Health & Family Meal Prep anyone?

Hi,

Apologies if there is already a thread on this. I am looking at meal prepping this year for a couple of reasons:

• I am the only one cooking
• I am working more this year (still part time, just)
• I am sick of the day to drudgery of it
• We really need to cut our budget and I am sick of waste
• We need to stop eating rubbish, DH is pre-diabetic and I am carrying extra weight

For anyone who doesn’t know what meal prepping is, here is an article: Cooking healthy meals for the family doesn’t have to break the bank

Problems I see with us doing anything like this are:

• I hate left overs and reheated food
• I am allergic to all seafood and most meal plans are loaded with it
• I only eat chicken breast and steak, a little bit of lamb and ham when it comes to meat. DH is a carnivore and only eats standard veg.

Any suggestions on free websites for ideas? Does anyone else do this? What is your experience?

Thanks,

Kassy

 

Don't many people do a version of this anyway? When I make chicken soup, or a casserole or stew, I always make a large amount so I can freeze what’s left.

Perhaps just substitute the seafood with the meat you do like? Or use a recipe you already enjoy (that freezes well) and triple (or more) the recipe.

Your comments about hating leftover food and hating reheated food might possibly mean that you sabotage yourself before you have started. The family might pick up on your negative feelings, too and be a bit resistant.

It’s not 'leftovers' in this case. It is delicious and nutritious food with all the goodness and flavor locked in by freezing! You're doing it as an act of love for your family.

You can still do non-prepared meals on some days - good to mix it up a bit.

 

Hey @Kassy
I'm going to be doing more of it this year when we move into new house and have a new freezer that I can fill up.

For inspiration I go to pinterest and they have lots and lots of links then to prepper sites.

For some people they prep and freeze raw then put in slow cooker so meal is ready when they get home - this might suit you to break up frozen cooked meals.

I'm not a big fan of some preppers who cook up big on a Sunday and then portion out for daily things and put in fridge - some of them are portioning out salad on a Sunday and expect it to last a week - ewww

I'm more of a cook and freeze or prep raw and freeze person

Here is some nice recipes that might suit 40 Dump Recipes for the Slow Cooker that are actually Amazing

Freezer meals https://www.pinterest.com.au/search..._meta[]=freezer|typed&term_meta[]=meals|typed

 

Hi Kassy
that is weird my daughter has just got us into this, she has promised to do all the prepping... haha... lets see.

MTR

 

I tried it, didn't work well for me. I find it's just easier to make a salad and buy a BBQ chicken. With the two of us that will be 2-3 dinners. Chopping up lettuce, tomato, onion, capsicum, avo, takes all of 5 minutes. I think I prefer the freshness as opposed to nuking everything. Throw on a steak or salmon fillet every now and then, and they're relatively quick and painless to cook and clean up.

 

Leftovers are my favourite meal. There are some foods, like curry, that are much better the day after cooking or later in the week.

Foods with resistant starch are better for you if you cook, cool then heat and eat, like sweet potatoes. They taste better too.

I do a lot of meal prep: pasta, curries, nacho sauce etc. I still make salads fresh to eat with them but I can do that while I am re-heating.

 

I love salads too.
There is an element of prepping that can be good for this though. For example buy 1kg of chicken breasts and marinade in individual bags. In the morning you can take out a couple of bags to defrost in fridge during the day and bbq at night - no nuking, all fresh. Then add a salad to it

 

If anyone is looking for a great protein that is very tasty (Coles Hot smoked salmon fillets), no need to reheat, this is delic and great a little expensive but you are paying for convenience... very tasty

 

I have not used a slow cooker for years, don't they dry out food???

MTR

 

so eighties I threw my slow cooker out years ago, boot leather meat...

For those who have had issues here is the solution... don't you love google

6 Common Slow Cooker Problems and How To Fix Them – Stupid Easy Paleo

 

They are back and been quite popular in the past few years. Slow cookers make meat oh so tender - no boot leather here.

 

I know!! It was an American site, maybe they don't "take a dump" like we do

There are a few different names but they tend to revolve around Freezer Prep Meals

17 Freezer Meal Prep Sessions That Will Change Your Life – New Leaf Wellness

 

Hi,

Thanks you all for your comments and suggestions. We actually have an electric multi cooker (slow cooker, pressure cooker, also acts as rice cooker etc), which I use a lot. I tend to use it more as a pressure cooker, any slow cooking I have done since moving to Canberra doesn’t seem to taste right for some reason and takes heaps longer than in Brisbane. Most slow cooker recipes work in the pressure cooker setting anyway (less moisture needed).

I will need to get over myself with the left overs. I think if I prep enough meals they won’t get boring. We have to eat through what is in the fridge and the cupboard to start with...

I’m loving looking through the Pinterest recipes. Dump is rather unfortunate Lol

 

I do meal prep over winter, there is a Reddit page which may interest you: Meal Prep Sunday • r/MealPrepSunday
They mostly do meat and vegetables, or breakfast burritos.

Some of my favourite meal prep foods are:

Lasagna
Korma
Lamb shank massaman curry
Chili basil chicken stir fry
Chicken cashew stir fry
French onion casserole
Red wine casserole
Marinated meat oven cooked then frozen with veggies
Pizza (freeze before cooking, then oven bake)
Pies (freeze before cooking and oven bake)
Ravioli and meatballs pre-cooked
Fried rice
Chicken parmigiana meatballs
Crumbed fish (freeze before cooking and oven baked)
Toasted sandwiches (make the sandwich, wrap in glad bake, and freeze. I put them in the sandwich toaster at work).
Cookies (freeze the dough)


I store individual serving sizes with veggies etc and either heat in the microwave, or the oven.

If microwaving food I think the trick is to make foods with a higher water content, which is why a lot of the foods I make have sauces. My husband has a habit of over heating his food, which doesn't taste as nice.

 

Chicken cacciatore made with chicken thighs is super nice as a freeze and re-heat. Accompany with rice or potatoes and some green beans. Also things like curry, casserole, soup, and tomatoey-mince-dishes do really well as a freeze and reheat. Generally just leave the container in the sink to slowly defrost itself a few hours before you plan to eat it. I don't like using the microwave for the defrosting process. Get yourself a bunch of no-leak containers and you're good to go.

Picking up on the salad suggestion, why not cut some sweet potato or pumpkin up into little cubes and roast a whole tray of it. It makes for a really yum salad addition. Spinach leaves, cherry tomato, red onion, chopped mushroom (the large flat ones are faster to rinse and chop I find), sweet potato or pumpkin, pine nuts, and some good quality Balsamic vinegar. My favourite at the moment is caramelized tomato balsamic. A salad like this is yummy enough to look forward to in its own right whether accompanied by meat or not. Make up a nice large salad and that'll do you for a couple of meals.

 

Right may give it a go again

 

Nice
I have lots of basil in garden will give the chicken recipe a go

 

Side issue - apparently shortage of avocados oz wide.... talk of hitting $7 each..... thats rich

 

Avocado is already really expensive here in Canberra. Really miss them as a Queenslander where it’s not uncommon for people to have an avo tree in their yard...