Is Meal Prep intimidating to everyone, and is it worth it?

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Replies

  • oh_happy_day
    oh_happy_day Posts: 1,137 Member
    Meal prep is the only way I manage to eat within my calorie allowance and meet my macros. I usually prep 2-3 days ahead of time as well as batch cook for the freezer. I also do a meal plan for the week so I know when I need to cook and get groceries. It solves the "oh let's just get takeout" problem. And at work I'll just eat what I've brought so I'm not tempted to go elsewhere.

    I rely heavily on the crockpot - it's fantastic for healthy cooking in bulk. For work lunches I usually do salads, soups and fritattas. I also portion out my snacks and make overnight oats for breakfasts. Sure it's boring and I usually spend 4 hours in the kitchen on a Sunday by the time I do meals for me and DH, plus a extra 20-30 minutes in the evenings. I'd rather be doing something else but I've accepted that this is how I can meet my nutritional needs, calorie allowance, time limitations and budget.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    OP, why don't you try one single dish - make a chili or something, portion it and freeze it. If it helps you over the next few months to have a quick dinner or lunch, then you can try making two recipes, etc.
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    What was helpful for me was to get ahead of myself - throwing 1 meal in the crockpot and then making something else on the stove or in the oven, then doing the same thing the following weekend. Then I had 4 different meals to pick from and something like 12 portions in the freezer, plus 2 in the fridge. From there I could just make 1 thing over the weekend and be done :)

    I also loosely plan out my dinners right now - once fall hits, I'll probably be a little tighter about it. Monday and Wednesday or Thursday are typically something from the freezer so I take it out the night before so it can thaw. Tuesday I run with a group so I have a protein bar and some cereal since I'm short on time and not very hungry. Wednesday/Thursday I bake some chicken and pop a bag of Steamfresh veggies in the microwave (again, taking chicken out the night before to thaw). Friday I'll cook a proper meal or go out for dinner.

    Weekends can be flexible since I'm home a good chunk of the time anyway.

    It was definitely a little intimidating at first but now I find it lots of fun and much less stressful to figure out what's for dinner. This has meant I go out less often and I'm saving money, so there's an added bonus!

    ~Lyssa
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    Small pots of food take marginally less time to make than large pots. I have two stock pots that get used for soups and stews. Yes, TWO of them, plus tons of plastic containers for taking stuff to work. Multiple cookie sheets and baking pans, too. Almost anything can be baked at an alternate temperature for a different time. Most veggies should be nuked, chopped up, and tossed into the pot to finish cooking in that order. Less effort and less for the air conditioner to deal with.

    I assume that people who don't do their own cooking in batches either have more spare time or went bonkers long ago. Or don't cook, though that's a recipe for eating rubbish.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I am loose and creative with my meal prepping. I think if I pre-cooked a bunch of chicken breasts and tried to meal that every day I'd go insane. Instead, I have a few routines that get me a bunch of meals in a single sitting. For instance,
    • Even though there's just the two of us at home, I still bulk buy ground turkey and ground beef and repackage in to single servings. I make a huge tray of meat balls all at once, take out some for our meal, and freeze the rest. The same meatball recipe can be stuffed in to a throwaway foil container to be baked as meatloaf later.
    • Roasts. Roast on Sunday, Stew on Monday, leavings in wraps for lunch, and bones stowed away for soup later.
    • Crock pot meals are just as easy to make for ten as for two. I regularly make Stews and Chili's to put away for later.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    Honestly, we cook fresh pretty much every day, and it hardly ever takes more than 30 minutes including cutting vegetables (and meat if necessary), cooking and serving. There are lots of quick wok and pasta dishes out there, and even if we do something like steak it only takes a few minutes. Cooking doesn't need to be complicated. If we do something like spaghetti bolognese, a few soups and stews then the cooking takes somewhat longer, but the portions are usually such that we can eat two or three times from it.

    For work we have real old-fashioned old world sandwiches: cut a slice of brown bread in half, put butter on if you like, a slice of cheese or deli meat, put other half on top, ready.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited August 2015
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  • SarahLeeB23
    SarahLeeB23 Posts: 4 Member
    I'm big into Paleo atm, so I all I really need is to go to that paleo subreddit for ideas and set aside a Sunday to prepare meals throughout the week.

    It's not scary as much as it is boring (thank you netflix!)
  • fycekpublisher
    fycekpublisher Posts: 2 Member
    edited May 2018
    For me, "Meal prep" is what allows me to stay under my calories. I work right next door to the town's shopping centre and one of my worst habits was to buy lunch every day (sometimes breakfast/morning tea too!). Now that I have lunch ready every day, I don't even feel tempted.

    I have come across three really big points that have been essential:

    Tip 1: Weigh your meat accurately.
    Step 1. Weigh raw meat.
    Step 2. Cook.
    Step 3. Weigh cooked meat.
    Step 4: Use http://www.percentagecalculator.net and use the "Increase/decrease" function to work out the percentage difference. Use this percentage difference to work out how many calories your cooked meat actually is using the raw meat entry.

