Meal Preparation

Meal Preparation

A big part of eating real food is planning and prepping.  Sunday is my prep day. I usually plan what meals I am going to make on Friday or Saturday and do my grocery shopping so I am all set to go on Sunday. I don't usually make whole meals ahead of time but I will pre-prep or pre-cook ingredients to go into meals (quinoa or rice, cooked shredded chicken, cooked veggies, washed lettuce, etc.) to make cooking easier and to make hectic morning breakfasts, snacks and lunch preparation easier and faster.  Here is an example of last Sunday's prep.  I usually start early and am done by noon!  (See other posts for details on each.  If there is no post yet for something it is coming soon I promise!)

• I cooked shredded chicken in the crockpot (for weekday lunches or a quick dinner as a salad, quesadilla, burrito bowl or on a potato or with the cooked veggies and sweet potatoes). I threw it in the crockpot first thing and let it cook while I was doing other things. 
• Hard boiled eggs (for add ons to breakfast, lunch, or for a snack)
• Washed and placed romaine lettuce in a bag (ready for salads and sandwiches)
• I cooked carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes in the oven
• I cooked oatmeal (for breakfasts for my kids on weekdays, for my husband to grab to take to work and for me as a snack)
• Made banana muffins (for my kids as a snack or quick breakfast with fruit)
• I made my kids pancakes Sunday morning and doubled the batch to freeze for weekday breakfasts. I also made myself some 21 day fix approved pancakes.
• I made a blueberry cake as a homemade treat/dessert.
• I made whole grain rolls (I usually make either rolls or bread, depending on dinners for the week. We use the bread or rolls for sandwiches and as buns for burgers, etc.)

The shredded chicken and my rolls

Hard boiled eggs peeled and ready to eat

Oven cooked sweet potato cubes, ready to be eaten as a side.

Oven cooked green beans

Cooked oatmeal, in containers ready to be taken to work or heated at home

Muffins (these happen to have chocolate chips.  This time I didn't put chocolate chips in the muffins. It usually depends if I plan on serving them as a snack or as breakfast).

Blueberry crumble cake.

The prepared whole grain bread/roll dough uncooked as prepared in the bread machine (I let mine rise in the microwave and then cook in the oven - just my preference)

Homemade rolls (before and after cooking)

A loaf of my homemade bread

Other things I sometimes prep for the week.

Bacon in the oven

Spinach cubes

(I usually put fresh spinach and ice in my smoothies but if I have a ton of spinach instead of letting it go to waste I blend it in the food processor with some water and make cubes and use one of those instead of the fresh spinach and ice)

Breakfast bars

Baked oatmeal

Homemade granola bars for kid lunches and snacks

and homemade whole grain tortillas

Most items that I won't use in the new few days go in the freezer (tortillas, granola bars, extra muffins, mini meatloaves, etc)  Then I can defrost in the fridge overnight or in the microwave (tortillas or muffins wrapped in a paper towel) or send frozen (granola bars or homemade cookies) and they will defrost by lunchtime.   Meal prepping makes it so I almost always have something decent and homemade I can send or serve for my kids for lunch (and breakfast, snacks and dinner!)