I think you mean if you are cooking a big dish in advance? I don't call that meal prep. I just call that cooking. lol.
Anyway The only reason i cook more than i need in one meal is because a) i'm only cooking of myself and b) its more efficient to cook in larger quantities than individual ones. These are things likes soups and bean dishes and also baked dishes.
When i make a soup, i do it according to the recipe of the quantity of vegetables on hand. eg if i was making cauliflower soup, i'd use the whole cauliflower. Yesterday i made pumpkin soup. It was a big pumpkin so i used half of it plus other vegetables. I've got about 2 litres of soup which will last most of the week.
When i make a bean or lentil dish, i tend to cook 1 cup of dried lentils at a time. This can last a while too. Because i don't eat the same dish all week only. I have a few things available so that there's variety of nutrients and flavours.
when i make hummus, lentil soup, beans, etc, i always use 1 cup now.
When i make a baked vegie dish to go in the oven, i'm probably following a recipe and these are usually to serve 4-6 so there's always leftovers to eat for a few days.
As little as possible prep works for me! I'd rather watch paint dry than cook. I go the store or farmers market at least 2x/week to have fresh produce. Most mornings I broil the day's chicken with garlic powder, maybe crushed ginger, sometimes fresh basil leaf or WF marinade added right after cooking. I steam some broccoli and cauliflower, or cur up celery. Then assemble a salad with Romaine, arugula, scallions as base. Sometimes i roast a Delicata or butternut squash and add olive or coconut oil & garlic powder once it's cooked.
On Saturday or Sunday, I menu plan for the entire week using my pinterest recipes (I am a complete pinterest freak!) and my old food logs. I try to find creative ways to use the same ingredients multiple times to minimize what I need to purchase. As I'm doing the menu plan, I make a shopping list.
Next, I go grocery shopping (which, I confess, I love to do.) I get all I can at Aldi's because it's super cheap, stop by the farmer's market if it's summer, and as a last resort go to the local market which is horribly overpriced. If I've got a wee bit of extra money I go to the butcher shop for meat and seafood because the quality is amazing.
The final thing I do is to make a list of what I need to do each evening for the next day's meals. I put everything I'll need for breakfast in a plastic container so I can just grab it in the morning and start cooking. I pack my lunch for work. And I pull meat from the freezer to defrost for dinner or to use to make the lunch I'll be packing for the following day.
Both lists - the menu plan and the to-do list - get posted on the fridge and I'm good to go for the week. A few hours of work and I never have to think "What am I going to eat?" or "Oh, I can't make X because I don't have (fill in the blank)." No impulse eating. No meals that are wildly off-plan. No last minute unbudgeted trips to the store. Plus it greatly minimizes food waste because everything I purchase I plan to use.
ETA: I cook for one and I adjust all recipes to make one serving so I can have variety and not eat leftovers all week long. Occasionally I'll make a large batch of something and freeze portions of it. I do this with things like whole roasted chickens, pulled pork, cauli-rice, meatloaf, meatballs, soup, chili, etc.
btw i don't do meal plans. When i go shopping, sometimes i know in advance at one or two things i want to cook for this week. I buy all my shopping for one week but at the moment, i find the foods goes further.
so in a weekly shop would buy or top up my supply of :
milk
cheese - always have parmesan and fetta cheese on hand and maybe 1-2 others
natural yoghurt
butter
fruit - 2-3 varieties depending on cost
vegetables including salad and cooking vegies - enough i think for a week
some fish perhaps
1-2 loaves sliced wholegrain bread which i keep in the freezer
dried or canned beans/lentils
nuts and seeds if needed
any canned products if needed
oil and vinegar if needed
any dried herbs if needed
oats or other breakfast cereal if needed
any pasta or rice if needed
eggs if needed
Other things i always have on hand are a range of flours wholegrain and plain, cornflour, sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, vegemite (a low cal yeast spread for bread), breadcrumbs, sugar (kept in the freezer along with the flour)
With this sort of variety in my fridge, i am never short of an idea of what to cook. I don't spend a long time cooking.