    Tip 2: Cook only what you can freeze
    For me, I make about a months worth of meal prep at once and everything needs to be frozen to stay good. Unless you can commit to eating the same thing for four days in a row, only prep what you can freeze.

    Tip 3: Mix and match your foods
    I like to have veggies, carb and protein combinations for lunch. However, when I was freezing the meals as an "all in one" it got pretty boring. I had days when I wanted chicken, sweet potato and veggies and all I had left was chicken, rice and veggies. I now freeze the individual components in zip lock bags and can mix and match, or even just grab out a bag of chicken for a salad or breakfast omelette.
  • fycekpublisher
    fycekpublisher Posts: 2 Member
    or me, "Meal prep" is what allows me to stay under my calories. I work right next door to the town's shopping centre and one of my worst habits was to buy lunch every day (sometimes breakfast/morning tea too!). Now that I have lunch ready every day, I don't even feel tempted.

    I have come across three really big points that have been essential:

    Tip 1: Weigh your meat accurately.
    Step 1. Weigh raw meat.
    Step 2. Cook.
    Step 3. Weigh cooked meat.
    Step 4: Use http://www.percentagecalc.net and use the "Increase/decrease" function to work out the percentage difference. Use this percentage difference to work out how many calories your cooked meat actually is using the raw meat entry.

    Tip 2: Cook only what you can freeze
    For me, I make about a months worth of meal prep at once and everything needs to be frozen to stay good. Unless you can commit to eating the same thing for four days in a row, only prep what you can freeze.

    Tip 3: Mix and match your foods
    I like to have veggies, carb and protein combinations for lunch. However, when I was freezing the meals as an "all in one" it got pretty boring. I had days when I wanted chicken, sweet potato and veggies and all I had left was chicken, rice and veggies. I now freeze the individual components in zip lock bags and can mix and match, or even just grab out a bag of chicken for a salad or breakfast omelette.
  • freenowphoever
    freenowphoever Posts: 52 Member
    Meal prep can be as complicated or as easy as you want

    Breakfast: overnight oats or a pre-portioned smoothie
    Lunch: Sandwiches, fruit, yogurt OR soup/salad OR burrito bowl...
    Dinner: Something easy from the crockpot and frozen veg
  • noblsheep
    noblsheep Posts: 593 Member
    Lot's of great ideas in this thread. I'm currently doing daily cooking and it's driving me nuts! Going to try to cook in bulk this weekend, some ideas off the fly:

    Cut and season meat in meal-size portions and freeze. Place in fridge to thaw before heading to work.

    A big pot of ribs in soy sauce. Can then be re-done with vegs of choice or added to rice.

    Chili sauce. Can then add ground meat or toss vegs.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,761 Member
    I don't work full time any more but I do some meal prep because there's days where I get too busy to cook, work days, etc. I usually cook enough to last 2-3 days & also buy some frozen veggies(besides fresh) I weigh & make patties out of ground chuck & ground turkey to freeze. It's easy to defrost one & cook it with some frozen veggies when there's nothing freshly made. I do love the crock pot too
  • Jeeplet18
    Jeeplet18 Posts: 57 Member
    I am a huge fan of meal-prepping. I do mine on Sunday.
    On Sunday morning I make my dinner menu for the upcoming week, and what I want to take for breakfasts and lunches. I write up my grocery list and head to the store.

    Everyone's ideas are great, so I am not going to repeat them because I would have said the same things. LOL.

    However, one tip for breakfasts -

    I like to make smoothies in batches - I use frozen fruit & vanilla non-fat greek yogurt - place them into mason jars with plastic screw on lids and put into the freezer. They keep very well and when you want one take it out the evening before and place in the fridge overnight, or sometimes I want one sooner and I place it in the sink with warm water almost up to the lid. It thaws it out relatively quickly. (I guess you could probably nuke it on a defrost setting also, but haven't tried it).


  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    For me it's completely worth it. It saves me time during the week, prepping helps me to stay on track since I know what I'm going to eat in advance, everything is weighed and portioned out so I know how many calories I'm consuming and it helps me to reach my protein goals.

    I don't do the meals in the container thing, but for example on Sunday I made:

    - Veggie burger patties
    - Dark chocolate peanut butter protein cups
    - Blueberry vanilla protein Belgian waffles
    - Homemade protein bars (tastes similar to an Almond Joy)
    - Cinnamon-raisin energy bites
    - Cinnamon-raisin oatmeal packets (added brown sugar, walnut pieces and protein powder)
    - Made filling for veggie burritos
    - Boiled a few eggs

    Now I have a lot of meals and snacks ready to go.

    I never found meal prepping intimidating, but at first but it took me a while to get my recipes the way I like them. I just kept trying and I figured it out.
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