Prepping meals for the week

[Mai72]

Does anyone do this? I used to do it but got out of the habit. Started again today. Took me about 3 hours to put together lunch and dinner for 7 days straight. I kept it simple. Chicken, beef, rice, steamed broccoli and sweet potato. The beef was the only thing that I actually had to prepare. I bought Tyson chicken breast that was already cooked. So, no prep there. Had to microwave the brocolli. The sweet potato is from Bob Evans. It has low sugar and just sweet potato. Nothing else.

I bought a food scale as well. A great investment. I don't know how I preped my food without one.

 

[Kaido]

Yup. Right now I'm working on adding variety. I get pretty tired of eating chicken & broccoli all the time, haha. My goal is to eventually fill my deep freezer with a huge variety of meals & snacks so I don't get bored of eating the same stuff all the time. What's difficult is the planning & prepwork to make that actually happen. My current diet goes like this:

4am: (wakeup) Chug 16oz water (rehydrate)
5am: Morning snack
7am: Breakfast
10:30am: Brunch snack
12:00pm: Lunch
2:30pm: Afternoon snack
5:00pm: Dinner
6:00pm: Dessert
No more eating or drinking after 6pm (8pm bedtime, which I haven't hit in months haha)

The snacks are pretty small, like an 8oz smoothie or a couple of energy bites, nothing major. I also keep my meals smaller, basically half a plate of food instead of a whole plate, because I'm filling the time inbetween with high-quality snacks. This is what I've been working on lately for variety:

Morning snack:
1. Smoothie (optionally with protein powder)
2. Parfait (homemade yogurt, granola, fresh fruit)
3. Oatmeal (overnight oats or steel-cut oatmeal)

Breakfast:
1. Breakfast sandwich (croissant, biscuit, or English muffin)
2. Breakfast burrito (various flavors, ex. chorizo & egg)

Brunch snack:
1. Energy bites (various flavors)
2. Carrots & hummus
3. Guacamole & corn chips

Lunch:
1. Burrito (steak, beef, chicken, veggie)
2. Soup, stew, or chili
3. Salad-in-a-jar (chicken, ham)
4. Mini pies (chicken pot pie, meat pie, etc.)
5. Leftovers from dinner the night before

Afternoon snack:
Some sort of protein goodie like DIY Snickers bars

Dinner:
Pretty much whatever is on the family menu for the evening (we do taco night, pizza night, stir-fry night, etc.), or else a frozen meal

Dessert: (slightly healthier, homemade options)
1. Popcorn (various flavor options)
2. Chocolate avocado "Jello" pudding
3. Chickpea cookies or Almond flour cookies

What I've tried doing in the past is making huge batches of stuff, but the problem with that, aside from the mental barrier of having to cook a ton, is eating the same thing all the time. So I'm going to try smaller batches that still make a decent amount, but doing it on a more regular basis. My pressure cooker is a 6-quart model, which is enough to make at least a half-dozen meals, which is pretty good for make-ahead meals without having so much of the same food that you get sick of it. I figure if I do that, I only have to cook something new every few days to replenish stock & add variety, and it will kind of build up over time

The two big things I'm trying to work towards are (1) having every meal or snack be something I look forward to eating, and (2) removing decision fatigue from my menu. Everybody likes spontaneous variety that requires no prep (i.e. going out to eat), but that can get expensive & doesn't always make you feel great. Plus I like to eat smaller meals every few hours, so it's easier just to break things down into stuff I can make in bulk & freeze ahead so I'm not constantly cooking all the time, but that I actually want to eat and doesn't turn into an "ugh, chicken again" kind of thing. It's not easy because so much planning, prepwork, and shopping is involved, but hopefully I'll be successful at some point! Hahaha.

 

[slightlyhuman]

great post Kaido.

 

[Kaido]

great post Kaido.

Thanks, it's a work in progress! I think the combination of small batches for make-ahead in an ongoing manner is going to work pretty well, at least better than killing a whole day of cooking & not getting as much variety as you would of doing say three or four bulk cooks per week, every week for a month. This is what I'm working on right now for prep:

1. Morning water: I just keep a big cup next to the sink in the bathroom. Wake up, hit the bathroom, fill up the cup & chug. Definitely helps me wake up haha.

