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vintagenephalem · 1 year

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Ohh I've always wanted to start mealprepping but I get so demotivated finding what I want to eat for a whole week, do you maybe have any tips on how to get into it?

you, my friend, have just opened pandora's fridge

soooo i started meal prepping in march of this year at the same time as switching to an office job from retail and starting to go the gym. these decisions were for weight loss reasons (and have been very successful! i look and feel so good!) but i am immediately going to emphasize that there are a lot of benefits to meal prepping besides intentional weight loss. so much of what i've been doing would be the same if you were not trying to lose weight, you just wouldn't be thinking about like calorie deficits when choosing recipes (and if you're interested in weight loss, calories in calories out is your friend. set a reasonable number per day and pay attention to your body. if you're hungry, you're lowballing it. slow progress that sticks is better than fast progress that doesn't).

meal prepping can be really advantageous financially (and could be done less expensively than i do it tbh, i'm a sucker for the farmer's market), and as someone with adhd who lives alone it's incredible for my mental health. the way i meal prep is very structured around 1) my 8-4 weekday job and 2) the gym, so you'll need to figure out how to tailor that based on your schedule and interests.

all that aside, i'm super passionate about this and i've been learning so much these past months! i'm no expert and i was awful at cooking before (only ate frozen meals, snacks, and takeout honestly) but i feel like my relationship with food is the best it's even been in my life. food is GOOD. food that you've made with your own hands, that you've invested your time and effort in, is sosososo special. and if it sucks, at least you're learning what NOT to do! i have like a 85% success rate, and maybe 50-60% recipes are good enough to repeat.

i really treasure this entire ritual, even though it may seem overwhelming to do every single week. in terms of weight loss, i was never going to be someone who got healthy from heavy restriction or prescribed diets that are meant to distance a person from food. and it's funny because like, i would binge, but also HATE food so much for the hold it had over my body and mind. if you have a shitty relationship with food this might really help. i feel obligated to say that i do see a nutritionist, but she's not doing the cooking or recipe hunting or working out for me.

so my weekly meal prep calendar looks like this:

sunday - cooking day. like, for hours. i don't have a dishwasher so i'm doing a full sink of dishes at least three times. i sometimes have plans and can work around them, but i prefer to keep the day free. i imagine this would be trickier if you live with people, but then again i manage in a studio apartment with a kitchen the size of a grocery store checkout line, soooo

tuesday-thursday - research and making the shopping list! can be done on any or all of these days. i use justtherecipe and recommend it highly. it saves recipes from websites while cutting out ads and, like, blogging. you can also edit the recipes and add notes--i always add the calories and maybe nutrition information. if those are not provided and you care, you can use a nutrition calculator to figure it out. if you get nervous about calories i ENCOURAGE you to try this. a lot of recipes that you might shy away from can totally be goal-supportive. pasta can be your friend, i promise.

so what i do during the week is find recipes i want to cook or repeat (using pinterest or websites of previously enjoyed recipes) and add them to justtherecipe. every week i choose a breakfast, a lunch to eat at work, a pre-gym snack, and dinner. if you don't have a lot of physical activity you don't need the same kind of protein-heavy snack, but you could always prep something so you don't snack mindlessly. some weeks i also just cook something sweet for fun, especially if the calories for the whole day are a little low. this could be half-homemade apple cider, baked goods, purchased popsicles, etc. this is most often where i'll just buy something and pre-portion it, rather than prepare it myself. no shame in that at all, in fact, sometimes it would be stupid not to go with the easier/cheaper solution.

so yeah. i figure out what i'm cooking for each "meal," add the recipes to the cookbook in justtherecipe, and then scale the recipes as needed. i usually make 6 servings for a week, which is convenient because most recipes are written in multiples of 2. this is a great recipe converter you can use to resize recipes. justtherecipe devs are also planning to add a feature that does this on the site eventually.

last thing i do during the week is take the recipes, resized as needed, and make a shopping list. if there are things i know already have i leave them out, and if i'm unsure i put a question mark and check my kitchen whenever i'm home. i will say while this sounds kindaaaaaaa expensive at first, the more you repeat this weekly process the more nonperishable things you'll already have stocked, especially if you tend to cook with similar spices and types of oil/flour/etc. at this point, sixish months in, i rarely need to buy nonperishable stuff, unless i've literally run out. and you can find affordable ways to buy perishables, and if you compare what you're spending to frozen meals, snacks, and takeout, i think it's likely it would be at the worst equal, if that makes sense. i know this is a sweeping generalization and i'm sorry. this might not work for some people but i can only share what i'm fortunate enough to be able to do.

friday - this is the day i go shopping, after work! with my list that i already made! i know the layout of the supermarket super well at this point so i order the items accordingly. it goes pretty fast and people have asked me several times if i was doing instacart which i took as a huge compliment.

so that's my schedule, but you can switch it around based on what your work week looks like. i would definitely say that you should try to shop no more than 3 days before cooking, and maybe freeze certain ingredients in the meantime. freezing is HUGE in meal prep.

speaking of storage, storage!

