Weekly Meal Prep

I am working on trying to blog more, so I decided to write about something I do to save time…MEAL PREP.  Before the baby was born I would prep my meals the night before, but I also had a lot more time on my hands.  Now I try to do my meal prep for the entire week over the weekend.  I also do meal prep for the baby since I make his food.  I will cover making his food in another post.

I usually eat breakfast and lunch at work, but I usually eat out for lunch one day a week.  I end up prepping five breakfast meals and four lunches.  I don’t usually mind eating the same thing for several days, so I usually prep the same lunch for each day.  For the baby I prep veggies, fruit, and rice cereal.

To successfully meal prep for the week, you need to prep everything!  So for breakfast I usually do fruit, yogurt and oatmeal.  I even started making my oatmeal in advance since I don’t use the quick cooking oatmeal it takes a little while to cook in the microwave and tastes better when cooked on the stove.  I cook a big batch and put it in small mason jars.  I LOVE Mason Jars!  For lunch  I switch it up each week, so I might do salads in a jar, burritos, sandwiches, or anything else that will last for a week. I plan to try a lasagna in a jar recipe this week!  The salad in a jar is awesome, since you can switch it up throughout the week and try different salads.  The one in my photo is a taco salad with dressing, black beans, cheese, avocado, chicken and of course lettuce!  It is very good!

        

 

For the baby I make his rice cereal in big batches, since he eats it at every meal.  I have a Baby Bullet, so I fill those storage containers plus I fill ice cube trays which usually makes enough rice for two weeks.  I also fill other containers with veggies and fruit.  I place the frozen “rice” cubes in a freezer bag and I always label everything with the dates.  Fresh baby food usually lasts 3 days in the fridge, so I rotate the frozen food in as needed.

       

Prepping meals once a week really helps me to have extra time each day to complete other things around the house.  Try and you will see how much extra time you have!

Kia Elise 08.10.2014

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