2. Smoothie: These are easy because you can freeze them in ziploc bags and then just dump & blend with some liquid. I have a killer high-nutrition smoothie system here:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/78032378/Protein Smoothies

As my current goal is to make healthy foods that I look forward to eating, rather than focusing solely on nutrition, I am focusing on nutrition plus flavor, so I'm trying to figure out what the best recipes are that taste good AND pack a healthy punch. I also found a super-useful method for even easier make-ahead smoothies where you pre-blend them, pour into ice cube trays, and simply fill your to-go cup with & let them melt & drink:

http://www.thekitchn.com/leftover-smoothie-freeze-it-200220

Extremely handy, plus I don't have to wake up my family by using my hi-powered blender at 5am in the morning :awe:

3. Parfait: Fresh fruit, yogurt, and granola. Yogurt & granola being homemade (probiotics ftw!). I got some powdered milk to try with this vanilla bean bulk yogurt recipe:

http://www.tidbits-cami.com/2015/09/homemade-yogurt.html/2

And of course, granola is pretty easy to make:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/how-to-make-the-best-granola-ever

4. Overnight oatmeal: This is a simple but awesome one that not too many people know about. Basically you just stir the ingredients, cover, and put in the fridge overnight, and then eat cold the next day. Sounds kind of gross & weird until you try it - it's not the same as eating hot oatmeal at all. For example, my morning snack today was 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 milk, and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. All I did was put it all in a mason jar, stir it, close the lid, put it in the fridge, then woke up today, stirred it again, and ate it. It has a really great chewy texture to it. Zillions of flavor combinations available!

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/105457905/Overnight Oatmeal

5. Breakfast sandwich: Been doing a lot of experimenting to see what actually makes a great-tasting breakfast sandwich, not just a bunch of ingredients piled together, you know? I got a set of these silicone rings for making the eggs, they work awesome:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V3V6S42

I crack an egg in them, top with a piece of floppy square cheese, and cover the pan with a lid to kind of let it steam. Playing with croissants, biscuits, and English muffins right now. Well, not regular English muffins, for some reason those give me heartburn, but there's a DIY recipe here for heartburn-free English muffins:

http://merrymagpiefarm.com/2012/08/06/in-which-i-wax-rhapsodic-about-english-muffins/

Lots of toppings available: eggs, cheese, ham, bacon, sausage, etc. You can also cheat & crack a bunch of eggs into a cupcake pan, or whip up the eggs & chop in some stuff like bell peppers & sausage and bake them into mini-omelets to drop onto a bun. Easy to freeze ahead too.

6. Breakfast burritos: Same deal - eggs, meat, veggies, cheese. Make & freeze.

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/103863189/Burritos

7. Energy bites: Basically fresh granola bars, but shaped into balls. Easy to freeze. A zillion flavors:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/84297007/Energy Bites

8. Carrots & hummus: Tasty & has protein. I need to dig up my recipe, I use garlic-lime for the flavoring, it's awesome. Bunch of other recipes here:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/81126680/Hummus

Can be frozen, although my small batches never lasts long enough

9. Guacamole & corn chips: Lots of good fats. This recipe is the bomb dot com:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/84093340/Guacamole

Supposedly it can be frozen, although again, my batches never last that long :biggrin:

http://www.nwedible.com/make-freeze-guacamole/

http://thefitfork.com/avocadomg-how-to-freeze-guacamole/

The rest of the stuff is kind of all over the place. I use TV dinner trays for leftovers & make-ahead meals:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2336038

Also been using hot/cold cups with vented lids for stuff lately (soups, stews, chilis, ice cream, portable cereal containers, and even disposable overnight oatmeal cups). I don't freeze sandwiches, but I do freeze lunch burritos. Certain desserts can be frozen, such as cookie dough (freeze in balls on a tray, then throw in a ziploc bag once they get hard enough not to stick together).

Eventually I'd like to build up enough stock that it's like going shopping in the frozen foods section of the supermarket...i.e. enough variety that you can assemble your day's meals without having so much overlap that you go "ugh, not this again", and also so that every meal is super tasty so you actually look forward to each one, instead of forcing yourself through another plain chicken & broccoli meal.

It gets a bit tricky because not everything is freezable, or rather, not everything thaws well. Like you can freeze yogurt, but the texture tends to get a bit like cottage cheese, which is fine if you're blending it into a smoothie, but if you want a parfait, it's not quite the same as fresh. And I can make a ton of fresh yogurt pretty cheaply using a gallon of milk & the Instant Pot, but that only works if I do the work to make sure that I'm doing a variety of parfait flavors that week (and then freezing the rest in smoothie mixes) - so it's not just strawberry-granola parfaits for seven days straight, haha.