depending on the kinds of meals, you have to be smart about storage if you want them to last 5-6 days. pay attention to what the recipe says about fridge vs. freezer life (justtherecipe does NOT save this, so make sure you check the website). for most meals, i freeze some or all on sunday and defrost in the fridge a day ahead as the week goes by. obviously you might need to split up more complex things (for a salad freeze the chicken but not the greens, for a soup freeze the broth and noodles but not the veggies, etc.). the highest-maintenance thing i've done so far is an udon soup with frozen broth and chicken but fresh prepped ingredients, which i needed to actually combine and boil on the stove every night (also did an egg drop because i think it's funny. like that egg really did just drop). still, pretty easy and low maintenance! the soup in question (oh god i hope my food isn't ugly and i'm actually delusional) will be pictured at the bottom of this post!!

plastic meal prep containers are less expensive, but glass are far superior especially if you're really into chilis, soups, and very garlicky-oniony foods. and especially ESPECIALLY if you're like me and you don't have a dishwasher. plastic tends to not do great with hot liquids and it holds onto strong smells.

i started out with plastic for the first few months, but asked for glass for my birthday. now i have 10 glass containers, 5 for lunch and 5 for dinner, and supplement with plastic during weeks where i make 6 servings. i think these are the glass ones i use, or at least made by the same company, and for plastic you can't beat target's price for what it includes. most supermarkets and big stores tend to sell both glass and plastic, if you don't want to commit to glass financially, plastic is still great. you'll definitely find a use for them if you upgrade eventually!

for the breakfast and pre-gym snacks, i use disposable stuff like baggies or the tinier plastic containers that often come in sets. i'm sorry, planet :( there's just a point where i know i can't create too many dishes, especially with no dishwasher. the whole point of this entire ritual is to create a process i have no problem repeating indefinitely, so sometimes i have accept that i'm not going to be able to do it perfectly.

in terms of breakfasts, i personally don't like savory flavors early in the morning. i'm a big fan of the frozen smoothie bag and baked goods like muffins and bread.

there is a kitchen in my office with a toaster oven and microwave, so i have some flexibility with what i can bring in and eat. lots of soups and salads!

pre-gym snacks are always about protein. protein muffins, hummus and veggies, peanut butter.

dinner can be a lot of things, but for me personally the focus is on making it hearty so i am FULL when i go to sleep. the overall rule of thumb with all of this is to make food you're EXCITED to eat, so you don't feel like you're unsatisfied or missing out. especially when starting out, i benefitted from learning how to prepare meat in appealing ways. i hate handling raw meat and there are some shortcuts you can take to avoid it, like making patties or meatballs with ground chicken or turkey. personally i only eat chicken and sometimes turkey, every once in a while turkey bacon. so no steak recipes here i'm afraid :( i'm a big fan of my grill pan but also have to be very careful with stovetop pan-cooking because my postage stamp of an apartment has no kitchen fan and i don't keep windows open. if you're in a similar situation and hate the idea of straight up baked chicken, you can bake it in the oven and then pan-fry or grill for a few minutes just to get that exterior texture without worrying about undercooking. oh yeah, also get a meat thermometer. a great part of acquiring recipes like pokemon is that you'll start adding kitchen items to your collection as needed just like your spices.

other misc. meal prep tips include: ALWAYS buy more broth than the recipe requires (like, twice as much); try to buy exact portions of perishable ingredients because unfortunately food waste can be a problem when you're alone; and cooking for several hours is a really good time to listen to audiobooks or video essays.

also i do want to point out that i occasionally eat food i didn't prepare. i just typically plan ahead and get SUPER excited to do so. i'm never eating takeout or restaurant food or frozen meals because i don't have it in me to make something; it's because i like the special food or i'm somewhere cool with people i care about. it's a treat, but so is all the food i make.

okay, last thing, here are some recipes i've repeated and really enjoy! notice that they're not all like spinach salads, i love when recipes find clever ways to emulate "unhealthy" food while having nutritious ingredients. the website skinnytaste is my favorite for stuff like that and she has a massive backlog of free recipes with nutrition info. also i very obviously favor certain ingredients (feta cheese my love), these are just things i like, there is so much out there for you to find for yourself! even if the recipe isn't your thing, these blogs and websites are great places to start!

breakfast:

- https://kristineskitchenblog.com/healthy-apple-muffins/

- a smoothie with 1/2 frozen banana, ~10 frozen strawberries, handful frozen spinach, 3/4 tbsp peanut butter (you can get a little scooper to make this easier), 3/4 tbsp strawberry preserves, and as much soy milk as it takes to smoothify it (around 1.25 cups)

- lunch and/or dinner:

- https://www.mealswithmaggie.com/chicken-corn-chowder/

- https://easychickenrecipes.com/chicken-tortellini-soup-recipe/

- https://www.mamagourmand.com/braised-butternut-squash-bacon-penne-bake/

- https://www.skinnytaste.com/baked-chicken-parmesan/

- https://www.skinnytaste.com/coconut-chicken-salad-with-warm-honey/

- https://www.lecremedelacrumb.com/farmers-market-veggie-pasta/

- https://healthylittlepeach.com/feta-and-spinach-chicken-patties/

- https://www.lecremedelacrumb.com/grilled-bruschetta-chicken/

- https://pinchofyum.com/honey-chicken-salad-with-grapes-and-feta

- https://www.skinnytaste.com/turkey-pumpkin-chili/

- pre-gym: