What MEALS do YOU PREP? Meal prep pics/ideas!

cydneyflood
cydneyflood Posts: 11 Member
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  • cydneyflood
    cydneyflood Posts: 11 Member
    Need some ideas of different meal I can prep? I am loving prepping my meals at the moment, to keep me on track! But I find my meals are becoming slightly repetitive!

    Please help a girl out! & let me know what healthy protein tasty meals you all be prepping? Would appreciate it sooo much! ❤️

    To start of here is my dinner I had this evening! 👌🏼❤️
  • LinkedEmpire
    LinkedEmpire Posts: 40 Member
    I chop, slice and dice my veggies for different stir fry, soups, salads. I will say I don't do the whole separating thing because what I want today might not be what I want tomorrow lol. I keep a bag of frozen turkey meatballs at all times because it's already portioned, throw it in the steam basket, fry up my veggies, add a sauce, done. 😇 This meal is typically about 400 cal w/ lots of vitamins and minerals.
    I usually buy frozen packs of salmon or Pollock, that too is already portioned. You could make rice in advance or buy edamame noodles (paired w/salmon & it's packed with protein, Omega, iron and potassium). The noodles I buy are again already portioned pretty nicely inside the box so I don't have to weigh it.
    🤔 Have soft boiled eggs made in advance for breakfast, snacks, salads or ramen. I also make a coconut lentil Curry and that's part of my lunch throughout the week. Protein, carbs and fiber plus coconut milk and oil for fat. 5 mins of prep time, the rest is history.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,300 Member
    Sometimes I prep full meals and sometimes I just prep ingredients that can be used for multiple items. Most often I prep the ingredients because while the individual items are the same, what I can make with them varies so I don't feel like it is as repetitive. For example, I may cook up some chicken and some beans for proteins, rice and sweet potatoes for my starches, roast from broccoli/brussels sprouts/carrots for veggies, and cut up some fruit for a snack. By changing up sauces, condiments, and spices these items can make a wide variety of meals.
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    I usually prep easy weekday breakfasts on Sundays (bags of trail mix). I also make one batch meal for weekday lunches. Dinner is more variable, sometimes a freezer meal, sometimes a really quickly-prepared easy meal after work, and sometimes takeout.
  • weatherking2019
    weatherking2019 Posts: 943 Member
    I like to cut up veggies like your staple Onions, carrots, peppers, celery stuff like that so it's ready to grab and cook whatever. I also have some type of protein that's cooked. Chicken or Beef. That way, it's easy to throw on salad or stir fry with the cut veggies.
    Lately I have more food in fridge because of all the weekend pot lucks. I like to try to remake something out of leftovers. It saves time and gets me creative!
  • suzyjmcd2
    suzyjmcd2 Posts: 266 Member
    I do the same as some of the above have mentioned. I don't prep entire meals ahead. I'm a person who needs a lot of variation, or I get bored with food. I prep ingredients. And lots of them. I usually do it the day, or the day after, I return from my local (storefront, not outdoor) farmer's market trip.

    I cook farro and quinoa to have on hand to eat as a starch, to throw into salads, or to mmix in with a stir fry.

    I always have chicken cooked in the fridge... it's my go to protein to add to everything.

    And I clean and chop lots of different kinds of veggies, keeping some raw and roasting some of them. My favorites, and ones that last throughout the week..... (specifically) green leaf lettuce; spinach; green, red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini (diced, sliced, and zoodles); carrots (love them sliced and roasted); cauliflower; beets; turnips; grape tomatoes; asparagus; string beans (ever tried roasted with garlic?!); sweet potato diced and roasted; butternut squash diced and roasted; spaghetti squash.

    I can make salads with these, chicken, pork or beef dishes; stir fry; anything you can think of.

    One of my favorites thrown together quickly when I've got everything prepped.... spaghetti squash mixed with some zoodles, diced grape tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, chopped spinach, garlic, (red peppers occasionally), with some nonfat Greek yogurt and an ounce of goat cheese to make a "sauce" that coats everything. I usually add in some diced chicken, too. It is so tasty and tangy. And GOOD for you! Looks beautiful, too, if you kept the shell from the spaghetti squash, to serve it in half of the shell. One of my MFP friends calls it my "goat boat" when I log it as a meal.