For dinners, I'm still experimenting with DIY Bertollis mixes (meat, pasta, and ice cubes of sauce/flavorings). Those are handy skillet dinners in ziploc bags. Same with various pot pies using an inexpensive mini-pie appliance. Again, the goal is to have a variety of stuff, so for lunch or dinner I can grab a cup of [soup, stew, chili], or a mini pie [chicken pot pie, meat pie], or a TV dinner [meatloaf, orange chicken & rice, etc.], or whatever. So you're not stuck JUST eating TV dinners or JUST eating cups of soupy stuff or whatever. Easy to do if you use say the full 6 quarts of the Instant Pot so you have enough for today's meal plus enough to freeze, that way you're not really doing any extra work, just bagging up the excess.

 

[moonbogg]

I need to do this desperately. Today I bought my lunch from a gas station.

 

[Kaido]

I need to do this desperately. Today I bought my lunch from a gas station.

Bruh

 

[Mai72]

Wow, nice work there Kaido.

I do things a bit differently. For starters, I'm doing Intermittent Fasting so I eat at only 2 times in the day. For example, I fast from 9pm-12pm the next day. That's 15 hours of not eating. Then, I'll break the fast with a large lunch. That's about 700-1100 calories. I like to eat in-between my meals with high calorie snacks like peanut butter or a protein bar. At 7pm I'll eat a 400 calorie dinner, and finish the night with a Chobani 1 cup yogurt. I will add some almond shavings, 1 TSP honey , and cinnamon. Oh, with my dinner I'll drink a green smoothie. Always!

I don't need breakfast. It's a great feeling to be able to get ready for work and not have to worry about prepping a morning meal. Makes life much easier. Just my opinion.

 

[moonbogg]

Bruh

lol. Its out of control. Not only is it unhealthy, but its very expensive to eat out all the time. I'll get a grip on it. I like the idea of putting in the time and work on a Saturday afternoon or evening and prepare my meals for the following week.
The issue for me is variety and resisting impulse cravings to go down the street and grab a burger. Very hard.

 

[edro]

I used to make my own protein bars.
Oats, protein powder, chocolate pudding, honey, milk, honey.
They are pretty good cold.

I have since switched to Premier Protein shakes, Pure Protein and Quest Protein bars.
They are more convenient, but probably not as healthy. IDK.
I don't like the idea of eating/drinking so many pre-packaged protein bars... but its tough to beat their convenience/price/taste/macros combination.

 

[Kaido]

Wow, nice work there Kaido.

I do things a bit differently. For starters, I'm doing Intermittent Fasting so I eat at only 2 times in the day. For example, I fast from 9pm-12pm the next day. That's 15 hours of not eating. Then, I'll break the fast with a large lunch. That's about 700-1100 calories. I like to eat in-between my meals with high calorie snacks like peanut butter or a protein bar. At 7pm I'll eat a 400 calorie dinner, and finish the night with a Chobani 1 cup yogurt. I will add some almond shavings, 1 TSP honey , and cinnamon. Oh, with my dinner I'll drink a green smoothie. Always!

I don't need breakfast. It's a great feeling to be able to get ready for work and not have to worry about prepping a morning meal. Makes life much easier. Just my opinion.

I just had dinner with my buddy tonight who is heavily into IF. It's been working out great for him...he has energy all day long & only eats within his window, no breakfast or anything.

I don't think there's any one path to health, there's simply too many variables that work. My diet has been an evolution over time...I feel better eating multiple small meals a day because I'm a bit on the low blood sugar side of things. I do best either that way or just eating one big meal at the end of the day, but since I like food, I prefer eating all day long

Meal planning & prep is always difficult tho, especially when you try to add variety. I think the rolling small batch system will work out the best because then I'll build up stock in the freezer without having to go crazy with the prep work.

But yeah, make-ahead meals ftw! I am a big believer in following the path of least resistance & setting up your day to suit - for food, that means making it ahead of time so that when you cave, you cave to the good stuff instead of the vending machine or the local fast-food place. Hard to argue with it when you're hungry & your lunch is already made, just waiting to be eaten! :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

Oh yeah, if anyone wants to get into meal prep, Walmart has a 20-piece Pyrex set for twenty bucks:

http://slickdeals.net/f/8521627-20-...et-w-lids-19-84-free-store-pickup-walmart-com

Pretty nice price for a reusable container set!

 

[MongGrel]

We do a lot on the Weber Grill and just pack it up for the week in the fridge sometimes in the summer.

I guess just cooking portions for use a daily basis isn't something we do.

 

[HitAnyKey]

Great posts. Very smart!

 

[MongGrel]

Oh yeah, if anyone wants to get into meal prep, Walmart has a 20-piece Pyrex set for twenty bucks:

http://slickdeals.net/f/8521627-20-...et-w-lids-19-84-free-store-pickup-walmart-com

Pretty nice price for a reusable container set!

