Food Preparation--WHAT ARE YOUR TIPS/ADVISE?

Options
Iwillshyne
Iwillshyne Posts: 245
in Food and Nutrition
Every since I started working out and eating right I find that if I do not plan and prep my food ahead of time I'm basically setting myself up for faliure, duh! But I first had to get over the fact that YES it takes more time to make salad than it does to wolf down a big bag of salty potatoe chips, or YES it takes more time to make a protein shake than it does to fix a huge bowl of ice cream.
And once I got over that I decided it was mandatory for me to get a little meticulous with my meal planning. So beside sitting down and literally planning out my meals for the WEEK, I also do a few helpful tricks to make food prep easier.

.... like to hear?? Here it goes----

(hope it's helpful)
Plan out my meals for the week, this helps me save time and money at the grocery store .
I season and grill up and pack of chicken breast; enough for the week. And use it in my salads, sandwiches, soups, and wraps.
I also clean, cut and store all my veggies for the week i.e. onion, bell pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, ect.
I buy bags of frozen fruits and veggies--why not, it's ready to eat!
I clean, season and seperate/bag up my meats ahead of time and freeze til I'm ready to cook it up.

Now, I know some of this may sound ridiculous to some but this is what keeps ME outta of the DRIVE-THRU everyday!!!!

What's your fav tip/advise?

thx in adv!

Replies

  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
    Options
    these are excellent tips. I personally do better on weeks where I cook food in advance and have it ready to go. If I have to "go downstairs" to get lunch then I have to hope my will power directs me away from those yummy homemade oatmeal cookies and towards the healthy grilled salmon or chicken with veggies option.
  • MzFury
    MzFury Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    You are SO AWESOME!

    I've learned certain staples I always, always keep on hand so that I don't get too taken by surprise, and also make a point to pick up a couple of healthier frozen meals - not something I used to do - for times when I'm bushed and doing anything at all is beyond me. Otherwise I wind up at a restaurant or eating cheese on toast and it's not generally a good move.

    I've recently discovered that I really like the chicken sausages I can get from the butcher. Some of them are GIGANTIC - but last for two days for me. They're very lean so can be dry, and what I do is pre-prep a bunch of it by squeezing it out of the casings in chunks in a hot pan with a little bit of EVOO and browning off more than I need at one time. Lasts longer and I have lovely chicken sausage chunks to use for the week.

    Getting an immersion blender that has a beaker with it has been a real lifesaver for me, smoothie-wise. I can make one serving in the beaker with the stick blender faster and easier than in my blender, and most importantly, clean-up is a lot faster and easier.

    Roasting a lot of vegetables to use over three or four days with various dishes can be useful.

    When I used to work an office job, I liked to make a mix of grated/chopped vegetables to have on hand to stuff pitas in week. I like carrot, red bell, green onion, spinach, cherry tomato, a few kalamata olives, and some feta crumbles. This is brilliant with hummus.

    I also like a simple, lower-mayo tuna salad for convenience that has some apple or onion or fresh minced garlic in it.

    Prepacked low-sodium tomato soup is awesome for fast lunches. You can add so many different speedy things to nuke with it - like a big handful of baby spinach, a few cubes of avocado, grilled chicken, a splash of hot sauce, leftover brown rice or cooked quinoa, frozen broccoli - it's a good quick base for a lunch.
  • knetterk
    knetterk Posts: 107
    Options
    bump....thanks for these tips!! keep em coming!
  • doughnutwretch
    doughnutwretch Posts: 498 Member
    Options
    This is EXCELLENT!! Being prepared is half the battle in staying on track.

    I am a mutli-tasker so I tend to prep my meals for the next day while my dinner is cooking. I'll weigh, cut and wash everything and get it on the stove and/or grill and occasionally flip or stir it. While it's cooking, I'll crack and separate my eggs and put in a tupperware, weigh my nuts and put in baggies, weigh/cut/clean my veggies, weigh and bag my already prepped proteins (I prep 3-7 days worth at a time and refridgerate), place all prepped items in a plastic baggie along with my yogurts, string cheeses and fruits for the day and place in the fridge. In the morning, I can either move all to my lunch pale and throw an ice pack in there and head to the gym and then to work or pull the breakfast stuff out and eat at home before heading to work with the rest in the bag.

    It does take longer to prep and cook your meals than say diving into a thing of potato chips or ice cream, but once you've been doing it for a while, it becomes second nature to you and you can get it all done quickly. From start to finish on prepping my dinner for the evening, cooking dinner and prepping meals for the next day while dinner is cooking, I takes me approx. 30-45 mins. (depending on what I'm fixing for dinner)
  • Iwillshyne
    Iwillshyne Posts: 245
    Options
    This is EXCELLENT!! Being prepared is half the battle in staying on track.

    I am a mutli-tasker so I tend to prep my meals for the next day while my dinner is cooking. I'll weigh, cut and wash everything and get it on the stove and/or grill and occasionally flip or stir it. While it's cooking, I'll crack and separate my eggs and put in a tupperware, weigh my nuts and put in baggies, weigh/cut/clean my veggies, weigh and bag my already prepped proteins (I prep 3-7 days worth at a time and refridgerate),


    Seperating the eggs ahead of time is a great idea. I was just about to give up on eating eggs for BF (temporarily) because I hate seperating the egg whites. So thank you for that tip...And thx u for also reminding to invest in a scale--can never remember to grab one when I'm at the stores! tisk, tisk, tisk....
  • jlanab
    jlanab Posts: 89 Member
    Options
    i do alot of the above mentioned but I also separate snacks into baggies based on serving size. Buy the family size because its cost effective and before I start to put groceries away i have my zip lock bags ready and i am counting 16 chips per bag/9 crackers per bag or whatever else. I even sometimes open up a cereal box and baggie a serving size and leave in my car.

