Healthy Meal Prep....

Just found these and LOVE them

I'm lazy - the easiest way for me to eat healthy is to only BUY healthy...because let's be honest...if there's a bagel and cream cheese (or a chocolate bar), I'm going to grab that before the yoghurt I don't do much pre-prepping but I'm all about buying convenience.

I just went shopping tonight.

For breakfast? I bought a bag of granola, a bag of frozen mixed berries, a big tub of greek yoghurt (easy enough to make up individual servings in advance); I also bought individual yoghurts for my kids and(we already have instant oatmeal). Oh and eggs - other than the hardboiled - I don't pre-prep eggs, they are quick anyway.

For lunch? I bought preprepped veggies (baby carrots, peapods, broccoli, grape tomatoes), fruit (apple slices, grapes, strawberries), cheese (babybel, laughing cow wedges, blocks of cheese that I pre-cut into cubes, sliced Swiss cheese, strong cheese), lunch meat...I forgot to grab hummus. There's already a loaf of sliced bakery italian (I always buy sliced because the bakery cuts it into more slices than we ever manage to and the smaller slices are better portion control than sandwich bread for instance) and there are crackers as well. I'll try and remember to hardboil some eggs as well.

Snacks - cheese, fruit, airpopped popcorn, raw veggies, hardboiled egg, yoghurt...all those are options

Dinners - I use bagged salads (I like the chopped salads) and I often buy frozen vegetables - this week I picked up zucchini and squash fresh as well as bell peppers for a homemade pizza. Weeknight meals are usually 30 minutes start to finish, weekend meals are when I put more time into cooking.

This coming week's dinner menu:
Sat - homemade pizza (one pepperoni for kids, one with mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and onions for adults) with salad and golden honeydew melon
Sun - DD(16) is cooking - pork roast, roast potatoes (if I were cooking it would be roast root veggies but....), carrots and broccoli and some kind of fruit
Mon - leftover pork roast and sides
Tues - bbq pulled chicken (crockpot) with coleslaw and applesauce and I'll put out an assortment of raw veggies as well
Wed - DD(9) is cooking - soft tacos (beef/beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese), leftover coleslaw and some kind of fruit
Thurs - chicken enchiladas with leftover veggies from Wed and raw veggies and fruit
Fri - cheese quiche, salad and fruit

I shopped the perimeter of the grocery section - the only 'grocery' aisle I went down was baking (for spray oil) and International (for refried beans)...oh and soda for my diet, caffeine-free dr pepper because one has to have A vice, lol (I buy the cans for portion control - one/day max). Everything else came from the dairy, meat, produce, bakery depts. That's partly because I already had frozen veggies, tinned fruit, and oatmeal on hand though. But I try really hard to avoid all the temptations on the centre aisles because if I bring them home, we eat them.

I meal prep all of my lunches for the week on Sundays.

I get a LOT of inspiration from this subreddit: Meal Prep Sunday

How do you prepare the egg patties ahead of time?

This is almost word for word what I do!!

Last Sunday I made 8 lunches. I had 2 sheets of different roasted veggies, black beans, a bowl of cooked quinoa and a bowl of cooked brown rice. I just grab a spoon of this and that. So some end up with cauliflower and carrots, quinoa and black beans. Then others end up with roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, black beans, rice with a dallup of hummus. They are all similar with a bit of variety. I left them all in the fridge for days when there are no leftovers.

Eggs, cut up veggies, little tubs of cottage cheese. My kids won't eat cottage cheese if it's still in the tub. But if I divide it up into little tubs they will grab it and eat it. Weird! Breakfast and lunch are pretty much grab and go around here. With several hours worth of work on Sunday's.

Oh and fruit - I clean and cut up a LOT of fruit too!  Every one of us, except ds, eats fruit every day.    

I love salads for lunch so we prep those in the weekends ahead of time. I store them in These 4-cup glass Pyrex bowls with lids. A small paper towel goes in first, then loads of veggies some nuts, then 1 cup each of spinach and green leafy lettuce and finally half a baked chicken breast. They stay fresh and I take out the paper towel (easy) and pour in the dressing and shake shake shake. The salad is coated and I use much less dressing this way. Delicious!

We also wash all of our fruits and veggies, and cut some so they are ready to grab.

Even if you don't have time to make a lot of food on the weekend, you can make a habit of doubling recipes as you make dinner and freezing the second serving to have for another time.

I typically meal prep on the same day I shop--sometimes Saturday, sometimes Sunday. 

Some things I'll prep ahead:
*some kind of meat-based protein--chicken breasts, deconstructed burgers, grilled steak with a simple rub, etc. 
*a healthy carb--sweet potato, rice, or sometimes regular white potatoes--I use my InstantPot for these
*hard boiled eggs (InstantPot again!)
*salad fixings (I want to try the mason jar style to prep them for the week)
*fresh fruits/veggies 

I pack my lunches the night before so the next morning I just need to grab and go. Ziploc used to sell these lunch containers with different compartments--I have about 6 that I use, and DD's old kid-sized silverware fits in them perfectly. (I eat salad with a princess fork. Don't judge) 

I can knock out an entire week's worth of cooking (for just 2 of us) in about 2 hours. 

I'll divide up larger recipes and freeze half, so when life gets hectic (like when you're a teacher trying to survive the last weeks of school!) I can pull something from the freezer and cut my prep to just the fresh things. 

It really is worth it! 

There is a wonderful young man on YouTube who has a channel called Fit Men Cook ( or maybe Man). He has some great videos where he shows planning, shopping, cooking, and portioning healthy meals for a week on a budget. His recipes look good and pretty simple. He would be a great inspiration, I think, for anyone trying to get on the healthy eating wagon.

Marcy

I used to do this but got lazy and stopped. I really need to start up again.

I keep veg soup in the fridge for a quick snack to keep me from grabbing something bad. I got the recipe from WW and it has no high carb vegies. I noticed I never get a cold when I eat it every day, too.

WW Vegie Soup

LG can tomatoes
Onion
Green beans
Carrots
Spinach
2 Boulion cubes

You can put anything you like in it. ( No potatoes.) You can put some beans, but they will add carbs. I make it in the crock pot and it lasts for 3 or 4 days. I freeze half of it. You can use canned, fresh or frozen vegies.

Her is a silly question... Can one freeze a salad? Or is it too dry?

How long will egg muffins or patties keep in the fridge?