So many times I see people saying they don't have time to fix food for themselves - to eat healthy, to break their reliance on non-packaged foods. So I decided to try an experiment tonight after I got home from the grocery store. to see how long I spend on food prep onthe weekends. After I put everything away, I set my kitchen timer for 60 mins and began my weekend routine of getting food ready.

Here's what I did, in order:

Mixed up oats, eggs, yogurt, chopped dates (from a can), and peanuts and put in a 9x9 dish in the toaster oven for oat bars (the other thread made me crave them! ). While they are baking ...

Began making cabbage mushroom soup for lunches next week: sliced onions and garlic, put onions in the pot with some olive oil over low heat. While that was cooking ...

Sliced 1/2 a cabbage, mushrooms, and shredded carrots to add to the soup. Set that aside.

Sliced the rest of the cabbage very very thin and put in a gallon zipper bag with a tiny squeeze of lemon juice to keep it from browning. I'll use this for fish tacos and cole slaw next week.

Put on 6 eggs to boil.

Added the cabbage, etc. to the pot, poured in 2 cups of chicken broth and topped off with water. Added a couple of dried chili peppers. Set to simmer and covered.

Preheated the oven to 425.

Turned off the heat under the eggs, and covered to let cook hard.

Peeled and diced a butternut squash (also for soup). Tossed with olive oil, salt, and paprika, and put in the oven.

Cleaned up some, wiped down the counters.

While squash is roasting, pulled out 5 pieces of whole grain bread and cut them in half. Measured out 32g of peanut butter on 5 of the halves, made pb sandwiches, put them in snack sized baggies, and put them back in the fridge (breakfast and/or lunch for next week).

Measured out 28g of baby carrots into 5 snack-sized baggies and put them in the fridge.

Put 1.25 cups of steel cut oats and 5 cups water into the slow cooker for breakfast/snacks next week.

Opened 2 Fage yogurts and squirted in ~1t of honey and put the lids back on. These will go with breakfast - whether it's oats or one of the pb sandwiches.

Portioned out 1/2 cup servings of cottage cheese into 3 of the 1/2 cup sized Glad reusable containers and put those in the fridge.

Rinsed and chilled the eggs, cracked the shells, and put them in a baggie in the fridge.

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At this point there are still 15 mins left on the timer, but I'm done until the soup is done cooking and can be put in a container in the fridge and the butternut squash is done roasting, in which case, I'll set aside about 1.5 cups of it to have with chicken tonight just roasted and I'll put the rest on for soup.

Fixing the rest of the butternut squash soup will be a matter of simmering it in chicken stock and water for about 45 mins.

Oh and I have to let the oat bars cool and slice them and package them in zipper bags.

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All in all, I will spend another 30-40 mins prepping food and I'll have my breakfasts, lunches, and snacks ready for next week. In the bag I take to my office every day I'll take one of the soups or the other, throw in an apple, a can of V8, and a boiled egg. And this week I'll have oat bars as well.

Usually I'll eat my oats for breakfast before I leave the house, or I'll eat my 1/2 pb sandwich in the car on the way in. Yogurt at my desk when I get there.

So really that's it - for about 90 mins worth of work on Sunday evening, I have everything ready for next week. Now all I have to worry about is dinner when I get home.

Obviously this works for me because I tend to eat the same things for breakfast/lunch over the course of a week.

But I did think it was an interesting experiment to see exactly how long I spend preparing for the week.

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And having everything ready will keep you out of the vending machine at work or having to stop at MacDonald's. Good Planning Pays Off!!!

Exactly!!!

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"Mixed up oats, eggs, yogurt, chopped dates (from a can), and peanuts and put in a 9x9 dish in the toaster oven for oat bars (the other thread made me crave them! ). While they are baking"

Ok, You have my attention what the recipe for these exactly and how many calories per bar do ya figure you have in em? after I read this post I read the oat bar part to my wife and she asked that I ask you for the exact recipe because she has been looking for something like this and it sounds just about perfect for her, thanks.

