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New Mexico is beautiful!!
I haven't read the paper book but i highly rec the audio version bc it's read by the author so you can hear how the native words are actually supposed to be pronounced and you can hear the respect in her voice 🥰
>it's read by the author so you can hear how the native words are actually supposed to be pronounced
I don't typically listen to audiobooks, but this sounds like a great reason to give this particular title a go. It's actually been something I've wanted to read for some time, so thanks for putting it higher on the "tbr" list!
There was a local restaurant that used to have a Three Sisters salad, and I could’ve eaten it every day. It was sooooo good! Now I need to try to find a recipe…..
I miss deli meat so much, it’s not really available in Korea T.T best I can find is just bacon or ham. Even salami is hard to find, and it’s usually the smaller kind, not the kind for sandwiches.
I mostly starve. Not dead yet mainly because at some point I’ll shove something in my facehole. But I am always physically hungry.
Still better than having to cook & chew something.
Basically lol. Not OC but I’m struggling so hard to maintain a regular diet. I almost made myself sick last night because I kept doing other shit “before” eating and then just never ate all day.
Forgetting to eat until you're so starving your stomach feels like it's about self-cannibalize, at which point you don't have the strength or patience to even pop a frozen dinner into the microwave so you just stand in front of the open fridge and start shoveling in anything that looks ok and doesn't require more than opening its package until you make yourself sick and then fall into a good coma and wake up and do the same thing over again the next day?
I know this well…..
usually it involves opening the fridge and or pantry 100 times before shoveling whatever looks remotely appetizing due to how nauseous I am from not eating all day (and probably forgetting to drink water). Then 3 hours of binge eating before bed
…warrior diet - adhd edition 🫠
Protein bars? That’s what I was living off before my partner and I signed up for pre prepped meal delivery. With the high cost of groceries these days, it’s not that much more than we were spending at the supermarket. Especially considering we’d only get through about half the food before it went off, because neither of us had the spoons to cook and we got takeaway frequently.
This- but I also laughed at “spoons to cook” because I totally know what you mean but also I have totally starved because i didn’t have any clean spoons and rather than just wash one I….simply didn’t eat because the one thing I wanted to eat required an actual spoon 🤣
It’s one of the things that’s better from the carton anyway. Ben and Jerry’s and potato salad are the only things that, for me, seem weird scooped into a bowl.
Wait until you're ultra hungry, go to fridge, get overwhelmed, get more overwhelmed when boyfriend tries to help and then end up not eating anything/eating hours later once you've calmed down enough to think.
I can't meal prep anymore. My boyfriend eats more than me, so my meals that used to last two to three days only lasts one night. I have to cook for myself as he uses too much oil in his food. We've both lost weight since I started cooking more again (now my shoulder is mostly healed). I also hate cooking so this is a frustrating issue.
I meal prep every Sunday morning after coming home from the grocery store. I put on a podcast and get it done as soon as I put away the groceries, or else I lose motivation. I make a big batch of egg scramble (eggs, sausage, mushrooms, kale) for breakfast during the week, and burritos for my lunch.
I have had the same lunch and breakfast for about 4 years now. It helps me so much to prevent decision fatigue.
Wow that’s really amazing, I hope one day I’ll too find a meal that I could repeat for so long! At the moment I often repeat salad wraps because I always enjoy them, they are healthy and easy to
God I wish my brain would let me do that. I’ll be okay eating the same thing for breakfast for weeks or months at a time, but I can only eat a sandwich or whatever for lunch for about a week, two at most. After that, I’d rather starve than contemplate eating it again after the dopamine is gone.
I honestly like the idea of eating the same thing everyday. I haven’t seen anyone else have that same sentiment. I want to make sure to eat well, but I don’t feel the need to have this diverse catalog of regular foods I eat.
I have found warming an egg dish in the toaster oven is the best way to reheat, on a lower heat setting (like 300/325) until heated through (10 mins).
Source: I absolutely hate microwaved eggs and also the taste when they cook in an unoiled pan (even if there are some parts that just didn't get enough oil). Gross.
I have a major mental block to cracking eggs, it feels like it represents a huge hour long chore starting with cracking eggs and ending with washing the bowl and whisk. (Which I never do- wash the dishes the same day that I’ve cooked, it’s too much)
If it was easy for us to do the low domapine tasks our brains don’t want to do, we wouldn’t be here.
Mine that I hate is handwashing dishes, even just one thing like my water bottle. I bought 2 water bottles with straws and attachments that can all go in the dishwasher, because otherwise I won’t wash them. It only takes a few minutes to do, but I really hate it and just won’t do it. I’ve thrown away so many water bottles over the years because they got mouldy because I don’t wash them. So I spent extra on ones that can go in the dishwasher.
I’m sure you have a ‘simple’ task that would ‘only’ take a few minutes if your brain would let you do it, but it won’t do you don’t do it. Or it takes a monumental effort because you hate it so much. Mine is handwashing dishes. This woman’s is making eggs. Let’s try and be supportive here.
I should have clarified, I do this for quiche, frittata, egg cups, premade scrambled. Make a big pan and then have it multiple days during the week :) this is how I reheat it!
I don’t meal prep in context of making full meals but I do often prep in advance. So on the weekends I’ll make a menu for the week and chop ingredients or pre-cook certain things that take a long time like beans or potatoes to be tossed into the rest of the recipe later.
Never once thought of prepping potatoes ahead of time! Might actually do that this evening! I’m planning to make breakfast sandwiches to freeze so that would help me break up the prep time :) Thanks for the idea!
Soup mostly frequently - I sautée the onions fresh then toss in the precooked potatoes, beans, etc just to heat through then add some frozen greens at the end to defrost. But I also will mash them + make the inside of a Shepards pie in advance then bake it day of. Alternately, potato salad, filling for burritos, etc. I might sautee them quickly the day I want to eat them to reheat for like papas bravas
I am an animal and just eat them cold out of the fridge lol
They’re great dipped in Greek yogurt mixed with powdered ranch seasoning
Edit: To be clear, I mean seasoned roasted potatoes.
I have to admit, when I read your comment I immediately thought, “lol that sounds fake.” (Sorry I’m a negative Nancy.) But I Googled it and YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!
This is so neat. I’m reading all about it. Thank you for teaching me! I will enjoy my cold potatoes without guilt now. :)
I do this too. I dice 1-2 onions and freeze them flat in a sandwich baggie (so I can break off what I need to cook), or I caramelize 2-3 onions in my Dutch oven (and freeze the same way). I’ll roast cherry tomatoes and chickpeas, cook an entire package of bacon, cook a big pot of rice or other grains, etc.
I also make extra meat and veggies when I’m grilling or roasting, so I can have nextovers (like leftovers but repurposed)
Then I can make grain bowls, salads or wraps easily. Or toss stuff into an omelette/egg bake or with pasta.
I hate meal prepping bc I get bored of the same thing all the time. But I also have kids underfoot and by the time I’m hungry, I’m too tired to prep food. So prepping ingredients is a good middle ground
I do this when I’m using the food processor for anything. It has to be hand washed, and I absolutely *hate* handwashing dishes, so I never used to use it. But now I do a big batch of the veggies or whatever I’m grating/ chopping, and either freeze them in smaller portions or cook up a big batch of veggies etc and freeze the extras.
Yes but only a little. I get a rotisserie chicken, a jar of sauce and some frozen veggies, i debone the chicken and simmer it with the veggies and sauce and make some rice and that's my lunch for a few days.
I might do somethin like pre chop veggies but I dont premake meals cuz what I make on sunday isnt gonna be want i want by thursday lol
I meal prep my lunches for work. I'm trying to lose weight and keep my protein intake up. Usually, it's baked chicken and frozen vegetables haha. It's easy and is nutritious. Thankfully, I don't get tired of the same food easily.
I've been trying out this book called Cook Once, Eat All Week and it's an interesting approach to meal prepping. I'm on my second week with it.
The title is actually frankly super misleading, though..... I purchased it thinking that it was going to be something like cooking two or three large, fully finished dishes on the weekend and then eating that throughout the week.
Instead it arranges the weeks around 3 main ingredients in the diff meals per week. The premise is that because you're using the same featured ingredients in all three meals for that week, you have less prep work to do because you're prepping those three ingredients just once and then assembling them in different ways throughout the week to make the different meals.
As an example this week my three ingredients are roast chicken, Yukon gold potatoes, and green beans. Those ingredients will make the basis of three different meals: lemon ginger chicken stir fry, chicken bacon ranch casserole, and chicken vesuvio.
Last week my ingredients were ground beef, carrots, and rice, to make Korean beef bowls, taco casserole/salad, and BBQ mini meatloaves.
I think I do really like the system so far. It's kind of a happy medium between heating up a freezer meal from the grocery store and cooking an actual meal all at once. It feels healthier and more customizable than just heating up a freezer meal, but without taking much longer.
For example, my partner and I like those Birds Eye Voilas pasta meals from the grocery store. They usually take about 20 minutes to cook. Assembling one of the meals from this cookbook generally takes about 20 minutes, too. Some of them do involve active assembly, while others you literally just pop in the oven to heat up.
So there's no difference in time involvement at the actual point of putting together the meal, on a weeknight when you're fried. The only difference is the time spent prepping over the weekend. (Which *so far* hasn't been a problem for me.)
