The meal prepping thread

dan958

Hello,

I couldn't see that a thread already exists for meal prepping yet, so thought i'd make one!

This will be an opportunity for people to post recipes and pictures of your meal preps, and ask for inspiration or anything related to meal prepping.

Meal prepping is a great way of making sure that you eat well, if you maybe don't have the time or energy to cook every day. I also believe that it is a great way of making sure you don't waste anything, as I buy all my ingredients and then cook with it right away!

Resources
https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/
Meal prepping for beginners
How do I meal prep?

dan958

Didn't get time to do any meal prepping this weekend, so instead just made couple of days worth of snacks. I made a bunch of roasted chickpeas and sausage rolls.

Here are the timings that I used for the chickpeas https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/crunchy-roasted-chickpeas/ although I change the spices and herbs up a bit, I add cayenne, garlic and onion powder, and thyme - with a bit of oil and salt.

MandM90

I did BBC Good Food's lentil Ragu at the weekend - makes 6-8. Added mushrooms. Gave us dinner on Saturday night and will be supper tonight and tomorrow too. Also chopped up remainder of carrots and celery in fridge and put in clean jam jars for snacks on Mon/Tues.

Next time I cook will be weds night - will do a curry and a soup for Weds/Thurs and then on Friday night I'll do something fresh.

GunShotResidue

Great thread! I love meal prepping.


I managed to make 4 lamb hotpots earlier in the month from a large joint we had for a roast, we're having one for Dinner tonight. Last week I made 25 dump bags (5 x 5 recipes) to be used in the slow cooker. I had a £8 off a £40 shop voucher and managed to get most of what I needed for £32.


Going to do a freezer inventory later this week and plan for the next few months

meggierunner

Ooh excited to see more ideas on this thread - subscribed. I used pintrest and search for meal prep ideas. Theres some really good ones. I'm often unsure though whether the idea is to eat the dishes they've prepped and put so beautifully into the meal prep containers as cold versions or whether you are supposed to reheat in the microwave - it never tells you that bit!

dan958

meggierunner wrote: »

I'm often unsure though whether the idea is to eat the dishes they've prepped and put so beautifully into the meal prep containers as cold versions or whether you are supposed to reheat in the microwave - it never tells you that bit!

I think it would probably be safe to assume that majority of meal prep recipes will allow for re-heating, unless otherwise stated.

Things in a sauce will reheat better. Things like rice, I add a little water to before reheating.

Some great ideas as well everyone else. I definitely need to try some of those. I always like having a variety of things in the freezer. I'm looking forward to re-trying my lentil chilli again, first time it didnt have much flavour (despite following the recipe and even adding more spices!) I am quite new to bulk making food though.

elsiepac

I love meal prep! I have loads on my Insta - @lifewillfindaway
Here's one I did yesterday - just the main parts of lunches and dinners for the next week with a couple of spares.
Potato and leek soups
Sweet potato and chickpea stew (slightly spicy)
Sausage and roasted vegetable pasta sauce

JIL

I dont so much meal prep, but do some prepping twice a week to make things for work.
On Sunday I may make a big pan of soup, usually that fills 6 soup containers. These are great for taking for lunches or if I come in one evening and have to go straight out. (I usually add any leftover veg from Sunday dinner)
I also make a tray of granola bars or individual tea loaf bars. These are wrapped in foil and can be popped into packed lunches.
I make a batch of bread rolls, I fill them with leftover meat from the dinner and salad. I freeze any leftover rolls.
By Wednesday the rolls have been used along with the soup, I then use the remaining rolls from freezer, or sometimes I make a quiche or cheese scones or even a quick tomato soup and this usually does Thursday and Friday.

I also do a meal plan for the week so I also take into account any potential leftovers.
I'm actually really pleased that I dont waste much food at all.
I sometimes look back on my earlier years. I bought a boots meal deal every day I was at work. I cant believe how much money I wasted. I pay for all my shopping on the credit card and take out about £30 cash at the beginning of the month. I very rarely spend it all. It's used mostly for office collections.

dan958

Eating out every day is a killer. A couple of years back, I was probably spending about £5 a day on lunch. Since buying my own place and having my priorities change, I knew that money would be better spent elsewhere. It is also great that I now live close enough to work so I can walk home for lunch.

Yesterday, I made a batch of lentil soup on the slow cooker; https://veganinthefreezer.com/slow-cooker-red-lentil-soup/ Made 4 potions as my slow cooker is on the smaller side.

I also made some sauage rolls and roasted chickpeas just to have as some snacks for a couple of days.

Tonight I'll be making some Orange Chicken; https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-orange-chicken. Will be trying to debone chicken thighs for the first time, should be easy enough to do.

GTBT123

I've subscribed to this thread. I'm trying to cut down our grocery spend drastically but don't have lots of time during the week to cook, so my idea is to batch cook on a Sunday so that things are easier for me during the week

8ofspades

Great idea! I'd love to get more organised, especially as my other half works late so has just taken to eating soup when he gets home.

Saturday I made these on the suggestion of someone on MSE-
https://www.recipetineats.com/homemade-sausage-egg-mcmuffin/

I just did 5 out of a 500g pack of pork mince, one for each me and OH to eat straight away and the other 3 to freeze. They were a bit chunky though, I think using my burger press I could get at least 7 out of the mixture. I didn't freeze with the egg.