Actually, I do as much food prep ahead of time as possible. In other words, I cook on days when I have the energy, and I heat leftovers on the days that I don't. Some days I just need to get up and move around (cooking fits the bill). The other day, I made three different pots of soup - I froze two of them and the leftovers from the third one, which we had for supper. My freezer is always full of leftovers and such that way.

If you need to lose a workout day in order to have a food prep day, that may be a good trade-off because you will have good things to eat, and one day of workouts won't be THAT big of a deal. But you have to decide if it's worth it for YOU. I don't necessarily have more energy if I take a day off working out - in fact, I seem to be more sluggish and get less done. Try it, though, and if it works, great; if it doesn't work, try something else.

I agree with Pageta - I do most food prep ahead of time so that after exercising I don't have to.

My typical weekday schedule has me at work 8:30-6:30 or so. Then I go to the gym. I get home at 8:15 PM, shower, and pull dinner together. There is no way I'm in the mood for serious food prep at that hour, after such a long day.

So, I cook on the weekends. I cook large batches of protein dishes like chicken, fish, or dal (lentils). I might also roast up vegetables, make a big chopped salad (salads without lettuce keep fine for a few days), and make a little rice or bulgur if I want some that week.

That way, when I get home from the gym on weekdays, dinner is mostly waiting for me in the refrigerator - all I have to do is heat it up. At most, I might have to spend 15 minutes cooking up a fresh vegetable - sauteeing or roasting something, or even just chopping some raw vegetables to augment whatever I have ready for that evening.

This approach has worked really well for me.

I work a pretty traditional M-F 7:30-4 schedule, so my workouts and cooking/food prep revolve around that. I agree with pageta, I do as much ahead of time as possible. If I don't prepare ahead, after a full day of work, going to the gym, and/or walking the dog, I'm ravenous and will start eating anything in sight if there's not a quick path between dinner and I. I'm also helped by the fact that I don't mind leftovers. I plan ahead what I want to eat for the coming week and make a grocery run after I go to the gym Saturday. Sat PM or Sunday, when I have more free time, I do a lot of prep, veggie cleaning & chopping, and cook a few meals, or cook my lunch for the week if it's something cook-able. I rely more on leftovers or pre-prepped stuff for the week, or choose simpler things to prep during the week. I also double any recipe I can to allow for leftovers, or freeze some for another week. I keep a few frozen foods on hand in case of emergency.

I'm definitely a "plan ahead" kind of person. Knowing that I have OP food figured out and ready to go with minimal fuss & stress during the week lets me relax and focus on work and workouts. If eliminating one workout will give you the time to prep healthy food ahead of time to stay OP, I think that would be a good trade.

I'm going to set up some food containers in the fridge for meal fixins and start using my freezer better. I've been good at buying veggies, but then don't feel like 'dealing' with them and they go bad. If I just clean/chop when I get home that would be a Huge plus. I AM GOING TO GET THIS THING DONE ONCE AND FOR ALL !

thank you all and have a good weekend

hey i agree with the above posters- i call between 6 pm and 10 pm sunday night my cooking day.

i cook one entree, a protein for lunches, and maybe another protein.

i also cut up as much fruit and veg as i can for the week so that after getting home from work and the gym, it only takes me about 15 mins to have dinner done!

I make menus 2 weeks at a time. I write down the meal of the day on family calendar for each day. I shop once per week for all needed groceries (saves a ton to plan ahead). I cook certain things in advance, I prepare others in advance (like meatloaf and meatballs in freezer).

If I am organized, I feel cooking is not a chore.

Hey, thanks. This weekend I'll cook up a pot of mung beans, and meat balls to keep in the freezer and chop up mixed veggies.

Thanks so much for helping me out with this. It is SO easy for me to do damage food-wise.

I cook large portions on the weekend so I will have leftovers for the week. Then I have a few quick dinner options in case I feel like cooking something on a week night. But generally, I work from 7-5, then go to the gym, then don't get home until 7:30 at the earliest. On the weekends, if I work out, I just do in at my apt complex 1st thing in the morning.

Honestly, I don't know how you all manage that. I'm cooking for a family of 5. A 76 year old, my husband and I, our teenaged son, and then our 6 year old son who is autistic and doesn't eat much of what we eat (though that is getting better).

I always make as big a batch of everything as I can, but that will last two days for most things. If I were to do veggie prep for the week and do it all on the weekends, it would seriously take hours.... I'm dreading going back to work because of this. When we eat salad, we eat two heads of lettuce at a time. When we eat veggies, we are eating a huge bowl of it - every day.

The only things I've found where I can make big batches and have it ready are things like crock pot meals with cabbage and pork and so on.

Are you all cooking/prepping for families when you talk about prepping for the week? Or just for yourself?

I spend about 10 hours a week exercising. So add my commute to the gym, changing etc... I'd say about 12 hours a week total.

Food prep.. I'd say less than 5 hours a week total. I have to cook for my kids anyway. I save a lot of time by fixing things that can be tweaked a little bit for me or poured over a salad. I love leftovers so I get creative with them a lot . We eat all whole foods and I feel like it really simplifies things. My kids are happy to eat a protein/starch or carb/veg/fruit nearly every night. I do the same without the starch. We change up the flavorings and call it good.

I spend about an hour on Sunday afternoons prepping produce and that saves me a ton of time and mess during the week.

I cut up all veggies on the day I buy them. I store them in glass containers with little bit of water. It is a HUGE time savor. I can toss a salad in a no time, whip up a stir fry in no effort. My kids are eating more veggies, because they are easy to find and fun to eat.

I should start doing that, but it would take 2-3 hours probably. Salads, greens, trimming, washing, etc. I don't know.... Still would have things like onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes to do the meal of. I guess it would only be washing and cutting salad, green peppers, Brussels sprouts, green beans, and the like.

I'm just preparing for myself and my partner, not a whole family. But the basic principle holds, I would think - do the bulk of the work when you have time and energy for it (for most working people, that's some time on the weekend) so that you don't have to do it when you are tired and hungry and just want to get dinner on the table (again for most working people, weekday evenings). Even if you still have to do some work during the week, if you can structure your time this way it has to be easier than prepping and cooking an entire meal from nothing every single evening.

Or not; everyone's tolerance is different. But, the thread opened with "how do I find energy for food prep when I am so tired from exercising?" and that is the question people answered.

Also, speaking just for myself, I don't prep a week's worth of vegetables at once - I cook the week's proteins on the weekends and some vegetables. I find that preparing a simple vegetable dish or a salad doesn't take so much time or effort that I can't do it on some weeknights even after a 12-hour day of commuting, working, and exercising.

I do waste lots of veggies because I don't prepare them when I buy them. Yeah, getting my fridge together is this weekend's priority. Because, even though I don't make big fancy meals, I've never made a meal that I regretted, which is a lot more than I can say about take-out.