    in addition sometimes i purposely over cook and package and freeze soup, chilli, gumbo or anything else that freezes well. I tape a piece of paper to the lid that id's what it is, serving size and calories. Makes for an easy dinner in case something comes up!

    last but not least I USE MY CROCKPOT!!!! I notice that its the days when im tired and dont feel like standing over a stove that makes a large pizza seem like a good idea.. NOT. Doesnt matter if its beef, pork, chicken or fish it can be thrown in there with veggies, stock, sauce, rice, whatever and turned on high so i can rest until its dinner time. Also helpful if i know it will be a long day. just put it on low in the AM and by the time Im home dinner is ready
  • Iwillshyne
    Iwillshyne Posts: 245
    Options
    i do alot of the above mentioned but I also separate snacks into baggies based on serving size. Buy the family size because its cost effective and before I start to put groceries away i have my zip lock bags ready and i am counting 16 chips per bag/9 crackers per bag or whatever else. I even sometimes open up a cereal box and baggie a serving size and leave in my car.

    in addition sometimes i purposely over cook and package and freeze soup, chilli, gumbo or anything else that freezes well. I tape a piece of paper to the lid that id's what it is, serving size and calories. Makes for an easy dinner in case something comes up!

    last but not least I USE MY CROCKPOT!!!! I notice that its the days when im tired and dont feel like standing over a stove that makes a large pizza seem like a good idea.. NOT. Doesnt matter if its beef, pork, chicken or fish it can be thrown in there with veggies, stock, sauce, rice, whatever and turned on high so i can rest until its dinner time. Also helpful if i know it will be a long day. just put it on low in the AM and by the time Im home dinner is ready


    Crockpots are great! Since I season and freeze my meats sometime I throw it in the crockpot with frozen veggies and make some sort of stew or soup. Good idea!!
  • Iwillshyne
    Iwillshyne Posts: 245
    Options
    This is EXCELLENT!! Being prepared is half the battle in staying on track.

    I am a mutli-tasker so I tend to prep my meals for the next day while my dinner is cooking. I'll weigh, cut and wash everything and get it on the stove and/or grill and occasionally flip or stir it. While it's cooking, I'll crack and separate my eggs and put in a tupperware, weigh my nuts and put in baggies, weigh/cut/clean my veggies, weigh and bag my already prepped proteins (I prep 3-7 days worth at a time and refridgerate), place all prepped items in a plastic baggie along with my yogurts, string cheeses and fruits for the day and place in the fridge. In the morning, I can either move all to my lunch pale and throw an ice pack in there and head to the gym and then to work or pull the breakfast stuff out and eat at home before heading to work with the rest in the bag.

    It does take longer to prep and cook your meals than say diving into a thing of potato chips or ice cream, but once you've been doing it for a while, it becomes second nature to you and you can get it all done quickly. From start to finish on prepping my dinner for the evening, cooking dinner and prepping meals for the next day while dinner is cooking, I takes me approx. 30-45 mins. (depending on what I'm fixing for dinner)



    Seperating the eggs ahead of time is a great idea. I was just about to give up on eating eggs for BF (temporarily) because I hate seperating the egg whites. So thank you for that tip...And thx u for also reminding to invest in a scale--can never remember to grab one when I'm at the stores! tisk, tisk, tisk....
  • Iwillshyne
    Iwillshyne Posts: 245
    Options

    Roasting a lot of vegetables to use over three or four days with various dishes can be useful.

    When I used to work an office job, I liked to make a mix of grated/chopped vegetables to have on hand to stuff pitas in week. I like carrot, red bell, green onion, spinach, cherry tomato, a few kalamata olives, and some feta crumbles. This is brilliant with hummus.

    I also like a simple, lower-mayo tuna salad for convenience that has some apple or onion or fresh minced garlic in it.

    Prepacked low-sodium tomato soup is awesome for fast lunches. You can add so many different speedy things to nuke with it - like a big handful of baby spinach, a few cubes of avocado, grilled chicken, a splash of hot sauce, leftover brown rice or cooked quinoa, frozen broccoli - it's a good quick base for a lunch.

    Yes, that's a good idea, Thk you.
  • neenaj33
    neenaj33 Posts: 347 Member
    Options
    lots of tupperware!
  • rachmaree
    rachmaree Posts: 782 Member
    Options
    I was JUST thinking about this tonight! I do most of those, and always prepare afternoon snacks etc the night before and premeasure my oats/ protein powder for breakfast.
    We keep boiled eggs and chopped chicken breast in the fridge all the time, and I leave a bottle of water on the bench or on my desk at work in plain view to remember to drink more. I also keep a couple of apples on my desk or a portion of grapes with some nuts.
    Planning with my husband every few days worth of meals really helps too, and I keep a can of tuna in my bag if there's a chance I'll be late home. If we go somewhere for breakfast I take oats with me :)
    Great topic
  • rachmaree
    rachmaree Posts: 782 Member
    Options
    lots of tupperware!

    This is a must!!
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,383 Member
    Options
    I'm basically only cooking for myself and my husband, but I like to make big batches of food and immediately portion out my servings so I have delicious leftovers waiting in the fridge (to keep me from being tempted to grab something 'easy' that might be bad for my progress) AND so that I have a fairly accurate estimate of how many calories in each serving. For example I make a dish with a total of 2800 calories, I will portion it out into 8 servings of about 350 calories each. That way I don't have to guess at how much I'm scooping out when I go for leftovers the next day.

Categories