I do agree on the Pyrex set, have the same set in blue, we bought a set before that that has a nice Pyrex pie pan and a few larger things, we loved them so well we bought more of them.

For $20 bucks that is a steal.

We love them for storage.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

*edit* from some of the responses there, seems the description of what you get might be little inaccurate.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Been working on trying to do this. Biggest issue is trying to figure out what to make, so I can have variety. I need to come up with about 30 or so different meal ideas, stuff that I can make in bulk and freeze, then it's just the thing of pulling out a frozen container and always having a few in the fridge ready to go the next day.

Bought a rice cooker recently too, rice goes well to add calories to other stuff. If I'm really stuck I just have rice and vegetables or something. The hard part with self made meals is trying to get them to have enough calories. Fast food is just so much easier and much more filling than anything I can manage to make. And much tastier too. But really have to break that habit.

Found some 3 pack glass containers at Canadian Tire, and best thing is they are all same size. I find too many container sets have a whole bunch of different useless sizes, I just want 1 consistent size that I can fit a whole meal in. When I make a stew or something I then freeze them. They are then ready to bring to work for night shifts. I tend to order pizza on night shifts so I have pizza for all my nights, but need to break that habit too.

 

[Kaido]

Bought a rice cooker recently too, rice goes well to add calories to other stuff. If I'm really stuck I just have rice and vegetables or something. The hard part with self made meals is trying to get them to have enough calories. Fast food is just so much easier and much more filling than anything I can manage to make. And much tastier too. But really have to break that habit.

For sure - I got pretty tubby after getting on my food allergy meds last summer, which let me eat gluten & dairy again (boy was that ever a bad idea LOL). My brother, who is into weight lifting, had let himself go too, so we had a weightloss challenge. I told him I was going to beat him on the Whopper diet, just to show him that IIFYM worked (at least on the calorie principle!). Not only did I beat him, but oh man, fast food tastes so good haha

Seriously though, like you said, fast food is easy, calorie-dense, filling, and tasty. I did 2200 calories daily and basically did a breakfast sandwich & OJ for breakfast, different breakfast sandwich & milk for lunch, and a Whopper & whatever I could fit into the remaining calories for dinner. It made counting numbers super easy because you only had to go by their nutritional guide. Other than being expensive, it was awesome lol. OTOH, when I do homemade meals, yeah...it's so much easier to get an instant, super-tasty, pre-calorie-counted meal from a fast food place.

Buuuuuuuut in the interest of eating healthier, saving a truckload of money, etc., homemade meals are the way to go.

 

[Mai72]

For sure - I got pretty tubby after getting on my food allergy meds last summer, which let me eat gluten & dairy again (boy was that ever a bad idea LOL). My brother, who is into weight lifting, had let himself go too, so we had a weightloss challenge. I told him I was going to beat him on the Whopper diet, just to show him that IIFYM worked (at least on the calorie principle!). Not only did I beat him, but oh man, fast food tastes so good haha

Seriously though, like you said, fast food is easy, calorie-dense, filling, and tasty. I did 2200 calories daily and basically did a breakfast sandwich & OJ for breakfast, different breakfast sandwich & milk for lunch, and a Whopper & whatever I could fit into the remaining calories for dinner. It made counting numbers super easy because you only had to go by their nutritional guide. Other than being expensive, it was awesome lol. OTOH, when I do homemade meals, yeah...it's so much easier to get an instant, super-tasty, pre-calorie-counted meal from a fast food place.

Buuuuuuuut in the interest of eating healthier, saving a truckload of money, etc., homemade meals are the way to go.

Nobody is saying that you can't eat fast food. I don't think eating it on a daily basis is a good idea. Maybe once a week. Eating fast food on a cheat day is a great idea, so you don't burn out on sweet potatoes, brocolli, and chicken. The problems come up when we eat donuts in the morning, a hamburger at lunch and Burger King at dinner. Multiply that by 20-30 years and health issues start to crop up. Diabities, high blood pressure, and other ailments. IMO, many pharmaceutical companies would be out of business if more people ate nutritiously.

Do this while you're young. You don't want to be 55 and have your first heart attack. Or, develop diabetes. That's not a good lifestyle. I'd rather be dead.

Finally, to encourage myself to eat nutritiously I visualize what the future would be like if I ate like sh*t. I imagine the consequences. I imagine what diabetes would be like, or having high blood pressure. I imagine myself feeling like sh*t. This alone encourages me to prep my meals for the week.