Meal-Prep Monday 9/10

MaggieG183 · September 2018

Hand-in-hand with a fit pregnancy is one that is providing your future LO with great nutrition from the beginning.

What did you cook up in the kitchen this weekend to prep for this coming week?
As we are fully in our first trimester, did you discover any *fun* new food aversions this weekend?
What tips or tricks work for you to prep for the coming week meal-wise for you, you and your DH, or the entire family?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/72/eqs7sjv2mwit.jpeg

psychobutthead · September 2018

I prepped my husbands and daughters lunches.

I pretty much just prebag all their chips an put everything nonperishable in a metal basket so they can just grab and go in the morning. I also will make all their sandwiches for the week and freeze them.

I prepped Dh some breakfast burritos and froze those. Right now we are Dave Ramsey baby steppers so we have cut out fast food. We were spending way too much.

No food aversions so far. But I have actually put onions in all my food and I hate onions.

knottie0d8cc4d43bacc09f · September 2018

Didn't do much food prep, but we did plan our meals for the week and do all the shopping. That has been working well for us - if we only have the ingredients to make what we planned, we are less likely to waste food/let things go bad. DD also gets dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, so just another incentive to make good food!

Here's our plan for the week:
M - Turkey chili
Tu - Quinoa stuffed tomatoes with salad
W - Roasted chicken with carrots/celery/sweet potatoes
Th - Fish burgers
F - Pasta primavera or homemade pizza

Thankfully no food aversions! I want alllll the cheese.

sleepy33 · September 2018

secicc12 said:

Didn't do much food prep, but we did plan our meals for the week and do all the shopping. That has been working well for us - if we only have the ingredients to make what we planned, we are less likely to waste food/let things go bad. DD also gets dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, so just another incentive to make good food!

Here's our plan for the week:
M - Turkey chili
Tu - Quinoa stuffed tomatoes with salad
W - Roasted chicken with carrots/celery/sweet potatoes
Th - Fish burgers
F - Pasta primavera or homemade pizza

Thankfully no food aversions! I want alllll the cheese.

ZOMG, cooking a meal every day. I would die. I feel like a hero if I cook something different 2 nights a week lol

knottie0d8cc4d43bacc09f · September 2018

@sleepy33 Ha! DH actually does the majority of the cooking, which is amazing. I put DD to bed and then come down and help him finish up. I try to bring leftovers for lunch to work every day to avoid spending $$$, so that's an extra incentive to cook too!

aels12 · September 2018

What did you cook up in the kitchen this weekend to prep for this coming week? Hard boiled eggs for snacks and homemade granola bars for my husband
As we are fully in our first trimester, did you discover any *fun* new food aversions this weekend? No real aversions yet, hopefully I don’t have any this time!
What tips or tricks work for you to prep for the coming week meal-wise for you, you and your DH, or the entire family? We meal plan and shop on Sunday’s so we have everything we need for the week. It’s just us and our 19 month old so I usually cook three times a week and we have leftovers the other nights and take out or go out once on the weekends. I’m horrible at lunch ideas though, please help! I work from home so it can be anything, but I still struggle.

sleepy33 · September 2018

@secicc12 I eat leftovers for dinner for days (I work for a school so I eat for free for lunch already, which is a lovely perk). I just only know how to cook in huge batches for some reason. Like yesterday, I made enough chicken and noodles to feed 12 farm hands. I don't know how to cook any other way lol

DressageDarling · September 2018

So, I kind of love meal prep and am pretty pumped for this thread!!!

1. I did shredded ranch chicken in the crockpot for my lunches this weekend. I basically just do a different variation of this almost every week. Just 5 chicken breasts + some sauce/seasoning. This week it was a packet of dry ranch seasoning and a can of cream of chicken. I’ll just have brown rice as a side. My DS has some eating issues, so I still need to prep his dinners for this week.

2. No aversions this time, but it has been fish/seafood before.

3. My biggest tip is using the crockpot. It has ended up being my favorite kitchen appliance for meal prep!

bluesky24 · September 2018

@aels12 fellow WFH mama here! I have the same lunch struggles but my go tos are veggie quesadilla, soup, deli meat wrap (though not anymore....), eggs over easy and toast and salads. It’s nice having access to a kitchen all day but it can be annoying and limiting too. I usually buy lunch out once a week for some variety.

I usually plan meals meals for the week and do some prep (mostly washing and cutting produce.) here’s our plan:
-M: roast chicken, salad and challah (it’s Rosh Hashanah, happy new year for anyone who celebrates!)
-T: chicken tacos or quesadillas with leftover chicken
-W: Szechuan tofu with green beans
Th/F: I’ll be away on a biz trip so DH will probably go for frozen nuggets and Mac n cheese- can’t blame him!