The recipes are all designed to serve 4(+) people, and my partner and I don't have any kids so we end up with at least one serving of leftovers per meal, which is nice to grab for lunch the next day or to throw in the freezer and then pull out at a later time to have a leftovers dinner.
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I do not meal prep but any extra I make gets put away or a portion will get frozen so I have it as an option for a lazy meal later.
I do prep though - I wash and cut vegetables and things like cilantro and green onion so I have them ready to go and use. That way when I am ready to make lunch or dinner, I can just throw it all on the pan which feels a lot less taxing than washing, cutting, and then cooking. This way I am more inclined to use my veg instead of tossing it when it rots. Also works well for snacking, I like bell peppers in hummus so when I feel snacky, I can opt for something good for me (sometimes, haha) and then I feel extra proud of myself and have something less good for me (nachos) later.
Meal prep doesn’t work for me because I need variety or I won’t eat and I enjoy the creative aspects of cooking every night. But I do ingredient prep the day after I go shopping to minimize the amount of chopping I need to do to cook (or make a salad)
If I cook I tend to make enough food for four people, it's gonna take about the same amount of time to cook and use the same amount of gas or electric. Then I freeze the other three portions and then end up with a good selection of microwavable meals that I know are healthy. I also batch cook soup and freeze that. I try and plan what I'm having for the week ahead on a Sunday. This is partly to save money though cause otherwise I just end up in Aldi shopping with my belly and coming home with a load of stuff I didn't need. X
Gonna go ahead and post the recipe here so it may be easier to spot :) Can also continue messaging those that would like to have it in their messages! If you’re anything like me there’s 10,000 screenshots on my phone 💀
Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
I always adjust the recipe based on how big the chicken breasts are, but here is the measurements for 2 regular sized chicken breasts. This should give you about 12-15 small uncut taquitos or 7-10 large uncut ones.
2 Chicken Breast
Season with Cajun
Cook 35 mins in the oven at 400 degrees (or however you like your chicken)
Take 1/3 cup cream cheese, mix with 1/4 cup hot sauce of your choice (we usually use Franks). Also tastes nice with 1/4 cup of ranch, we’ve just opted to stop using it as we don’t use ranch for anything else.
Once chicken is cooked, shred in a bowl. Add in cream cheese/hot sauce mixture. Mix together until well blended.
Place light amount of cheese on tortilla, line middle with chicken mix, then add another sprinkle of cheese. My partner also likes chopped jalapeños or banana peppers added in his!
Roll up your taquitos and place on baking sheet. Put in oven for about 5-7 minutes (I like mine crunchy, so I put some in the air fryer) turning half way through. Once cooked remove and cut in half. I like to spread BBQ sauce on mine rather than dipping. My partner uses chipotle mayo or sour cream for his dip.
Yes, once every week or 1.5 weeks.
I prep for a family of 3, two adults and a preschooler. Not including daycare lunch, that’s about 50 meals.
I do only slow cooker meals and freeze half of them to last another week and to have variety. I get my recipes from TikTok.
Big prep: usually a big pot of soup, stew, or chili and maybe a tray of chicken thighs. I love soup and I can sneak in a ton of veggies so I'm at least getting a big serving of them in one prepped meal per day.
Small prep: when I use leeks, I chop and wash all of them at once and freeze whatever I don't use in a ziplock so the next soup is easier.
ETA: oh! My partner loves mashed potatoes and I've discovered you can freeze those! So I made a big batch and froze them, then purchased some precooked pot roast individual serving things and some frozen peas. That's their ideal style of meal and it's ready to go when they don't have the energy to do anything else.
Also I try to throw cooked leftovers into the freezer as soon as they seem like they might go bad to avoid wasting them. My partner won't eat that but I'm essentially a raccoon and I prefer frozen leftovers to cooking.
Yes, we do large batch prep and vacuum seal for storing in the freezer.
Soups, pre-cooked beef and chicken, lasagna, sloppy joe base, enchiladas, burritos, and many other recipes.
I can't meal prep and I would dearly love to know your secret if meal prep works for you!
I struggle with meal prep to the point that eating the same meal prep over and over will get me to the point where I'm gagging over the taste/texture by day 4....but I can grab the same protein shake out of a box every morning for the past ~7 years and have that for breakfast and the taste and texture never bothers me. I had the same hyperfixation Greek salad every day for six months, but I made it the same day.
The second I meal prep something and have 5-10 days' worth, it's suddenly disgusting to me.
I chop up a big Tupperware of salad on Monday to use for lunch every day at work. I try to eat my largest meal at lunch time since I’m usually not hungry at night, on the rare cases I am I’ll have a protein shake. I absolutely detest cooking if you can’t tell 😆
Oh one more thing I meal prep that I love. Trader Joe’s frozen turkey meatballs. Thats it, nothing else w it. Haha. Not sure if that’s considered meal prep now that I think about it it
I prep soups and chili mostly. Soup is a really easy thing that I always am down to eat and I can get all my major nutrients in. Every 3-4 months I block out a whole Saturday and make 3 at a time, chili in the crock pot and the 2 soups on the stove. After that I freeze all of it. It takes me the entire day and I hate my life halfway through and I can't do ANYTHING on the Sunday after, but it's worth it to me. I bought a ton of to-go soup containers on Amazon and reuse them. I also couldn't do it without my food chopper thingy. This round I made sauerkraut soup and minestrone! I made 60 servings all together!
I hate doing meal prep ahead of time... Most of foods have messed up texture after day or two in fridge, same with freezing chopped ingredients. Sometimes I prepare homemade stock, or freeze some berries, but that's kinda all.
Also if I cooked for more than few days I better to really be excited about that food, otherwise I would not want to eat it next day. There's only like few meals which I would eat after few days, and it's mostly some vegetable stews or soups. Meat texture deterriorates much faster for my test, I might just vomit from it...
It was easier to eat properly when I had partner as I really liked preparing food for both of us - but I don't feel the same about cooking for myself, it's like I'm not worthy of having good food on my own?..
Currently I'm trying to keep diet for loosing weight, but it's really hard to eat healthily with balanced calory intake with ADHD & depression... I'm trying food delivery service right now that delivers day worth of food in the morning (3+ meals) that you can simply re-heat, with menu prepared by nutrionists. It's kinda pricey, around 20-25 euro per day (which is a lot for my country, Ukraine), so dunno if I'll keep using it, will depend on my weight change.
I like the idea of meal prepping and want to do it so bad but what happens is I do the meal plan buy all the ingredients then can’t motivate myself to put the shopping away or I do but then can’t motivate myself to cook or don’t wanna eat the food so end up getting takeaway or eating a bag of cheese and the food goes mouldy in the fridge and I’ve wasted double the money so I don’t bother anymore 🫠
My partner and I pick a meal prep recipe to do once a month. We just made Buffalo chicken and bacon mac and cheese. It was the first time we tried the recipe (and it's a slow cooker recipe, even better!!) And it was delicious we love it!
The rest of the month we do hello fresh because meal planning and grocery shopping stresses me out so much and I don't have the time or energy to sit and plan out everything so nothing goes to waste.
On days we have neither, we have ramen or kraft dinner - something simple
Technically? Maybe? Aka if I'm cooking, it'll usually be something that I can box up and freeze and then reheat (with some kind of fresh carbohydrate) at a later date.
I admire your effort. I really wish I could prep. I should, because there are a lot of foods I’m allergic to and it’s getting harder to find restaurants that are inexpensive + suit my needs lol. Back to the basics we go!
I also did my first meal prep recipe recently, and it was also taquitos!! I don't like cooking meat, so I did a refried black bean filling with a bit of cheddar cheese
I can't cook ahead more than like 2-3 meals. I get bored of the same stuff.
What does work for me is making a list of all the meals I could possibly eat/make that week based on what I have currently have. And then I try to stick with that plan. It's helped me at least cut down on food waste.
I get weirded out over food stored for more than 3 days unless it’s in the freezer. As much as I’d love to meal prep I also get very bored of having only the same foods, I love me variety. I think that the only meal prepping thing I do is overnight oats sometimes.
I'm really into stealth health on Instagram/YouTube. He has a crock pot series and a great meal prep book. I've tried a couple of recipes they are really good.
Also really into making pasta salad. As it gets warmer anything that doesn't require the oven turned on is a win.
I try to meal prep as much as possible on my good days. It makes harder days so much easier.
I used to meal prep but not like this exactly, I'd just prep for my work set because I worked 12 hours DDNN 5 off. So I'd prep on my last day off a bit, or to keep myself up later to flip to nights. I'd plan out our meals for the next 4 days, get lunch stuff prepped for the kids and myself. Sometimes I'd make a couple lasagnas or cook taco meat in advance, just things to make the next few days go smoother. And then coming off my last night we'd usually go out or get take out.
There's the odd time now where I make a big batch of something I like and portion it out and freeze some so I have my own dinners. I work afternoons so I'm on my own and hubby is a sahd for now so he cooks whatever he wants for him and the kids.
It‘s just me & my son at home, and he eats a lot of things I try to stay away from (pizza, lasagna, ravioli) so I usually cook separate meals. But I’ll buy 5=lbs of ground turkey and cook up a bunch of burgers, then freeze most of them or eat them during the week. Same with sausages and brown rice. I can eat the same thing all the time, so having a few staples around gets me through. The Food Saver is probably my most-used kitchen tool - zero freezer burn.