    Good ingredient prep helps me to have NO excuse to not throw together a good healthy meal any time of the day.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,956 Member
    I don't really meal prep, but if I make anything that freezes well, I will make a quadruple batch to freeze in portions because the incremental work of chopping 1 onion instead of 4 is not linear. The dishes I batch cook to freeze are typically:

    curries, such as beef rendang
    braised chicken thighs, such as dak dori tang, coq au vin, chicken teriyaki
    minced meat, such meat loaf, meatballs, bolognaise sauce for spaghetti, nam prik ong, ma po tofu
    potatoes gratin (you need to fully cook before freezing, otherwise the starch turns into sugar in the freezer)
    meat stews, such as boef bourguignon, estouffade
  • Marisela170
    Marisela170 Posts: 48 Member
    I don’t necessarily prep entire meals but I will cook things like rice or beans ahead of time and cut up a bunch of veggies and fruits so that they’re available whenever I decide what I feel like eating
  • mscraddock1
    mscraddock1 Posts: 1 Member
    I prep lunch and dinner meats and rice 5 days out and then air fry my veggies as needed. I do a turkey taco bowl variation and steak for dinner. I do overnight oats on heavy lift days and turkey bacon egg whites and spinach on low output days
  • cathywalsh00
    cathywalsh00 Posts: 2 Member
    I prep a crustless quiche for breakfast by doubling my no crust quiche and cooking it in a cassarole dish. I cut it into servings and freeze. Since I work at a psych hospital, I take my breakfast and lunch to work each day and this gives me something different a couple of days a week.
  • joshchapo
    joshchapo Posts: 186 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Seal the pastries with some egg white or beaten egg. These are what the warned p ones look like. My filling was vaguely Turkish so had some with a Turkish watermelon/feta/mint salad. Added a yoghurt and garlic dipping sauce for the pastries.
    oj1eecc6aweg.jpeg

    What was inside the pastrie?

    Did you make the garlic dipping sauce yourself?
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,956 Member
    joshchapo wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Seal the pastries with some egg white or beaten egg. These are what the warned p ones look like. My filling was vaguely Turkish so had some with a Turkish watermelon/feta/mint salad. Added a yoghurt and garlic dipping sauce for the pastries.

    What was inside the pastrie?

    Did you make the garlic dipping sauce yourself?

    The vaguely Turkish soring rolls had the minced lamb version from this recipe:
    https://www.recipetineats.com/gozleme/

    Toum is a bit labour intensive but I had some in the fridge and stirred that into some no fat yoghurt.
    https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2018/01/toum.html

    If I didn't have toum in the fridge I would just google any tzaziki recipe.
  • joshchapo
    joshchapo Posts: 186 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    joshchapo wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    Seal the pastries with some egg white or beaten egg. These are what the warned p ones look like. My filling was vaguely Turkish so had some with a Turkish watermelon/feta/mint salad. Added a yoghurt and garlic dipping sauce for the pastries.

    What was inside the pastrie?

    Did you make the garlic dipping sauce yourself?

    The vaguely Turkish soring rolls had the minced lamb version from this recipe:
    https://www.recipetineats.com/gozleme/

    Toum is a bit labour intensive but I had some in the fridge and stirred that into some no fat yoghurt.
    https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2018/01/toum.html

    If I didn't have toum in the fridge I would just google any tzaziki recipe.

    Thank you for that link
    That looks incredible. I want to make some of my own now 🙂

    Thank you thank you!!
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    I hate meal prep and large batch cooking. More so now since it has to be logged as an MFP recipe. There, I said it.

    That said, I do it, when I have freezable main or side ideas.

    In the past month, I've prepped:

    * Adas (red lentil soup)
    * Jerk salmon
    * Salmon patties
    * Whole wheat couscous (cooked in chicken stock, not water)
    * Seasoned pita chips
    * 3 bean salad with rose harissa (not freezable, I think but the 4 servings will be done this week)

    All the best to you, OP, in your meal prep endeavours!

