How I Prep for the Week, Part III: Getting My Cook On
RachelSo I woke up this morning with a stuffed face (from my eyes down to my cheeks) and a scratchy throat. I'm thinking it's either from this crazy weather we've been having (it's hot, it's chilly, it's humid, it's rainy, it's sunny) or the fact that I slept with a wet head last night and the air conditioner blasting. Either way, I'm so not digging it. But it's Thursday and that makes me happy no matter what :)
So the third part of my weekly prep is all about cooking food for the week ahead! Meal planning and grocery shopping are super important parts of the process, but then it's all for naught if you don't actually make the food. Over the last few weeks, I've gotten really good about prepping our food on Sunday, making the rest of the week incredibly easy.
Here's how I get 'er done.
Chop up veggies.
I chop up everything in the fridge. Onions, peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, you name it. I use most of this in our salad for the week (more on that below), and then set some aside for other dishes I plan to make. For example, I use the onions in salad, in breakfast burritos and set some aside for any other dishes I will need onions for during the week. Same with peppers and mushrooms.
Make breakfast.
During the week I just have NO time to make breakfast. I've tried and failed. Instead, I discovered the breakfast burrito! I've made these on the last few Sundays and froze them for the week.
This week, I wasn't feeling the burrito, so I made half as many for Shaun and then a slightly altered and lightened up frittata for me.
Both reheat nicely and make mornings a snap.
Make a big salad.
This has been our go-to lunch for weeks now. I make one or two giant salads - including chicken, turkey bacon, crumbled cheese, olives and lots and lots of veggies - and place it all in a big ol' bowl with a tight-fitting lid, and portion it out each day. It's been working fabulously for us and I know that I always have a healthy lunch option on hand.
Start dinners.
Sometimes I'll make a giant tray of something delicious for us to have a few nights during the week. Some dishes that fall into this category include enchiladas, Mexican layer bakes, cheesey chicken tortilla soup and more. I love doing this because I know that if I exercise after work and don't finish until 8:30, I don't have to then come home and make dinner. Nope, it just gets reheated and eaten immediately.
I don't always make a casserole-type dinner. This week, I roasted up 5 chicken breasts, diced them up and used them in multiple dishes all week long. Just having the chicken pre-made meant that my cooking time was reduced to 20 minutes or less. I used the chicken in our big lunch salad, BBQ chicken pizzas on Sunday and tzatziki chicken salad on Monday (with a little bit of the pre-chopped red onion thrown in for good measure).
Pack it up.
I do my best to portion out salads, frittatas and more so that I can simply grab and go in the morning!
Just these little things make my weeknights so.much.easier.! I'm constantly learning and trying to evolve great tips for prepping in advance and I will definitely keep you posted on those as I realize them!
I hope this was helpful and maybe inspires you to get in the kitchen :) It's made our weeks healthier, more efficient and more relaxing!
Questions of the Day:
Do you do any food prep on the weekends?
How do you handle cooking on busy weeknights?
Reader Comments (4)
Loving this series! I have realized, though I LOVE to cook, I do NOT love to cook after a long work day and an hour at the gym. First and foremost, I'm trying just to simplify weeknight meals, but I love making as much ahead as possible too. We had mid-week swedish meatballs a couple of weeks ago - I formed all of the meatballs on sunday and stored them in the fridge 'til we were ready to roast them up. I love hands-off cooking after a long day. Every Sunday I usually cook up a big batch of brown rice, make a huge salad, hard boil a ton of eggs, and you inspired some breakfast burritos too. Yum!
I usually tried to make a bunch of breakfast and lunches on Sundays - I would have toast a lot for breakfast and then make a few egg dishes or oats to have at work for other days. For lunches, I would try to prep as much as possible so I wasn't spending too much time on it the night before.
How do you carry it all in the morning? I had a HUGE bag that I had to try to stuff in my work bag everyday...
Emily, I plan to do another post about how I cart everything back and forth to work and a peek inside my lunchbag! Stay tuned!
Love this! If I had a bigger fridge, I would totally do this but for now I try and have everything easy to throw together in the morning or after work. I also struggle with carrying everything to work and not being weight down with bags!