Love this thread and hope to get some new dinner ideas from the hive!

MaggieG183 · September 2018

Meal-Prep

Nothing?? Kind of a lie, as I did make French toast for my son for breakfast this week ahead of time, but otherwise I didn’t do anything! I’m making a huge pan of taco meat tonight for meals this week. My husband is gone almost all week so it’s just me and DS, who is not even 2. Whatever I make, I am eating it all...good thing I love tacos!

No aversions, but not really that hungry. I’m trying to keep small meals going or snacking with healthy foods. I’m going to chop a bunch of veggies tonight so I can just grab and go.

Tips/Tricks

When DH is home and not in the woods for weeks on end, then we plan 2-3 meals that he or I make during the week and have leftovers for lunch and dinners. When he’s gone though, I feel so lost. It’s hard enough to cook for 2.5 people, but I feel like it’s impossible to cook for 1.5 people. I say 1/2 because my son will eat just about anything, but he just doesn’t eat much of it...ever. He’s tiny.

kvh22 · September 2018

Like @secicc12, we cook almost every day but it's hard with an infant/toddler. I actually used to be horrible at meal prep but am really focusing on getting better so hoping this thread will inspire me! I also hate leftovers which isn't helpful - it's more that I get bored of the same thing over and over.

@aels12 and @bluesky24 I work from home most days as well which also means I usually eat breakfast, a snack, and then lunch around 2 or 3 (it's 2:30 in California and I'm about to go make some avocado toast).

What did you cook up in the kitchen this weekend to prep for this coming week? Roasted veggies (tomatoes, peppers, onions, eggplant, zucchini), chorizo, ground beef.
As we are fully in our first trimester, did you discover any *fun* new food aversions this weekend? Nothing yet and never really had any last time so FX. I was not a fan of eating from 6-14 weeks with DD so really need to focus on that more with this pregnancy.
What tips or tricks work for you to prep for the coming week meal-wise for you, you and your DH, or the entire family? If you're an avid meal prepper, I've got nothing for you, but if you aren't, prepping some veggies and a protein has been my savior now that we have to make dinner and eat before DD goes to bed at 7:30p. Her ped and my nutritionist friends are all about the research that eating together is actually more important than having super healthy meals for your kids' relationships with food. This totally blew up my process 6 months ago. I use the protein and veggies in quesadillas or with whole wheat pasta for DD's lunches and DH can always throw something together so he doesn't go to the food trucks for lunch if we don't have enough leftovers from dinner.

Tonight I'm planning sweet potato, black bean, and ground beef tacos for dinner.

Oh and when I felt sick during the first tri last time, I couldn't even come up with a meal idea so we are planning to use meal delivery services for those 8 weeks. DH hates cooking and coming up with ideas for dinner - that's my job and he does all of the dishes, takes out the trash, etc. (I hate that we fall into the gender stereotypes but I love to cook so it works for us). He's willing to cook while I feel like crap but when I couldn't come up with meal ideas, he was totally lost. Just an idea for anyone whose spouse doesn't/can't really cook but can follow a recipe. My job will be to play with DD while he makes dinner

bluesky24 · September 2018

@kvh22 avo roast for the win- I rely on that a lot too! I’m so with you on the first tri cooking. I got bad when DD was born too- I was overwhelmed enough with taking care of her that I couldn’t even fathom cooking, and DH has many redeeming qualities but cooking is not one of them. So I’m already planning freezer meals and maybe trying Territory or one of those meal delivery services but where the food is already cooked and you just have to heat it up.

missmcgonnagal · September 2018

We have had guests all weekend so we had nothing cooked and no routine. FINALLY got to go grocery shopping and I think I've come up with a healthy lineup:

Breakfasts: Pumpkin pie and apple crisp smoothies (embracing my fall basic bitch even if it's 85 degrees out).

Lunches: Dinner leftovers.

Dinners:
Pan-seared catfish with kale and lentils.

Sweet turkey meatballs in a tomato/caper/raisin sauce with broccoli and Israeli couscous salad.

Chipotle meatloaf with kale salad.

Panko-crusted halibut with hot potato salad and green beans.

NY Strip (cooked medium, bleh) with thin-roasted potatoes and baked asparagas.

That is about the extent of my ideas (and my groceries). Thinking about doing some gnocchi next week but definitely going to need to troll for ideas after this week.

mrskoz428 · September 2018

Late to late to the game, just seeing this this morning!