  • joshchapo
    joshchapo Posts: 186 Member
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    Tonite I made baked sweet potatoes (I have frequently)
    Simple green beans with garlic
    And a nice piece 6oz filet minion! Yummm
    😋
  • kcox269
    kcox269 Posts: 38 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    I've been experimenting with spring rolls for a friend who wants to do them but is coeliac. Vietnamese spring rolls were traditionally made with rice papers and I actually think I prefer their crispier texture. I rolled, brushed with oil and froze. Will try them out in the air fryer with a SE asian salad for dinner tomorrow. Experimental rolls went for 10 minutes at the highest temperature in the air fryer. A convection oven would have worked as well.
    They look delicious , is it possible to have the recipe, I love spring rolls and I'm gluten free
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,956 Member
    kcox269 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    I've been experimenting with spring rolls for a friend who wants to do them but is coeliac. Vietnamese spring rolls were traditionally made with rice papers and I actually think I prefer their crispier texture. I rolled, brushed with oil and froze. Will try them out in the air fryer with a SE asian salad for dinner tomorrow. Experimental rolls went for 10 minutes at the highest temperature in the air fryer. A convection oven would have worked as well.
    They look delicious , is it possible to have the recipe, I love spring rolls and I'm gluten free

    Can't find the recipe I actually used but these will give you general guidelines:
    https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/baked-rice-paper-spring-rolls-gluten-free/
    https://rasamalaysia.com/vietnamese-spring-rolls-cha-gio-recipe/

    I set up a work station with a large shallow bowl of hot water for dipping the rice papers. You can use hot or cold water to soften the rice paper but they soften more quickly with hot or warm water. I recommend not buying the smallest size of rice paper because that is very fiddly. I work on dry plates, and place finished spring rolls on an oiled cookie sheet. Be careful not to let finished rice paper rolls touch until you have rolled them around in the oil or brushed them with oil asother wise they stick together.

    The two recipes above don't demonstrate rolling in much detail. Put a modest quantity of filling centred left to right and one third the way up from the edge closest to your body. Fold left and right sides so edges just meet in the centre of the sheet with folds parallel. Then fold bottom edge over the filling perpendicular to the first folds, then roll upward away from your body.

    I use a simple filling of half and half grated carrot and chopped cooked bean vermicelli (which is gluten free). If I have quorn mince, leftover cooked mince or chopped up leftover cooked meat I will throw that in. For me the filling just gives body and texture because they real flavourings are the dipping sauces. Google Vietnamese nuoc cham for the classic dipping sauce. Another common sauce mixes a tablespoon each of hoisin and peanut butter. Then thin to taste with a combination of soy sauce (salts and thins) and water (just thins).

    I air fry for 10 minutes but 10 minutes in hot oven should work too. If you can spare the calories you can shallow fry them, if you don't want the big cleanup from deep frying. I freeze raw spring rolls on the cookie trays and then transfer to ziplock bags once frozen (to prevent them from sticking together). To serve, air fry for 12 minutes from frozen.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,956 Member
    Actually 10 minutes is what I do for wheat wrappers. To get the rice wrappers crisp I let them go 15-20 minutes.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,956 Member
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  • I do a lot of pre-cooking prep. I make meatballs up in advance (both Italian-style and lamb meatballs) and bake them on a rack above a pan to drain some of the fat. I bake bacon on a rack and then chop it and freeze the chopped bacon. I cook minced beef in advance with seasonings and freeze that in portions.

    If I want to do a simple meal of lamb curry, I can just open a jar of curry sauce, put it in a pan, and put the right amount of meatballs for the number of people eating in the curry sauce to warm through.

    I also freeze the different sorts of cooked rice I eat. I am trying to limit my nightshades due to arthritis, so I eat rice where a lot of people would put potatoes. So, rice pilaf, white rice, jasmine rice, Mexican rice, all in bags, all waiting to be reheated in the microwave.

    When my partners are working, I make their lunches up for the week. They have heated lunch boxes that they put them in to reheat them while they're working, and then they bring me home the empty containers and I repack their lunch boxes for tomorrow with silverware and condiments, and add the refrigerated lunch in the morning. With the quarantine, we just all eat lunch together.
  • AshHeartsJesus
    AshHeartsJesus Posts: 460 Member
    I meal prep breakfasts and snacks for my kiddos every Sunday. Today it was banana bread, hard boiled eggs, eggbake oatmeal bake, french toast, and energy balls
    For me I made coconut flour pancakes, sprouted french toast, and energy cookies.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,855 Member
    No pictures but I work 12 hrs shifts. I work MTW this week. I have prepped:

    Beef, broccoli and mushroom stir fry with spring onions
    Ham and cheese egg "muffins"

    3 servings of each, I'll eat 1 of each the next 3 days. Fill the gaps with coffee and half and half, beef jerky, string cheese, sugar free lime Jello and raspberries.

  • kcox269
    kcox269 Posts: 38 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    kcox269 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    I've been experimenting with spring rolls for a friend who wants to do them but is coeliac. Vietnamese spring rolls were traditionally made with rice papers and I actually think I prefer their crispier texture. I rolled, brushed with oil and froze. Will try them out in the air fryer with a SE asian salad for dinner tomorrow. Experimental rolls went for 10 minutes at the highest temperature in the air fryer. A convection oven would have worked as well.
    They look delicious , is it possible to have the recipe, I love spring rolls and I'm gluten free

    Can't find the recipe I actually used but these will give you general guidelines:
    https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/baked-rice-paper-spring-rolls-gluten-free/
    https://rasamalaysia.com/vietnamese-spring-rolls-cha-gio-recipe/

    I set up a work station with a large shallow bowl of hot water for dipping the rice papers. You can use hot or cold water to soften the rice paper but they soften more quickly with hot or warm water. I recommend not buying the smallest size of rice paper because that is very fiddly. I work on dry plates, and place finished spring rolls on an oiled cookie sheet. Be careful not to let finished rice paper rolls touch until you have rolled them around in the oil or brushed them with oil asother wise they stick together.

    The two recipes above don't demonstrate rolling in much detail. Put a modest quantity of filling centred left to right and one third the way up from the edge closest to your body. Fold left and right sides so edges just meet in the centre of the sheet with folds parallel. Then fold bottom edge over the filling perpendicular to the first folds, then roll upward away from your body.

    I use a simple filling of half and half grated carrot and chopped cooked bean vermicelli (which is gluten free). If I have quorn mince, leftover cooked mince or chopped up leftover cooked meat I will throw that in. For me the filling just gives body and texture because they real flavourings are the dipping sauces. Google Vietnamese nuoc cham for the classic dipping sauce. Another common sauce mixes a tablespoon each of hoisin and peanut butter. Then thin to taste with a combination of soy sauce (salts and thins) and water (just thins).

    I air fry for 10 minutes but 10 minutes in hot oven should work too. If you can spare the calories you can shallow fry them, if you don't want the big cleanup from deep frying. I freeze raw spring rolls on the cookie trays and then transfer to ziplock bags once frozen (to prevent them from sticking together). To serve, air fry for 12 minutes from frozen.

    Thanks😁😁😁
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    I am new to meal prepping but plan to make it a regular from now on. Cooking on Sundays only, 3-4 meals that I can then eat for lunch/dinner over the week to come. (My adult daughter does cook a few times each week for the rest of the family, who are not watching their calories...)

    My menu - still looking to expand:

    Chili made w/ 85/15 ground beef or turkey, crumbled drained & rinsed
    Sloppy Joes made w/ 85/15 ground beef crumbled drained & rinsed, green peppers, white onions (I eat w/ a fork)
    Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup
    Egg Rolls in a Bowl (cabbage, pork sausage, soy sauce, etc. - comes out tasting like the filling in an egg roll)
    Baked penne pasta w/ Jennie-O hot turkey sausage
    Bluecheese meatloaf (or meatballs) made w/ 85/15 ground turkey (add quick sides later like steam in microwave frozen veggies)
    Shrimp 'Fried' Rice made in a rice cooker
    Black Beans & Rice w/ Andoille Sausage
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,956 Member
    My normal gift for new parents is an afternoon of batch cooking a bunch of freezer meals. One couple who was new to batch cooking keeps asking me to come back to help out with their batch cooking. My hubby plays with their kid while the rest of us cook. Saturday we filled up their freezer with meat loaf and gratin dauphinoise. Afterwards, the four of us ate the large square container of dauphinoise, one of the meat loaves and some veggie sides of tomato salad and green beans with hollandaise.
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