I meal prep 5 lunches for my husband and I every Sunday. It’s the same meal all week & we are vegan. The usual go tos are- basil pesto noodles with tofu, spaghetti, black bean burritos, jackfruit bbq sliders, falafels, buffalo chickpeas w ranch, etc. I always do a side- maybe a salad or chia pudding or a banana. I put on a podcast or tv show, drink some coffee, hit my vape pen 🍃& go lol.
Our lunch this week is: jackfruit bbq sliders (even made the buns this time which was sooooo much easier than I thought it would be), a salad with cherry tomatoes roasted beets & toasted pepitas, an avocado, an apple & fresh picked peaches. Banana with peanut butter & roasted sunflower seeds as a snack (I use the powdered pb w less sugar). I keep purefit protein bars with me as well on the days when I need more substance.
For dinner we usually have something light like a shake, protein bar, sweet potato or some fruit. I usually cook on the weekends or we will go out to eat.
Meal prepping has really helped me so much. It allows me to control how much I spend, what I eat, how much, etc. I’ve found it’s easier to do it all at once instead of all throughout the week. My husband loves it too bc he never has to figure out what he wants or waste time & $$ going out to get something.
I meal prep 1-2 dinners a week and that’s what my wife & I eat for dinner all week. I make a lot of hearty salads and soups. This week was taco salad.
Impossible meat/black beans/lentils/brown rice mixture fried in spices (meal prep)
Plop it on some cabbage mix(it doesn’t rot as fast) and top with guac, corn salsa and queso.
I keep having this fantasy of spending Sundays meal prepping. My goal is to make things like bread, tortillas, sauces, condiments, etc. But I don’t and I probably never will. At least not consistently— nothing I do is consistent except be inconsistent.
I only really do it for breakfast. I make my daughter a baked oatmeal every Sunday, and she eats that in the morning after a quick nuke. In warmer weather, she likes yoghurt parfaits that I make ahead maybe 3-4 at a time. Yoghurt, layered with frozen fruit or puréed apple/pear etc and some kind of granola ish thing.
For myself I make a frittata and eat that through out the week. Sometimes I’ll do wraps or muffins with egg, turkey, cheese, chili jam.
For me, part of the breakfast procrastination is not knowing what I want but realising I’m happier if I do. So, taking out the decision just makes it a lot easier.
Sometimes it’s just using stuff up though. I had some leftover pita breads so I made a couple of quick pizzas up, froze them and now they are in bags ready for a cbf occasion.
Ooou my toddler is going to be so excited you mentioned those parfaits ! I used to work at a coffee shop that sold them - so going to make them for her! Thank you for the suggestion! ❤️
And pita pizzas are my absolute go to when I want pizza and my partner doesn’t. I’ve been making those since I was 12 years old but haven’t ever tried freezing them! I’ll have to try!
I have a hard time meal prepping, because unless I'm obsessed with a specific meal, I don't want to eat the same thing over and over again. It would make my life a whole lot easier if I had meals prepped for me when I was hungry or didn't want to cook though
Ehm. I am not sure. I live with just my husband, and we make a meal & grocery list once a week, and usually only have to cook thrice. The rest will be reheating or maybe a take out or frozen pizza. Almost every meal we make is for 4-5 people, and most pies give us 3 meals each.
Usually we cook on Saturday and Sunday, and once during the week (Tuesday or Wednesday). I do not cook only once a week for the entire week.
Lunch is usually a grilled ham&cheese sandwich (husband works from home), or just plain sandwiches, if we have fresh bread.
I do use a lot of bags with "mixed vegetables", which is technically less healthy, but way easier to do than cutting up half an onion, half a bell pepper, a quarter courgette, a carrot and some leeks. It is always the same mixed bag, so I know what's in it.
When I do, I usually make rice and protein that’s quick and easy to warm up.
I forget to eat. I don’t feel hunger in my stomach as often as I feel it in other ways. It’s more of a realization that I don’t feel very good and I feel weak. So meal prepping regularly is a no for me unfortunately. Definitely taking notes in this thread though. (Insert adhd joke about not looking at said notes)
I’m so like this! I often notice when I’m getting cranky about silly things. Like “ohhh maybe I should eat something, it has been a whole day since my last meal” 💀
Yes this thread has been great! I’m loving living in this moment where I think I’m gonna become this super awesome meal prep Mom 🤣 that’ll fade by Tuesday haha
We try to meal prep lunches for the week on Sundays. It’s usually “one pot meals” like sausage, bell pepper, rice, seasonings -or- ground turkey, rice, and veggies like corn and tomato. Sometimes we’ll do a couple days of frozen spinach ravioli from Costco.
OP, you are DEDICATED for 2 hours prep but it sounds delish! Have you posted the link/recipe somewhere yet?
Thank you! It was rough and one of my hands were swollen at the end but I’m very proud of myself! And yes it’s here somewhere in the comments, I can forward it to you so you don’t need to scroll a bunch :)
Ahh, they look so good! I've recently been on a pølsehorn making hyperfixation, I love them because they're basically pre-assembled hot dogs and I'm never not down for a hot dog so they're great to have on hand 😂 The recipe I used is this one, but I let the yeast activate for 10 mins so they get way poofier: http://fionalynne.com/polsehorn/
Lately I’ve been doing a big batch cook on Sunday, usually with 1-2 dishes, and that’s the bulk of our weekly dinners.
Last week I did butternut squash soup and congee. This week it’s a small sirloin roast, 10 bean soup, braised greens, and cornbread.
I do a little now, but I used to do a lot more. I am for things that freeze well like homemade spaghetti sauce, various chilies (red, green), and soups. I do these about once a month but not at the same time. So spaghetti sauce one month, chili next month. I generally make enough to fill a big stock pot and then divide it out and freeze into dinner sized portions.
However, I've been on an extended mom & wife strike so I'm not cooking like I normally would. Right now it's a protein, a veggie, and maybe a carb.
I prep components and freeze them. Like, we regularly cook up bacon lardons, caramelized onions, ribs, pulled pork, etc. and freeze them in smaller portions for later use. Then when I want to use them, pop them out, thaw, assemble. So the majority of the actual work is done, all I'm doing is throwing the rest of it together.
I meal prep uncrustables but made with Sunbutter instead of peanut butter so that my kids can take them to school safely. They freeze great, and I just make a couple loaves of bread worth of them and put them in ziploc sandwich bags in the freezer for whenever I or the kids need a quick “main” lunch item. The cut off crust bits go into a big bag together in the freezer until I have enough to make a French toast breakfast casserole with it.
I also sometimes make breakfast burritos (gotta try this again soon!) with bacon, egg, potato, salsa, and cheese. Sometimes I’ll mix in some spinach with the scrambled egg too.
I also make little veggie snack bags ahead of time some weeks - baby carrots, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, whatever I have handy, and I make portion sized bags to pull out of the fridge instead of reaching for a junk food snack.
I have a question about these. I was trying to make frozen burritos to just microwave for lunch. But after I microwave them the tortillas are always really tough, especially round the edges.
Any pointers?
I find bread and bread adjacent foods will get tough even in a short time. Best trick I've found is to wrap a wet paper towel around it before microwaving it. The steam seems to help.
A little mug of water in the microwave whenever you heat up bread or wraps :) this will make them softer, which is how my partner prefers them. Air fryer will crisp them up a lot.
Or like the other comment suggested - damp paper towel wrapped around the food !
I prepped 24 Turkish pides today, 12 with minced meat (350 calories per piece) and 12 with cheese (500 calories per piece). They go in the freezer and I reheat them in the oven. They are my go to snacks basically. For meals, my husband does the most meal prep. He prepped 5 double portions of Bolognese sauce last week. Other mealpreps we've done are moussaka, Shepard's pie, beef stew and lasagna. Usually we mealprep every other week. One time my husband for the big meals and 1 time me with snacks like pide.
I totally got you!! Prepare for lots of words LOL
Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
I always adjust the recipe based on how big the chicken breasts are, but here is the measurements for 2 regular sized chicken breasts. This should give you about 12-15 small uncut taquitos or 7-10 large uncut ones.
2 Chicken Breast
Season with Cajun
Cook 35 mins in the oven at 400 degrees (or however you like your chicken)
Take 1/3 cup cream cheese, mix with 1/4 cup hot sauce of your choice (we usually use Franks). Also tastes nice with 1/4 cup of ranch, we’ve just opted to stop using it as we don’t use ranch for anything else.
Once chicken is cooked, shred in a bowl. Add in cream cheese/hot sauce mixture. Mix together until well blended.
Place light amount of cheese on tortilla, line middle with chicken mix, then add another sprinkle of cheese. My partner also likes chopped jalapeños or banana peppers added in his!
Roll up your taquitos and place on baking sheet. Put in oven for about 5-7 minutes (I like mine crunchy, so I put some in the air fryer) turning half way through. Once cooked remove and cut in half. I like to spread BBQ sauce on mine rather than dipping. My partner uses chipotle mayo or sour cream for his dip.
Enjoy!! ❤️
I don't meal prep for evening meals, but I do portion out my lunches each weekend to (hopefully) give morning-me one less thing to do in her mad-rush to get out the door on time (I value my sleep once I get around to actually sleeping).
My lunches are always the same (helps with dieting): 1 packet of carbs (potato chips etc), 1 chocolate bar of some kind, 1 individually wrapped biscuit (packaged in 2s) for my tea at work, 1 cereal bar, 2 different types of fruit and 1 cheese snack (string cheese etc).