As Ever
Me

totally off topic but where can you buy these steel oats, I looked at walmart today and all they had was quaker. I so badly wanted to do that crock pot recipe But you are right planning is KEY to making this work, and really it takes so little effort and is sooo worth it in the long run even if it does take effort.

Heheh. No problem. It's based on a "baked oatmeal" recipe that I got online somewhere ... I can't remember where.

3 cups rolled oats
1 container Fage 2% yogurt (one of the single serving sizes)
2 eggs
1/2 cup (loosely packed) brown sugar
about 3/4 cup of chopped dates (I didn't really measure, just threw them in)
about 1/2 cup of plain roasted peanuts (note that these don't stay crunchy - they get a little soft - if that texture is a problem, I'd skip them.)

You can also throw in a bit of cinnamon if you want that flavor.

Mix it all together well. To be honest, I wash my hands and then mush everything around by hand. It's easier and faster than using a spoon.

Spray a 9x9 pan with Pam and put the mix in. Press it down firmly with your hand. Really pack it down.

Bake in 350 oven for about 40 mins. It won't really brown at all, or maybe just a little around the edges. It just firms up.

Take out of the oven and cut immediately while still hot. Then let cool.

1" x 1" squares gives you 9 squares per pan. Each square is about 260 cals, 7g fat, 10g protein, 5g fiber.

They're pretty filling and not terribly sweet. One of my big problems with most commercial bars is that they're too sweet. I have, in the past had these for breakfast with a little vanilla yogurt. And they make a GREAT post-workout snack because of the protein in them.

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I buy my steel cut oats at Whole Foods, but Kroger also carries them here.

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I have tons of small Glad containers and zipperlock baggies I should put into good use. I thought about putting together my breakfasts & lunches Sunday before the week begins by packing sandwiches and stuff, but never put it into effect. This seems easy and totally throws away the "I don't have time".

our walmart has them near the quaker but way on the top shelf, maybe ask someone

I don't do food prep on the weekends, but I do spend a few minutes each evening planning for the next day. It really does not take that long, regardless of when you do the work!

Great job on the food prep!

I think the reason many people say they don't have time is a matter of priorities. My best friends says she doesn't have time to eat healthy (or at home even), but she can't miss Dancing With the Stars... it's all about priorities! Which in fine, I'm just not big on whining about it.

Photochick - that recipe sounds yummy! I have one question - when cutting them in the pan, do you mean the bars are cut into 3"x3" squares? If cut into 1"x1", that'll get you a whole lot more than 9 bars! And at 260 calories per 1 inch square...

What's funny to me is how long these same people will spend in fast food drive-in lines and what have you. Really, it's the same if not much more time to prep your food whether its one night for the whole week, or each evening.
Good thread Photo!

Oh argh. Yes, 3x3 squares - 9 per pan.

Math was never my strong point.

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I think if you are good at and used to cooking and baking and prepping food, then taking the time needed to plan your week's food is easy peasy. But if you're not a cook or if it's new then it can seem daunting. Also, prepping for on a Sunday afternoon for the week takes a good-bit of multi-tasking (prepping several things at once) and some folks just aren't capable of that so it would take them longer. Even prepping non-cooked foods can seem like a lot of work if you aren't used to doing it. For someone new to the game, those 90 minutes probably seem loooonnngggg and just grabbing a lean cuisine or whatever is alot easier.

I think - especially for people just starting out or people who don't have confidence in their cooking abilities or who just don't like to cook - that pre-packaged foods are fine. They are a great place to learn portion control and are excellent for learning how to calorie count. Not saying that cooking and food-prep and planning and making your own can't be learned; of course they can. Just that if you're not used to it, planning a week's worth of food might seem overwhelming and I think pre-package foods have their place.

You know, that's so true. Even if you don't go through fast food lines - even if you eat packaged food at home. My husband doesn't follow my same eating plan and on nights I make something he doesn't like, he fixes frozen pizza. By the time he preheats the oven, cooks the pizza, takes the pizza out, cuts it up, lets it cool ... I've fixed a full healthy meal and eaten it.

Now, granted, he can put the pizza in to cook and go back and watch TV for 45 mins, so I guess if that's a consideration ...

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