What did you cook up in the kitchen this weekend to prep for this coming week? I made homemade cheddar broccoli soup, chicken taco bowls, and spaghetti with meat sauce!
As we are fully in our first trimester, did you discover any *fun* new food aversions this weekend? Thankfully, no! However, I’m really wanting lots of red meat! Really good burgers sound so good 24/7!
What tips or tricks work for you to prep for the coming week meal-wise for you, you and your DH, or the entire family? I like prepping using a crockpot. It requires little attention for the most part so I can still watch my Packers on Sundays!

mrskoz428 · September 2018

@MaggieG183 I’m in the same boat with not feeling very hungry. I eat 5-6 times a day because I can’t eat very much at a meal! Glad I’m not alone!

bluesky24 · September 2018

@MegEn1 yummm can I come to your house this week?! Your menu sounds delish!

strickland8052 · September 2018

MegEn1 said:
Breakfasts: Pumpkin pie and apple crisp smoothies (embracing my fall basic bitch even if it's 85 degrees out).

@MegEn1 - You are my people. Bring on the pumpkin!!!!!!!!!!

strickland8052 · September 2018

What did you cook up in the kitchen this weekend to prep for this coming week?

I made some pumpkin oatmeal bake for me to eat for breakfast this week. It is incredible, and making my basic heart so happy.

I also made some golden tumeric lentil soup for my lunch this week. It doesn't taste as incredible as it usually does. Pregnancy is messing with my tastebuds already.

And then I made daughter's lunch, but that's easy-peasy.

2. As we are fully in our first trimester, did you discover any *fun* new food aversions this weekend?

I can not handle the smell or taste of eggs. Definite food aversion.

3. What tips or tricks work for you to prep for the coming week meal-wise for you, you and your DH, or the entire family?

So after reading Marie Kondo's book about joyful tiddying, I have discovered that nothing brings me greater joy than a tidy fridge stocked with already washed and chopped produce in beautiful containers. Trying to be environmentally friendly also brings me joy. So... almost every Saturday morning, my daughter and I take a trip to the farmer's market with my canvas bag. I load it up with produce and bring it home to wash, chop, and place in clear glass containers. It looks so beautiful in my fridge and makes cooking easy for the week. Some weekends I do it for health reasons, some times I do it for environmental reasons, some times I do it to support my local farmers, some times I do it because it makes my life easier throughout the week, sometimes I do it because it is just so gosh darn beautiful in my fridge and sometimes I do it because my toddler is standing by the door with her shoes. Either way, it has been a life changing habit and having multiple reasons to stick to it has helped me be consistent.

sparrowsnest22 · September 2018

What did you cook up in the kitchen this weekend to prep for this coming week? I didn’t cook anything ahead, but I did meal plan and grocery shop on Sunday. Here’s my plan for dinners for the week. Mon & Tues- Pasta with hidden veggie meat sauce. Getting my DH & DS1 to eat veggies is a nightmare. Weds & Thurs- Crockpot honey bourbon chicken with zucchini rice Fri & Sat - Three bean sweet potato chili As we are fully in our first trimester, did you discover any *fun* new food aversions this weekend? coffee and I’m so sad about it!What tips or tricks work for you to prep for the coming week meal-wise for you, you and your DH, or the entire family? normally I will meal plan and grocery shop on Sunday, which really helps me have dinners set for the week. Otherwise, we will go out if there is no plan. I also try to hard boil a dozen eggs to have for easy protein for the boys.

kvh22 · September 2018

@strickland8052 and @MegEn1 can you post both of those pumpkin recipes please?

@sparrowsnest22 is zucchini rice homemade or bought from the freezer section?

@strickland8052 I love going to the farmers' market. We can walk from our apartment but I am NOT good at coming home and chopping veggies right away. #goals

knottie0d8cc4d43bacc09f · September 2018

@strickland8052 Your fridge sounds AMAZING. I love those Pinterest fridges with the glass door where all the food is beautifully displayed in baskets and glass bowls.

bpietronicco · September 2018

I am not a planner but need to be! Looking forward to getting some ideas from you ladies.

One easy meal I love to make is spiralized zucchini with turkey meat sauce.

Need to get those crockpot cookbooks out.