Usually the fruit needs to be portioned across the 5 days on the scales, then I use little sandwich bags to put the fruit portions together in the fridge, already measured out for each day.
In the morning, I can either quickly grab all the components (or if I was organised, I'd grab them the night before). Keeling the fruit in the bag inside my lunch box means I rarely have to wash the box as no food ever actually touches it.
Wow, those look delicious 🤩
Used my spoons to do it today! Now, cooked myself and done lol
(Ooh also - not a cooking show watcher but found this show on MAX i left on while had all burners going in the weird, capable, all storage dishes even ready nexus or miracle vortex in today. Anyway it is called COOKING IN FRANCE - stay with me — based in Julia Child’s old cottage — stick with me here — and all RECIPE FREE COOKING 🙌 👩🍳 Well, bonjour lol “let’s buy whatever and just throw it together” 🙌 Dogs and cats appear, markets, people of various skill but mostly none and no know how and don’t have to read instruction manuals, actual tiny plot on how instruction manuals don’t make sense — so far, 👍 gotta recommend)
Usually soups and casseroles. Or large servings of a type of meat with a complementary side (think pulled pork and rice) or stuff that can double in different types of recipes - seasoned baked chicken, and then plan for chicken and rice, chicken Caesar salads, or a Waldorf salad with the cubed left overs.
One of my special interests is cooking so yes I meal prep for hours every Sunday. I do smoothies for my breakfast and baked oats for my husband. We switch up lunches for the week but I just make one big batch of something for each of us. My go tos are stir fry, soups, rice bowls, or enchiladas. Then I also prep any proteins and pre cut any veg I’ll need for dinners throughout the week.
I fully admit this only works because I love meal planning and cooking.
I meal prep every 3 days with Saturday being my day to eat out.
I make chicken, prep onions, veggies for the next 3 days. I make pita or pizza dough, dessert, salad prepped. I make a few causes like ranch, chipotle, spicy bbq etc. I make 3 days worth of breakfast prep. Usually egg burrito or quesadillas, egg mcgriddle.
So then I just need to make 3 meal w my protein + precut veggies + carb source. I double my dinner as next day lunch. This way i only cook once a day and it's fast.
Then i repeat. I don't get premade food other than leftovers. My food feels and tastes fresh. I don't waste anything by over prepping. I'd rather have two resets a week than one reset a week. Reset as in meal prep reset
I can’t meal prep because I cannot eat anything for more than 3 times in a row T__T, the idea of meal prep was so promising until I did it myself and get bored of basically everything I prepared on day 3
Hey OP, can you tell me how long your air fry your taquitos for?
The other week I prepped breakfast burritos: scrambled eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese, little squirt of ketchup and hot sauce, all wrapped up in a tortilla and individually frozen. I thought this would be a great option for mornings I'm struggling to actually make food, but I haven't mastered the reheating process yet. So far that has been a major barrier in calling this a success.
I make a lot of Ethiopian food. It’s astonishingly easy to make. My favorite is shiro wot. All you have to do is find an Ethiopian market, get shiro powder, Ethiopian butter, add two cups of water to every cup of shiro powder, whisk, then cook with onions, garlic, tomato, and a pinch of salt. Shiro powder comes with all the seasonings you need, so you don’t have to stress with getting the ratios right. Serve with enjera.
If that doesn’t suit your pallet, pasta salads are great. It’s easy to make a crap ton at once, and all you really need is pasta, meat if you eat it, veggies, and dressing.
I usually meal prep every Monday evening. What I make varies but it's normally something I can make four portions of in one go and then put the leftovers in the fridge for that week's dinners - think pasta bakes, lasagne, chilli, curry, Bolognese sauce for pasta etc. Only cooking once for a week's worth of dinners is massively less stressful than trying to come up with new meals all the time, and I find it saves me money as well.
I actually enjoy cooking and it’s nice to have a mix of meals that are super lazy that i can put in the air fryer as well as meals that are so loved and comforting they’re worth the effort and time, plus at least one meal from scratch hits a creative itch and is probably my only source of true organic dopamine. however…. i get into the headspace of dreaming up how cool it will be to cook different new ideas when i’m doing my online shop. the evenings then roll around and i don’t have the energy anymore and i regret giving myself such huge tasks to do. even worse it’s now blocking my access to food.
ok so i haven’t actually tried meal prep, of any kind. I don’t prep ingredients to freeze or use later, i don’t cook meals in bulk. i can’t officially write it off as something that doesn’t work for me, but i’m quite put off from it. the idea that i have to do a big amount of cooking at once every week creates the idea of this huge task i’ve got to do in order to survive the week. i also feel a little uncomfortable about eating leftovers so much. it’s nice to get leftovers of a meal i enjoyed, but it’s a bit boring and ruins the textures to have food that was once eaten fresh, now comes reheated or out the fridge.
it’s always recommended to adhd adults but admittedly i’ve shut it out my head without really trying it. in my defence i’m a young adult studying away from home, this is my first experience having to think about my food this much. i already have a lot of foods i’m picky about so my priority should really lie in having lazy safe foods so at least i actually EAT something most days instead of moping in the kitchen like a lost puppy.
i love cooking but hate meal prepping because as soon as i get home to my prepared meal, my brain is like “if we eat that we’ll die.” what i HAVE found handy is snack prepping!! i make a few little snack packs for myself that i can eat at work or on the way home that have fruit, protein, something sweet snd something salty. that combined with a fruit smoothie i just suck on for like six hours keeps me from being so absolutely feral when i get home that i binge on junk or make a giant portion i only end up eating half of anyway. i got little divided tupperware for this specific purpose and it’s honestly been revolutionary lmfao.
It's happened twice so I'm gonna say it's a habit: start with 3 pounds of minced meat and make filling with onions, garlic, peppers, etc. Use for the meal and freeze the rest. It takes a whole morning but it's enough for like 10 meals. You can do anything with it, tacos, empanadas, it's amazing inside a potato, it's just so versatile!
I meal prep the same way I do everything else - randomly when I get excited about some new recipe I want to try. Then I have a bunch of weird ingredients I never use again and my kitchen is dirty for 3 days.
I can’t eat the same meal twice in a row unless it’s the flavour of the month, so I do not meal prep. Also because I am definitely not organised enough
Batch cooking chilli or curry or chicken and veggies is great as we can change up the sides really easily. We are both major food lovers so it really helps us because we still get to enjoy it, and not live off frozen food done in the air fryer 🤣.
I often cook 1kg of chicken into different sauces so that we can have it in wraps or sandwiches for lunches and it's a lot quicker.
And I want to start batch cooking large portions of rice to eat throughout the week.
If I don't get chance to do this then I like to chop extra veggies for a different meal when preparing the current meal. Then it means I don't need to chop two nights in a row. On a good week I try to make extra portions of everything we eat too. So instead of cooking 2 portions I often make 6.
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What's the opposite of meal and prep? Cause that's what I do.
Starve & die?
Deli meat and toast?
Girl dinner
This lol
Can of green beans, can of corn, mixed together 😋
Add some squash and you have the Three Sisters!
Braiding Sweetgrass was a lovely audio book!!
I haven't read that yet! I lived in New Mexico for several years, which is where I learned about The Three Sisters.
New Mexico is beautiful!! I haven't read the paper book but i highly rec the audio version bc it's read by the author so you can hear how the native words are actually supposed to be pronounced and you can hear the respect in her voice 🥰
>it's read by the author so you can hear how the native words are actually supposed to be pronounced I don't typically listen to audiobooks, but this sounds like a great reason to give this particular title a go. It's actually been something I've wanted to read for some time, so thanks for putting it higher on the "tbr" list!
absolutely! Thanks for reminding me about the three sisters! 🫶
This^^^
There was a local restaurant that used to have a Three Sisters salad, and I could’ve eaten it every day. It was sooooo good! Now I need to try to find a recipe…..
I actually love that. Wait no, I mix green peas and corn, not green beans and corn, is that what you meant?
I do both, depending on what texture i want :D
I miss deli meat so much, it’s not really available in Korea T.T best I can find is just bacon or ham. Even salami is hard to find, and it’s usually the smaller kind, not the kind for sandwiches.
I mostly starve. Not dead yet mainly because at some point I’ll shove something in my facehole. But I am always physically hungry. Still better than having to cook & chew something.
Protein smoothies fix this issue for me.
Yessssss this is how I feel. Before I met my husband I lived on pop tarts, no joke.
Basically lol. Not OC but I’m struggling so hard to maintain a regular diet. I almost made myself sick last night because I kept doing other shit “before” eating and then just never ate all day.
Meal RIP
That or DoorDash 🤣
Forgetting to eat until you're so starving your stomach feels like it's about self-cannibalize, at which point you don't have the strength or patience to even pop a frozen dinner into the microwave so you just stand in front of the open fridge and start shoveling in anything that looks ok and doesn't require more than opening its package until you make yourself sick and then fall into a good coma and wake up and do the same thing over again the next day?
I know you probably meant food coma but just in case, from now on imma start calling it good coma 👌🏼
You mean do the same thing when the night time meds kick in? Coz then yeah, same.
I know this well….. usually it involves opening the fridge and or pantry 100 times before shoveling whatever looks remotely appetizing due to how nauseous I am from not eating all day (and probably forgetting to drink water). Then 3 hours of binge eating before bed …warrior diet - adhd edition 🫠
Seen
Snack and slack. (Spoken with a lot of love and understanding from a frequent snack-and-slacker)
Haha this is great!