There are several things that I always cook and freeze on weekends to have on hand: turkey/zucchini meatballs, squash/chicken nuggets, cauliflower cheese sauce, and homemade marinara. I additionally make sure I have two different portioned out 150-200 calorie dishes for lunch in my freezer at all times: typically these are stuffed peppers, chili, stew, or soup.
Other things that I don't always have on hand, but usually have frozen are some kind of curry, breakfast burritos or sandwiches, regular burritos, any kind of burger (veggie, mixed meat and veggie), mini chicken pot pies, and veggie/turkey meatloaf muffins. I sometimes make casseroles and freeze them in portions too.
On weekends I also make sure I have a quick breakfast to grab so lately I've been making mini quiches with ham crust that I keep in the fridge. I warm up two in the morning and it's a 30 second breakfast.
I try to make sure that I have everything ready so that if I need to grab and go, I have it. Every night I pack my lunch (1 fruit serving, 1 baggie of veggies with dip, and my silverware). If I feel like a salad, I make that too, but if not I grab one of my frozen meals and add it to my lunchbox in the morning.
I always try to set myself up for success and I don't like having to cook during the week if I don't have to.
I keep a list in my phone of meals I like to make on the regular and then check to see if the main ingredients are on sale in the grocery store's weekly ad. I also scour my Pinterest list if I can't think of anything. I usually base what I'm going to make off of that, and sides (veggies) are usually based on what I can get fresh, local, seasonal or on sale.
On a good week, I write out my plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a notepad and build my grocery list off of that before I even step foot in the store. I usually have the same thing for breakfast (cottage cheese and pineapple) and lunch every day during the work week (except for on fasting days, obv.). Lunch is usually a big batch of soup, or some sort of barley, salad, etc. that I prep in advance and divide into containers the night before. Dinner I usually just make the night of, but I usually have already done all the shopping and have everything on hand for it.
I used to keep a lot more things ready to go in the freezer (slow cooker meals already prepped) but my freezer was having issues until recently, so it's time to get back into that! I love being able to just dump everything into a slow cooker and come home to dinner. However, I do enjoy actually making my dinner at dinner time sometimes. It gives me something to focus on, rather than finishing dinner quickly and then thinking about snacking. Plus, I love cooking!
I think by having an idea of my plan for the week I avoid those last minute "let's just go out to dinner/get takeout" decisions. Especially if my boyfriend is the one who wants to go out and I've already done the prep work for dinner, it's easier for me to say no, I've already got dinner planned for us!
Last edited by nonameslob; 05-14-2014 at 10:07 AM.
Each morning I decide which meat I want in the evening and pull out the pre-portioned bag from the freezer to thaw in the fridge.
In the evening, I decide what I want to make with the meat and make a one serving size (cooking for one).
If I'm planning correctly, I prepare most of my lunch for the next day and also breakfast to take to work.
I don't really plan ahead. I cook simple dishes (pasta with veg/meat, grilling meat and veg, or a simple Taiwanese soup or stir fry), so usually it only takes me about half an hour. Lunch and breakfast prep takes somewhere near 15-30 min.
[QUOTE=Munchy;5003716
On weekends I also make sure I have a quick breakfast to grab so lately I've been making mini quiches with ham crust that I keep in the fridge.[/QUOTE]
Do you mean the crust is made from ham? If so, can I have the recipe?
I swap out the shredded cheese for 1.2 oz of Neufchatel mixed into the veggies in the pan (it makes a "creamed spinach" of sorts) and then mix that into the eggs. Each one is 40 calories, so I just eat two for breakfast during the week. My six year old and my boyfriend also grab them for quick breakfasts.
I cook 3 meals a day pretty much. I make oatmeal with fruit for my son. Then I make an omelette for myself using whatever veggies/cheese I have in the fridge.
For lunch it's either left overs or a big salad or sandwiches.
For dinner we have a very general type of meal plan:
Monday - vegetarian
Tuesday - seafood
Wednesday - salad
Thursday - soup
Friday - pasta
Saturday - wild card
Sunday - big roast dinner or BBQ
I shop every day by walking to the market to get the things we need only for that day. This means I'm around food all day long. But I do freeze things especially when I make stews or soups which feeds our lunch plan. The only thing I hate about this arrangement is the amount of dishes we're stuck with.
What does you meal prep look like?