Cubslove12 · September 2018

What did you cook up in the kitchen this weekend to prep for this coming week? chopped up all the veggies, made yogurt pouches, and made lunches- MArinated chicken, roasted veggies, and rice.
As we are fully in our first trimester, did you discover any *fun* new food aversions this weekend? Nothing, yet...
What tips or tricks work for you to prep for the coming week meal-wise for you, you and your DH, or the entire family? We always plan our week on Sunday and grocery shop

Monday-Leftover chili
Tuesday-Salmon with cauliflower rice and roasted broccoli
Wednesday- Lemon butter steak with Zoodles
Thursday- Leftovers
Friday- Usually Pizza (I'm exhausted on Fridays and don't want to cook)

zuuls_mom · September 2018

Seconding what @kvh22 said! @MegEn1 and @strickland8052 can you share those recipes? Those all sound sooo good!

I'm not the best at meal planning, but I try! We (well, actually DH) grocery shop every Friday so I plan for our week that day and send him the list. I always have such a tough time figuring out what I want when I am feeling sick, so really hoping it doesn't get as bad this time around. We use our crock pot and Instant Pot a lot and both are so helpful! Big fan of buffalo chicken stuffed baked potatoes lately. Anything buffalo and all the carbs!

sparrowsnest22 · September 2018

@kvh22 oh it’s just sautéed zucchini with brown rice. I usually chop the zucchini into tiny bits so that DH & DS1 can’t pick them out, haha! Then I usually just throw in some seasoning. Super easy!

knottie0d8cc4d43bacc09f · September 2018

@zuuls_mom I've been loving the Instant Pot! I made a lemon veggie risotto in there the other night that was super easy and quick. Also YES on the buffalo everything. I could go for some buff chicken dip right about now. Any dip, really.
Image result for cheesy dip gif

mrsdee15 · September 2018

I'm so very impressed by all of your abilities to plan out the week! DH and I were in the WORST habit in our old condo (we just moved to a house in a suburb), we were right next to downtown so we were eating out allllll the time and it was so bad. Like, it was to the point where I would come home and we would have food for dinner, but then we would just say "OOOOrrrr it's pizza/slider/taco/whatever night at [insert unhealthy place here]" and we would do that instead. So now that we aren't close to anything I hope it'll kick our healthy mindfulness into gear!

Our go-to is taco night - either ground beef or grilled steak/chicken with fixins. Always delicious and filling. Also, I've fallen in love with riced cauliflower, with chicken marinaded in Trader Joe's Soyaki sauce and veggies.

knottie0d8cc4d43bacc09f · September 2018

@mrsdee15 It's SO easy to just go out when you have so many options around! And let's face it, it's probably 10x more delicious than something healthy. We're in more of a rural/suburban area, so I'm basically too lazy to go out so we cook instead haha.

mrsdee15 · September 2018

@secicc12 It's so true! Our food at home just won't ever match what's in a restaurant (which I recently read is mostly thanks to butter and sugar). Unhealthy can just be so delicious.

missmcgonnagal · September 2018

@zuuls_mom I don't have a great recipie per say, since I just eyeball things in the blender but here's a rundown for pumpkin pie smoothie:

Vanilla Greek Yogurt
Pumpkin Puree (Not as much as you might think it's a strong flavor)
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Cloves
Ground Allspice
Ground Ginger
Drop of rum extract
Pecans or walnuts
Rolled oats

Since we might get sideswipped by Florence I planned the rest of the meals for this weekend and hit the grocery again. Really dedicated to eating well for "Gerald" as my husband calls the baby, but man it is getting expensive! This weekend will feature:

Potato gnocchi with panko chicken in parmasan spinach sauce

Chipotle pumpkin turkey chili

Bone in skin on lemon chicken thighs in parmasan spinach sauce

missmcgonnagal · September 2018

Whoops just realized @kvh22 also wanted the pumpkin pie smoothie I think. It's in the post up above sorry!

psychobutthead · September 2018

I just bought groceries. I should be prepping all my veggies so I am motivated to eat them this week. But I think I'm just going to ignore them and act like I never went shopping.

MaggieG183 · September 2018

@strickland8052 oh my goodness! You sound like real-life Mary Poppins! Can I live in your fridge? I mean, house?

MaggieG183 · September 2018

@psychobutthead

strickland8052 · September 2018

MaggieG183 said:

@strickland8052 oh my goodness! You sound like real-life Mary Poppins! Can I live in your fridge? I mean, house?

Aw... well thanks! It is just my fridge though. The rest of the house is a tornado of random household items that my two year old drags out to play with. haha!

missmcgonnagal · September 2018

Switched out apple pie smoothie this morning for Apple pie oatmeal. Just made oatmeal with water, and boiled sliced apples, butter, cinnamon, allspice, and vanilla to make a goo. Topped with unsalted walnuts.

zuuls_mom · September 2018

@MegEn1 thank you!! That sounds so delicious.

lsm7201 · September 2018

Yay for DR Baby Steps!!!

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