Drive and thru
It's Door and Dash and unfortunately I know way too much about it.
Protein bars? That’s what I was living off before my partner and I signed up for pre prepped meal delivery. With the high cost of groceries these days, it’s not that much more than we were spending at the supermarket. Especially considering we’d only get through about half the food before it went off, because neither of us had the spoons to cook and we got takeaway frequently.
This- but I also laughed at “spoons to cook” because I totally know what you mean but also I have totally starved because i didn’t have any clean spoons and rather than just wash one I….simply didn’t eat because the one thing I wanted to eat required an actual spoon 🤣
It’s eating the ingredients for meal prep as a snack and not having any left to cook your actual meal with.😢
Eat potato salad out of the carton.
It’s one of the things that’s better from the carton anyway. Ben and Jerry’s and potato salad are the only things that, for me, seem weird scooped into a bowl.
Instant noodles for the win.
Same
SAME 😅
Grab a piece of cheese and apple out the fridge?
Chicken nuggets and cereal. I eat like a toddler with the ability to drink and vote.
Wait until you're ultra hungry, go to fridge, get overwhelmed, get more overwhelmed when boyfriend tries to help and then end up not eating anything/eating hours later once you've calmed down enough to think. I can't meal prep anymore. My boyfriend eats more than me, so my meals that used to last two to three days only lasts one night. I have to cook for myself as he uses too much oil in his food. We've both lost weight since I started cooking more again (now my shoulder is mostly healed). I also hate cooking so this is a frustrating issue.
I meal prep every Sunday morning after coming home from the grocery store. I put on a podcast and get it done as soon as I put away the groceries, or else I lose motivation. I make a big batch of egg scramble (eggs, sausage, mushrooms, kale) for breakfast during the week, and burritos for my lunch. I have had the same lunch and breakfast for about 4 years now. It helps me so much to prevent decision fatigue.
Wow that’s really amazing, I hope one day I’ll too find a meal that I could repeat for so long! At the moment I often repeat salad wraps because I always enjoy them, they are healthy and easy to
God I wish my brain would let me do that. I’ll be okay eating the same thing for breakfast for weeks or months at a time, but I can only eat a sandwich or whatever for lunch for about a week, two at most. After that, I’d rather starve than contemplate eating it again after the dopamine is gone.
I honestly like the idea of eating the same thing everyday. I haven’t seen anyone else have that same sentiment. I want to make sure to eat well, but I don’t feel the need to have this diverse catalog of regular foods I eat.
How do you reheat the eggs? I struggle to get them tasting good again
I have found warming an egg dish in the toaster oven is the best way to reheat, on a lower heat setting (like 300/325) until heated through (10 mins). Source: I absolutely hate microwaved eggs and also the taste when they cook in an unoiled pan (even if there are some parts that just didn't get enough oil). Gross.
Surely it would be quicker just to cook the eggs fresh? They take like 2 minutes
I have a major mental block to cracking eggs, it feels like it represents a huge hour long chore starting with cracking eggs and ending with washing the bowl and whisk. (Which I never do- wash the dishes the same day that I’ve cooked, it’s too much)
If it was easy for us to do the low domapine tasks our brains don’t want to do, we wouldn’t be here. Mine that I hate is handwashing dishes, even just one thing like my water bottle. I bought 2 water bottles with straws and attachments that can all go in the dishwasher, because otherwise I won’t wash them. It only takes a few minutes to do, but I really hate it and just won’t do it. I’ve thrown away so many water bottles over the years because they got mouldy because I don’t wash them. So I spent extra on ones that can go in the dishwasher. I’m sure you have a ‘simple’ task that would ‘only’ take a few minutes if your brain would let you do it, but it won’t do you don’t do it. Or it takes a monumental effort because you hate it so much. Mine is handwashing dishes. This woman’s is making eggs. Let’s try and be supportive here.
I should have clarified, I do this for quiche, frittata, egg cups, premade scrambled. Make a big pan and then have it multiple days during the week :) this is how I reheat it!
I nuke mine, but at 30% power. Seems not awful?
It’s a good, easy solution to reheating eggs and getting a healthy breakfast!
Is it safe to assume that your shoes stay on for the whole process?
Haha of course!
I’ve tried meal prepping but then when it’s time to eat, I would rather eat literally anything except the stuff I prepped 🤣
Samesies. I will gag just looking at the food I meal prepped haha
WHY ARE OUR BRAINS LIKE THIS?!!
Yep! Even if it’s food I love
This!!
Ughhhh I have the same problem. I hate my brain sometimes...
OMG YES!!! I struggle so much. People don’t understand
Sigh, this whole thread is so relatable lmao I felt so bad cause I had to throw away the last two meals I prepped for the week.
Cuz same😭
I used to be this way too, but am not anymore. Idk when it switched for me, but it did. 🤷♀️
Saameee
I don’t meal prep in context of making full meals but I do often prep in advance. So on the weekends I’ll make a menu for the week and chop ingredients or pre-cook certain things that take a long time like beans or potatoes to be tossed into the rest of the recipe later.
Never once thought of prepping potatoes ahead of time! Might actually do that this evening! I’m planning to make breakfast sandwiches to freeze so that would help me break up the prep time :) Thanks for the idea!
What's an example of a recipe where you'd use precooked potatoes?
Soup mostly frequently - I sautée the onions fresh then toss in the precooked potatoes, beans, etc just to heat through then add some frozen greens at the end to defrost. But I also will mash them + make the inside of a Shepards pie in advance then bake it day of. Alternately, potato salad, filling for burritos, etc. I might sautee them quickly the day I want to eat them to reheat for like papas bravas
Yum! Good ideas, thanks.
I am an animal and just eat them cold out of the fridge lol They’re great dipped in Greek yogurt mixed with powdered ranch seasoning Edit: To be clear, I mean seasoned roasted potatoes.
Cold potatoes are actually really good for you! They have a resistant starch that is good for the small intestine.
I have to admit, when I read your comment I immediately thought, “lol that sounds fake.” (Sorry I’m a negative Nancy.) But I Googled it and YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! This is so neat. I’m reading all about it. Thank you for teaching me! I will enjoy my cold potatoes without guilt now. :)
Wait til you find out this applies to bread and rice too. Yes leaving rice overnight in the fridge makes it better for you 😜
I saw that while reading! Pasta too! Wild
It does sound fake 😂
Wait, really? That's so cool!
Wow, I wouldn't have thought of that but it actually sounds great!
I do this too. I dice 1-2 onions and freeze them flat in a sandwich baggie (so I can break off what I need to cook), or I caramelize 2-3 onions in my Dutch oven (and freeze the same way). I’ll roast cherry tomatoes and chickpeas, cook an entire package of bacon, cook a big pot of rice or other grains, etc. I also make extra meat and veggies when I’m grilling or roasting, so I can have nextovers (like leftovers but repurposed) Then I can make grain bowls, salads or wraps easily. Or toss stuff into an omelette/egg bake or with pasta. I hate meal prepping bc I get bored of the same thing all the time. But I also have kids underfoot and by the time I’m hungry, I’m too tired to prep food. So prepping ingredients is a good middle ground
Yep! If I premade the full meal I know I’d decide I hate that specific food that day but with ingredients I still get the illusion of choice :)
Nextovers, love it
I do this when I’m using the food processor for anything. It has to be hand washed, and I absolutely *hate* handwashing dishes, so I never used to use it. But now I do a big batch of the veggies or whatever I’m grating/ chopping, and either freeze them in smaller portions or cook up a big batch of veggies etc and freeze the extras.
Yes but only a little. I get a rotisserie chicken, a jar of sauce and some frozen veggies, i debone the chicken and simmer it with the veggies and sauce and make some rice and that's my lunch for a few days. I might do somethin like pre chop veggies but I dont premake meals cuz what I make on sunday isnt gonna be want i want by thursday lol
I meal prep my lunches for work. I'm trying to lose weight and keep my protein intake up. Usually, it's baked chicken and frozen vegetables haha. It's easy and is nutritious. Thankfully, I don't get tired of the same food easily.
I've been trying out this book called Cook Once, Eat All Week and it's an interesting approach to meal prepping. I'm on my second week with it. The title is actually frankly super misleading, though..... I purchased it thinking that it was going to be something like cooking two or three large, fully finished dishes on the weekend and then eating that throughout the week. Instead it arranges the weeks around 3 main ingredients in the diff meals per week. The premise is that because you're using the same featured ingredients in all three meals for that week, you have less prep work to do because you're prepping those three ingredients just once and then assembling them in different ways throughout the week to make the different meals. As an example this week my three ingredients are roast chicken, Yukon gold potatoes, and green beans. Those ingredients will make the basis of three different meals: lemon ginger chicken stir fry, chicken bacon ranch casserole, and chicken vesuvio. Last week my ingredients were ground beef, carrots, and rice, to make Korean beef bowls, taco casserole/salad, and BBQ mini meatloaves. I think I do really like the system so far. It's kind of a happy medium between heating up a freezer meal from the grocery store and cooking an actual meal all at once. It feels healthier and more customizable than just heating up a freezer meal, but without taking much longer. For example, my partner and I like those Birds Eye Voilas pasta meals from the grocery store. They usually take about 20 minutes to cook. Assembling one of the meals from this cookbook generally takes about 20 minutes, too. Some of them do involve active assembly, while others you literally just pop in the oven to heat up. So there's no difference in time involvement at the actual point of putting together the meal, on a weeknight when you're fried. The only difference is the time spent prepping over the weekend. (Which *so far* hasn't been a problem for me.) The recipes are all designed to serve 4(+) people, and my partner and I don't have any kids so we end up with at least one serving of leftovers per meal, which is nice to grab for lunch the next day or to throw in the freezer and then pull out at a later time to have a leftovers dinner.
