim for two 500 calorie meals, a lower calorie meal, and a 100-200 calorie snack, but it varies depending on my exercise. In general a full meal at my house is 400 - 600 calories.

it varies...i'll typically make one dish a week for like Monday/Tuesday dinner that I eat for several days (although this week, I made it last night)

I prep most of my food each day while cooking dinner the night before (so while my barley/sweet potato was cooking; I cooked by potatos and farro for my lunch and snack)

I meal prep for the week. Every meal except dinner (still cook once a day for myself & my daughter). I generally plan my meals on Saturday & go grocery shopping that evening. It usually takes me about 6 hours on Sunday to weight, prepare and package everything for the following week. I also eat 6 times a day, 6 small meals. I also snack prep: carrot sticks, bell peppers, goldfish crackers, cereal. Yep, I cook and organize 35 meals every Sunday plus snacks. It's what works best for me

I meal prep for 5 days. I usually sit down on Sunday mornings and decide what I want to eat for every meal Monday through Friday. I then go to the store and come home and cook. Total time from planning to being completely done is usually 3 - 4 hours. I'm single so I try to cook meals that last me all week. So I essentially eat the same thing every day Mon-Fri. Saturday and Sunday are the days that I make meals that only have 1 or 2 servings. Plus I usually go out to eat at least once on the weekend. I'm so busy during the week that if I didn't meal prep, I would make horrible but convenient choices.

I meal prep pretty much every Sunday. I'll decide what I want to make for the week, compile a grocery list, and then start prepping after grocery shopping. The MFP recipe builder is really helpful, too. Sometimes I'll use the crockpot to make a meal while I work on other prep like veggies and fruit. I usually weigh out snacks - berries, wheat thins, hummus, etc. I keep a variety of sizes of tupperware so that I have plenty of containers to portion out my meals. I also prep items that can be used in a variety of dishes - veggies, lean ground beef or turkey. It usually does not take very long, and now it's part of my routine.

On Sunday morning I prep lunches for my husband and me for the whole week. Sometimes its just one huge meal portioned out like the teriyaki chicken with stir fry veggie this week and sometimes I might change it up and make two meals to portion out like like last week I made diet friendly butter chicken with cauliflower and marinated pork chops with brussel sprouts. I usually make some rice and pack it separately for my husband since he can have more calories than me. I spend anywhere from 1- 2.5 hours in the kitchen. I don't mind though. I love leisurely cooking while blasting the tunes. I usually try to get my lunches to be about 300-400 a piece. right now I eat about 1800 a day but I am pretty active.

I prep my dinners.
I drink a protein shake for breakfast, salads for lunch with eggs or chicken, and I prep 4 dinners on Sunday night.
I work bankers hours. When I get home I DO NOT want to cook, so I always want to pick up food. Prepping has helped fight that. Only Friday's will I cheat for dinner. (but of course try to stay in my calories)
This works for me just because of my working hours.

Was try to share a pic but guess idk how lol

I plan ahead most of my meals for the week and grocery shop on Saturday and I meal prep every Sunday.

I don't do the meal in the container thing, but I make things like protein bars, fat bombs, boil eggs, make veggie burger patties and freeze, make a few batches of steel cut oatmeal, clean, slice up some veggies etc. The time usually takes me about 2 hours.

Yesterday I made homemade veggie spring rolls to go with my stir-fry tonight. All I have to do it cook them!

I eat around 2500 calories a day. Some days more others days less (I look at my calories weekly, not daily).

Meal prepping and planning saves me a lot of time!

My meal prepping consists of throwing a bag of chicken breasts in the Crockpot then shredding them when its done. We eat off that for about 4-5 days. I'll make sandwiches out of the shredded chicken or chicken salad or sometimes (mostly in the winter) a casserole. I bought myself a handy-dandy egg boiler and I'll hard boil 6 eggs. I'll eat them plain, put them on my chicken sandwich or make tuna salad or chicken salad with them.

I eat a lot of Greek yogurt, prepackaged and easy to grab. Baby Bell cheese is my other go-to for grabbing a quick snack. I'll also weigh out almonds too.

I'm all about spending the least amount of time in the kitchen and I get bored quickly eating the same thing over and over. If I get bored then my eating veers off in the wrong direction.