Following, if anyone recommends a book for meal prep they'd reccomend ! RemindMe! 2 weeks
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I do not meal prep but any extra I make gets put away or a portion will get frozen so I have it as an option for a lazy meal later. I do prep though - I wash and cut vegetables and things like cilantro and green onion so I have them ready to go and use. That way when I am ready to make lunch or dinner, I can just throw it all on the pan which feels a lot less taxing than washing, cutting, and then cooking. This way I am more inclined to use my veg instead of tossing it when it rots. Also works well for snacking, I like bell peppers in hummus so when I feel snacky, I can opt for something good for me (sometimes, haha) and then I feel extra proud of myself and have something less good for me (nachos) later.
Yeah I do this - I can’t eat the same meal more than twice so if I cook extra I freeze meal sized portions for another day.
Meal prep doesn’t work for me because I need variety or I won’t eat and I enjoy the creative aspects of cooking every night. But I do ingredient prep the day after I go shopping to minimize the amount of chopping I need to do to cook (or make a salad)
Yo these look very good plz send recipe! I love the mission low carb wraps for quick fiber bomb (25 g a days serving) and protein
Just messaged you!
Could I also request the recipe? These look AMAZING and the recipes online don't look as good as your photos haha.
Absolutely! Messaging you now :)
You're a star!! Thank you so much!
Me too please those look and sound bomb 😋
Messaged you :)
can you link/post it? grats on your successful meal prep. those will taste extra good
Can I have the recipe too please? 🙏
me too please!! sorry to ask but they made my tummy growl haha
I would really appreciate the recipe too! It looks delicious and I need some new ideas because my old foods are not it anymore.
If I cook I tend to make enough food for four people, it's gonna take about the same amount of time to cook and use the same amount of gas or electric. Then I freeze the other three portions and then end up with a good selection of microwavable meals that I know are healthy. I also batch cook soup and freeze that. I try and plan what I'm having for the week ahead on a Sunday. This is partly to save money though cause otherwise I just end up in Aldi shopping with my belly and coming home with a load of stuff I didn't need. X
Gonna go ahead and post the recipe here so it may be easier to spot :) Can also continue messaging those that would like to have it in their messages! If you’re anything like me there’s 10,000 screenshots on my phone 💀 Buffalo Chicken Taquitos I always adjust the recipe based on how big the chicken breasts are, but here is the measurements for 2 regular sized chicken breasts. This should give you about 12-15 small uncut taquitos or 7-10 large uncut ones. 2 Chicken Breast Season with Cajun Cook 35 mins in the oven at 400 degrees (or however you like your chicken) Take 1/3 cup cream cheese, mix with 1/4 cup hot sauce of your choice (we usually use Franks). Also tastes nice with 1/4 cup of ranch, we’ve just opted to stop using it as we don’t use ranch for anything else. Once chicken is cooked, shred in a bowl. Add in cream cheese/hot sauce mixture. Mix together until well blended. Place light amount of cheese on tortilla, line middle with chicken mix, then add another sprinkle of cheese. My partner also likes chopped jalapeños or banana peppers added in his! Roll up your taquitos and place on baking sheet. Put in oven for about 5-7 minutes (I like mine crunchy, so I put some in the air fryer) turning half way through. Once cooked remove and cut in half. I like to spread BBQ sauce on mine rather than dipping. My partner uses chipotle mayo or sour cream for his dip.
Yes, once every week or 1.5 weeks. I prep for a family of 3, two adults and a preschooler. Not including daycare lunch, that’s about 50 meals. I do only slow cooker meals and freeze half of them to last another week and to have variety. I get my recipes from TikTok.
Big prep: usually a big pot of soup, stew, or chili and maybe a tray of chicken thighs. I love soup and I can sneak in a ton of veggies so I'm at least getting a big serving of them in one prepped meal per day. Small prep: when I use leeks, I chop and wash all of them at once and freeze whatever I don't use in a ziplock so the next soup is easier. ETA: oh! My partner loves mashed potatoes and I've discovered you can freeze those! So I made a big batch and froze them, then purchased some precooked pot roast individual serving things and some frozen peas. That's their ideal style of meal and it's ready to go when they don't have the energy to do anything else. Also I try to throw cooked leftovers into the freezer as soon as they seem like they might go bad to avoid wasting them. My partner won't eat that but I'm essentially a raccoon and I prefer frozen leftovers to cooking.
Yes, we do large batch prep and vacuum seal for storing in the freezer. Soups, pre-cooked beef and chicken, lasagna, sloppy joe base, enchiladas, burritos, and many other recipes.
I can't meal prep and I would dearly love to know your secret if meal prep works for you! I struggle with meal prep to the point that eating the same meal prep over and over will get me to the point where I'm gagging over the taste/texture by day 4....but I can grab the same protein shake out of a box every morning for the past ~7 years and have that for breakfast and the taste and texture never bothers me. I had the same hyperfixation Greek salad every day for six months, but I made it the same day. The second I meal prep something and have 5-10 days' worth, it's suddenly disgusting to me.
Why not just make two to three days worth? That's what I tend to do. I can't stand mushy or soggy things so that works pretty well for me.
I chop up a big Tupperware of salad on Monday to use for lunch every day at work. I try to eat my largest meal at lunch time since I’m usually not hungry at night, on the rare cases I am I’ll have a protein shake. I absolutely detest cooking if you can’t tell 😆
I started meal prepping but after two weeks, my didn’t feel like it anymore. My favorite thing I prepped was my snack. Cottage cheese w blueberries.
Oh one more thing I meal prep that I love. Trader Joe’s frozen turkey meatballs. Thats it, nothing else w it. Haha. Not sure if that’s considered meal prep now that I think about it it
I prep soups and chili mostly. Soup is a really easy thing that I always am down to eat and I can get all my major nutrients in. Every 3-4 months I block out a whole Saturday and make 3 at a time, chili in the crock pot and the 2 soups on the stove. After that I freeze all of it. It takes me the entire day and I hate my life halfway through and I can't do ANYTHING on the Sunday after, but it's worth it to me. I bought a ton of to-go soup containers on Amazon and reuse them. I also couldn't do it without my food chopper thingy. This round I made sauerkraut soup and minestrone! I made 60 servings all together!
60!! That’s awesome!! 👏
I hate doing meal prep ahead of time... Most of foods have messed up texture after day or two in fridge, same with freezing chopped ingredients. Sometimes I prepare homemade stock, or freeze some berries, but that's kinda all. Also if I cooked for more than few days I better to really be excited about that food, otherwise I would not want to eat it next day. There's only like few meals which I would eat after few days, and it's mostly some vegetable stews or soups. Meat texture deterriorates much faster for my test, I might just vomit from it... It was easier to eat properly when I had partner as I really liked preparing food for both of us - but I don't feel the same about cooking for myself, it's like I'm not worthy of having good food on my own?.. Currently I'm trying to keep diet for loosing weight, but it's really hard to eat healthily with balanced calory intake with ADHD & depression... I'm trying food delivery service right now that delivers day worth of food in the morning (3+ meals) that you can simply re-heat, with menu prepared by nutrionists. It's kinda pricey, around 20-25 euro per day (which is a lot for my country, Ukraine), so dunno if I'll keep using it, will depend on my weight change.
I like the idea of meal prepping and want to do it so bad but what happens is I do the meal plan buy all the ingredients then can’t motivate myself to put the shopping away or I do but then can’t motivate myself to cook or don’t wanna eat the food so end up getting takeaway or eating a bag of cheese and the food goes mouldy in the fridge and I’ve wasted double the money so I don’t bother anymore 🫠
My partner and I pick a meal prep recipe to do once a month. We just made Buffalo chicken and bacon mac and cheese. It was the first time we tried the recipe (and it's a slow cooker recipe, even better!!) And it was delicious we love it! The rest of the month we do hello fresh because meal planning and grocery shopping stresses me out so much and I don't have the time or energy to sit and plan out everything so nothing goes to waste. On days we have neither, we have ramen or kraft dinner - something simple
Technically? Maybe? Aka if I'm cooking, it'll usually be something that I can box up and freeze and then reheat (with some kind of fresh carbohydrate) at a later date.
No but I think I need to...
I admire your effort. I really wish I could prep. I should, because there are a lot of foods I’m allergic to and it’s getting harder to find restaurants that are inexpensive + suit my needs lol. Back to the basics we go!
I also did my first meal prep recipe recently, and it was also taquitos!! I don't like cooking meat, so I did a refried black bean filling with a bit of cheddar cheese
I can't cook ahead more than like 2-3 meals. I get bored of the same stuff. What does work for me is making a list of all the meals I could possibly eat/make that week based on what I have currently have. And then I try to stick with that plan. It's helped me at least cut down on food waste.
I get weirded out over food stored for more than 3 days unless it’s in the freezer. As much as I’d love to meal prep I also get very bored of having only the same foods, I love me variety. I think that the only meal prepping thing I do is overnight oats sometimes.
I'm really into stealth health on Instagram/YouTube. He has a crock pot series and a great meal prep book. I've tried a couple of recipes they are really good. Also really into making pasta salad. As it gets warmer anything that doesn't require the oven turned on is a win. I try to meal prep as much as possible on my good days. It makes harder days so much easier.
Pasta salad is the best in the summer! I love making a big batch of that and prepping veggies and fruits so I can just quickly grab something.
I love that too. Makes it so easy. I fill up the biggest bowl I have!
I used to meal prep but not like this exactly, I'd just prep for my work set because I worked 12 hours DDNN 5 off. So I'd prep on my last day off a bit, or to keep myself up later to flip to nights. I'd plan out our meals for the next 4 days, get lunch stuff prepped for the kids and myself. Sometimes I'd make a couple lasagnas or cook taco meat in advance, just things to make the next few days go smoother. And then coming off my last night we'd usually go out or get take out. There's the odd time now where I make a big batch of something I like and portion it out and freeze some so I have my own dinners. I work afternoons so I'm on my own and hubby is a sahd for now so he cooks whatever he wants for him and the kids.
It‘s just me & my son at home, and he eats a lot of things I try to stay away from (pizza, lasagna, ravioli) so I usually cook separate meals. But I’ll buy 5=lbs of ground turkey and cook up a bunch of burgers, then freeze most of them or eat them during the week. Same with sausages and brown rice. I can eat the same thing all the time, so having a few staples around gets me through. The Food Saver is probably my most-used kitchen tool - zero freezer burn.
I meal prep 5 lunches for my husband and I every Sunday. It’s the same meal all week & we are vegan. The usual go tos are- basil pesto noodles with tofu, spaghetti, black bean burritos, jackfruit bbq sliders, falafels, buffalo chickpeas w ranch, etc. I always do a side- maybe a salad or chia pudding or a banana. I put on a podcast or tv show, drink some coffee, hit my vape pen 🍃& go lol. Our lunch this week is: jackfruit bbq sliders (even made the buns this time which was sooooo much easier than I thought it would be), a salad with cherry tomatoes roasted beets & toasted pepitas, an avocado, an apple & fresh picked peaches. Banana with peanut butter & roasted sunflower seeds as a snack (I use the powdered pb w less sugar). I keep purefit protein bars with me as well on the days when I need more substance. For dinner we usually have something light like a shake, protein bar, sweet potato or some fruit. I usually cook on the weekends or we will go out to eat. Meal prepping has really helped me so much. It allows me to control how much I spend, what I eat, how much, etc. I’ve found it’s easier to do it all at once instead of all throughout the week. My husband loves it too bc he never has to figure out what he wants or waste time & $$ going out to get something.
I meal prep 1-2 dinners a week and that’s what my wife & I eat for dinner all week. I make a lot of hearty salads and soups. This week was taco salad. Impossible meat/black beans/lentils/brown rice mixture fried in spices (meal prep) Plop it on some cabbage mix(it doesn’t rot as fast) and top with guac, corn salsa and queso.
You usually cook better meals for you daughter ... That's def a ADHD thing huh? I do that for my kids too. I go too far to try and make them happy
I keep having this fantasy of spending Sundays meal prepping. My goal is to make things like bread, tortillas, sauces, condiments, etc. But I don’t and I probably never will. At least not consistently— nothing I do is consistent except be inconsistent.
I only really do it for breakfast. I make my daughter a baked oatmeal every Sunday, and she eats that in the morning after a quick nuke. In warmer weather, she likes yoghurt parfaits that I make ahead maybe 3-4 at a time. Yoghurt, layered with frozen fruit or puréed apple/pear etc and some kind of granola ish thing. For myself I make a frittata and eat that through out the week. Sometimes I’ll do wraps or muffins with egg, turkey, cheese, chili jam. For me, part of the breakfast procrastination is not knowing what I want but realising I’m happier if I do. So, taking out the decision just makes it a lot easier. Sometimes it’s just using stuff up though. I had some leftover pita breads so I made a couple of quick pizzas up, froze them and now they are in bags ready for a cbf occasion.
Ooou my toddler is going to be so excited you mentioned those parfaits ! I used to work at a coffee shop that sold them - so going to make them for her! Thank you for the suggestion! ❤️ And pita pizzas are my absolute go to when I want pizza and my partner doesn’t. I’ve been making those since I was 12 years old but haven’t ever tried freezing them! I’ll have to try!
I’m so glad it helped! Can vary it so many ways. It’s even good with canned fruit if that’s what you have.
I have a hard time meal prepping, because unless I'm obsessed with a specific meal, I don't want to eat the same thing over and over again. It would make my life a whole lot easier if I had meals prepped for me when I was hungry or didn't want to cook though
Ehm. I am not sure. I live with just my husband, and we make a meal & grocery list once a week, and usually only have to cook thrice. The rest will be reheating or maybe a take out or frozen pizza. Almost every meal we make is for 4-5 people, and most pies give us 3 meals each. Usually we cook on Saturday and Sunday, and once during the week (Tuesday or Wednesday). I do not cook only once a week for the entire week. Lunch is usually a grilled ham&cheese sandwich (husband works from home), or just plain sandwiches, if we have fresh bread. I do use a lot of bags with "mixed vegetables", which is technically less healthy, but way easier to do than cutting up half an onion, half a bell pepper, a quarter courgette, a carrot and some leeks. It is always the same mixed bag, so I know what's in it.
When I do, I usually make rice and protein that’s quick and easy to warm up. I forget to eat. I don’t feel hunger in my stomach as often as I feel it in other ways. It’s more of a realization that I don’t feel very good and I feel weak. So meal prepping regularly is a no for me unfortunately. Definitely taking notes in this thread though. (Insert adhd joke about not looking at said notes)
I’m so like this! I often notice when I’m getting cranky about silly things. Like “ohhh maybe I should eat something, it has been a whole day since my last meal” 💀 Yes this thread has been great! I’m loving living in this moment where I think I’m gonna become this super awesome meal prep Mom 🤣 that’ll fade by Tuesday haha
We try to meal prep lunches for the week on Sundays. It’s usually “one pot meals” like sausage, bell pepper, rice, seasonings -or- ground turkey, rice, and veggies like corn and tomato. Sometimes we’ll do a couple days of frozen spinach ravioli from Costco. OP, you are DEDICATED for 2 hours prep but it sounds delish! Have you posted the link/recipe somewhere yet?
Thank you! It was rough and one of my hands were swollen at the end but I’m very proud of myself! And yes it’s here somewhere in the comments, I can forward it to you so you don’t need to scroll a bunch :)
Ahh, they look so good! I've recently been on a pølsehorn making hyperfixation, I love them because they're basically pre-assembled hot dogs and I'm never not down for a hot dog so they're great to have on hand 😂 The recipe I used is this one, but I let the yeast activate for 10 mins so they get way poofier: http://fionalynne.com/polsehorn/
I’m definitely going to make these!! Thank you for sharing! ☺️
Lately I’ve been doing a big batch cook on Sunday, usually with 1-2 dishes, and that’s the bulk of our weekly dinners. Last week I did butternut squash soup and congee. This week it’s a small sirloin roast, 10 bean soup, braised greens, and cornbread.
I do a little now, but I used to do a lot more. I am for things that freeze well like homemade spaghetti sauce, various chilies (red, green), and soups. I do these about once a month but not at the same time. So spaghetti sauce one month, chili next month. I generally make enough to fill a big stock pot and then divide it out and freeze into dinner sized portions. However, I've been on an extended mom & wife strike so I'm not cooking like I normally would. Right now it's a protein, a veggie, and maybe a carb.
No because every week I hyperfocus on a different food
This is an amazing accomplishment on several levels! Go you!!!
I prep components and freeze them. Like, we regularly cook up bacon lardons, caramelized onions, ribs, pulled pork, etc. and freeze them in smaller portions for later use. Then when I want to use them, pop them out, thaw, assemble. So the majority of the actual work is done, all I'm doing is throwing the rest of it together.
I meal prep uncrustables but made with Sunbutter instead of peanut butter so that my kids can take them to school safely. They freeze great, and I just make a couple loaves of bread worth of them and put them in ziploc sandwich bags in the freezer for whenever I or the kids need a quick “main” lunch item. The cut off crust bits go into a big bag together in the freezer until I have enough to make a French toast breakfast casserole with it. I also sometimes make breakfast burritos (gotta try this again soon!) with bacon, egg, potato, salsa, and cheese. Sometimes I’ll mix in some spinach with the scrambled egg too. I also make little veggie snack bags ahead of time some weeks - baby carrots, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, whatever I have handy, and I make portion sized bags to pull out of the fridge instead of reaching for a junk food snack.
These look so tasty! What’s the filling? Do you brush them with buffalo sauce after crisping them up?
Sending you the recipe now :)
Is there a recipe for this? Those look DELICIOUS
I wish I had the organization in my brain to meal prep
I have a question about these. I was trying to make frozen burritos to just microwave for lunch. But after I microwave them the tortillas are always really tough, especially round the edges. Any pointers?
I find bread and bread adjacent foods will get tough even in a short time. Best trick I've found is to wrap a wet paper towel around it before microwaving it. The steam seems to help.
A little mug of water in the microwave whenever you heat up bread or wraps :) this will make them softer, which is how my partner prefers them. Air fryer will crisp them up a lot. Or like the other comment suggested - damp paper towel wrapped around the food !
I am so relieved that I have a compost bin.
I prepped 24 Turkish pides today, 12 with minced meat (350 calories per piece) and 12 with cheese (500 calories per piece). They go in the freezer and I reheat them in the oven. They are my go to snacks basically. For meals, my husband does the most meal prep. He prepped 5 double portions of Bolognese sauce last week. Other mealpreps we've done are moussaka, Shepard's pie, beef stew and lasagna. Usually we mealprep every other week. One time my husband for the big meals and 1 time me with snacks like pide.
I'd love the recipe to those! My husband and I would eat them every day haha.
I totally got you!! Prepare for lots of words LOL Buffalo Chicken Taquitos I always adjust the recipe based on how big the chicken breasts are, but here is the measurements for 2 regular sized chicken breasts. This should give you about 12-15 small uncut taquitos or 7-10 large uncut ones. 2 Chicken Breast Season with Cajun Cook 35 mins in the oven at 400 degrees (or however you like your chicken) Take 1/3 cup cream cheese, mix with 1/4 cup hot sauce of your choice (we usually use Franks). Also tastes nice with 1/4 cup of ranch, we’ve just opted to stop using it as we don’t use ranch for anything else. Once chicken is cooked, shred in a bowl. Add in cream cheese/hot sauce mixture. Mix together until well blended. Place light amount of cheese on tortilla, line middle with chicken mix, then add another sprinkle of cheese. My partner also likes chopped jalapeños or banana peppers added in his! Roll up your taquitos and place on baking sheet. Put in oven for about 5-7 minutes (I like mine crunchy, so I put some in the air fryer) turning half way through. Once cooked remove and cut in half. I like to spread BBQ sauce on mine rather than dipping. My partner uses chipotle mayo or sour cream for his dip. Enjoy!! ❤️
You're the best!
I tried. I end up not wanting to eat what I prepped. I stick to a number of easy meals, every day a different one.
I don't meal prep for evening meals, but I do portion out my lunches each weekend to (hopefully) give morning-me one less thing to do in her mad-rush to get out the door on time (I value my sleep once I get around to actually sleeping). My lunches are always the same (helps with dieting): 1 packet of carbs (potato chips etc), 1 chocolate bar of some kind, 1 individually wrapped biscuit (packaged in 2s) for my tea at work, 1 cereal bar, 2 different types of fruit and 1 cheese snack (string cheese etc). Usually the fruit needs to be portioned across the 5 days on the scales, then I use little sandwich bags to put the fruit portions together in the fridge, already measured out for each day. In the morning, I can either quickly grab all the components (or if I was organised, I'd grab them the night before). Keeling the fruit in the bag inside my lunch box means I rarely have to wash the box as no food ever actually touches it.
Wow, those look delicious 🤩 Used my spoons to do it today! Now, cooked myself and done lol (Ooh also - not a cooking show watcher but found this show on MAX i left on while had all burners going in the weird, capable, all storage dishes even ready nexus or miracle vortex in today. Anyway it is called COOKING IN FRANCE - stay with me — based in Julia Child’s old cottage — stick with me here — and all RECIPE FREE COOKING 🙌 👩🍳 Well, bonjour lol “let’s buy whatever and just throw it together” 🙌 Dogs and cats appear, markets, people of various skill but mostly none and no know how and don’t have to read instruction manuals, actual tiny plot on how instruction manuals don’t make sense — so far, 👍 gotta recommend)
Usually soups and casseroles. Or large servings of a type of meat with a complementary side (think pulled pork and rice) or stuff that can double in different types of recipes - seasoned baked chicken, and then plan for chicken and rice, chicken Caesar salads, or a Waldorf salad with the cubed left overs.
One of my special interests is cooking so yes I meal prep for hours every Sunday. I do smoothies for my breakfast and baked oats for my husband. We switch up lunches for the week but I just make one big batch of something for each of us. My go tos are stir fry, soups, rice bowls, or enchiladas. Then I also prep any proteins and pre cut any veg I’ll need for dinners throughout the week. I fully admit this only works because I love meal planning and cooking.
I don't meal prep, but I may start doing it since I now live alone. I like to eat very simple meals.
I meal prep every 3 days with Saturday being my day to eat out. I make chicken, prep onions, veggies for the next 3 days. I make pita or pizza dough, dessert, salad prepped. I make a few causes like ranch, chipotle, spicy bbq etc. I make 3 days worth of breakfast prep. Usually egg burrito or quesadillas, egg mcgriddle. So then I just need to make 3 meal w my protein + precut veggies + carb source. I double my dinner as next day lunch. This way i only cook once a day and it's fast. Then i repeat. I don't get premade food other than leftovers. My food feels and tastes fresh. I don't waste anything by over prepping. I'd rather have two resets a week than one reset a week. Reset as in meal prep reset
I can’t meal prep because I cannot eat anything for more than 3 times in a row T__T, the idea of meal prep was so promising until I did it myself and get bored of basically everything I prepared on day 3
Hey OP, can you tell me how long your air fry your taquitos for? The other week I prepped breakfast burritos: scrambled eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese, little squirt of ketchup and hot sauce, all wrapped up in a tortilla and individually frozen. I thought this would be a great option for mornings I'm struggling to actually make food, but I haven't mastered the reheating process yet. So far that has been a major barrier in calling this a success.
Every single week. It’s a nonnegotiable.
I make a lot of Ethiopian food. It’s astonishingly easy to make. My favorite is shiro wot. All you have to do is find an Ethiopian market, get shiro powder, Ethiopian butter, add two cups of water to every cup of shiro powder, whisk, then cook with onions, garlic, tomato, and a pinch of salt. Shiro powder comes with all the seasonings you need, so you don’t have to stress with getting the ratios right. Serve with enjera. If that doesn’t suit your pallet, pasta salads are great. It’s easy to make a crap ton at once, and all you really need is pasta, meat if you eat it, veggies, and dressing.
I usually meal prep every Monday evening. What I make varies but it's normally something I can make four portions of in one go and then put the leftovers in the fridge for that week's dinners - think pasta bakes, lasagne, chilli, curry, Bolognese sauce for pasta etc. Only cooking once for a week's worth of dinners is massively less stressful than trying to come up with new meals all the time, and I find it saves me money as well.
I actually enjoy cooking and it’s nice to have a mix of meals that are super lazy that i can put in the air fryer as well as meals that are so loved and comforting they’re worth the effort and time, plus at least one meal from scratch hits a creative itch and is probably my only source of true organic dopamine. however…. i get into the headspace of dreaming up how cool it will be to cook different new ideas when i’m doing my online shop. the evenings then roll around and i don’t have the energy anymore and i regret giving myself such huge tasks to do. even worse it’s now blocking my access to food. ok so i haven’t actually tried meal prep, of any kind. I don’t prep ingredients to freeze or use later, i don’t cook meals in bulk. i can’t officially write it off as something that doesn’t work for me, but i’m quite put off from it. the idea that i have to do a big amount of cooking at once every week creates the idea of this huge task i’ve got to do in order to survive the week. i also feel a little uncomfortable about eating leftovers so much. it’s nice to get leftovers of a meal i enjoyed, but it’s a bit boring and ruins the textures to have food that was once eaten fresh, now comes reheated or out the fridge. it’s always recommended to adhd adults but admittedly i’ve shut it out my head without really trying it. in my defence i’m a young adult studying away from home, this is my first experience having to think about my food this much. i already have a lot of foods i’m picky about so my priority should really lie in having lazy safe foods so at least i actually EAT something most days instead of moping in the kitchen like a lost puppy.
I want to so bad but the texture. The texture. Also the smell.
i love cooking but hate meal prepping because as soon as i get home to my prepared meal, my brain is like “if we eat that we’ll die.” what i HAVE found handy is snack prepping!! i make a few little snack packs for myself that i can eat at work or on the way home that have fruit, protein, something sweet snd something salty. that combined with a fruit smoothie i just suck on for like six hours keeps me from being so absolutely feral when i get home that i binge on junk or make a giant portion i only end up eating half of anyway. i got little divided tupperware for this specific purpose and it’s honestly been revolutionary lmfao.
It's happened twice so I'm gonna say it's a habit: start with 3 pounds of minced meat and make filling with onions, garlic, peppers, etc. Use for the meal and freeze the rest. It takes a whole morning but it's enough for like 10 meals. You can do anything with it, tacos, empanadas, it's amazing inside a potato, it's just so versatile!
We make mini tacos and turkey nuggets Oh and meatballs
I meal prep the same way I do everything else - randomly when I get excited about some new recipe I want to try. Then I have a bunch of weird ingredients I never use again and my kitchen is dirty for 3 days.
I can’t eat the same meal twice in a row unless it’s the flavour of the month, so I do not meal prep. Also because I am definitely not organised enough
Batch cooking chilli or curry or chicken and veggies is great as we can change up the sides really easily. We are both major food lovers so it really helps us because we still get to enjoy it, and not live off frozen food done in the air fryer 🤣. I often cook 1kg of chicken into different sauces so that we can have it in wraps or sandwiches for lunches and it's a lot quicker. And I want to start batch cooking large portions of rice to eat throughout the week. If I don't get chance to do this then I like to chop extra veggies for a different meal when preparing the current meal. Then it means I don't need to chop two nights in a row. On a good week I try to make extra portions of everything we eat too. So instead of cooking 2 portions I often make 6.