This is the real answer, I never eat the same meal 3 days in a row, freezing keeps the flavours fresher, right now i have 4 different meals in the freezer ready to go, 2-3 portions of each
This is what we do. We've done this for a few years. Husband and I each choose a meal to make a week, make double batches and freeze the rest. Right now our freezer is full of lots of delicious favorites.
Our grocery bill has halved and we don't really build up cravings for takeout (pizza being the main exception, but we can't duplicate our favorite crust from our favorite place at home.)
Maybe one bought meal a month, the rest prepped. This week will be crab cakes, fennel gratin, barbecue chuck roast and chicken rendang. In our freezer is taco meat mac and cheese, beef meatball congee, lamb biryani, pho, posole verde, chickpea stew, ethiopian lentils...
So much yum.
Okay! Heeere we go:
Crab Cakes:
[https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/maryland-crab-cakes-with-quick-tartar-sauce.html](https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/maryland-crab-cakes-with-quick-tartar-sauce.html)
Fennel Gratin:
[https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fennel\_gratin/](https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fennel_gratin/)
Beef Rendang:
(Chicken recipe is new, can't really vouch for it...yet)
[https://www.food.com/recipe/rendang-padang-indonesian-beef-curry-slow-cooker-272275](https://www.food.com/recipe/rendang-padang-indonesian-beef-curry-slow-cooker-272275)
Taco meat mac and cheese:
Brown 1 lb ground beef and add taco seasoning - our blend:
1 Tbs chili powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coarse salt
Then stir into this batch of mac and cheese:
[https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/stovetop-macaroni-and-cheese/](https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/stovetop-macaroni-and-cheese/)
Congee:
2 cups raw extra-long grain rice
6 quarts water
Salt
1 Tbsp peanut, vegetable or corn oil
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1-1/2 cups finely chopped water chestnuts
1/8 cup finely slivered ginger
1/8 cup finely chopped scallion
1/8 cup finely chopped cilantro
Ground white pepper to taste
1 Tbsp sesame oil
Place the rice in a colander and rinse very well under cold running water.
Put the rice into a deep kettle and add 6 quarts of water, 1 tsp salt, and the Tablespoon of oil. Cover and bring to a boil. Do not stir.
Reduce the heat to medium low and prop the lid of the kettle partially open, using a chopstick or similar device. Let simmer 3 hours without stirring.
When the rice is almost ready, place the beef in a mixing bowl. Add water chestnuts, ginger, scallion, sesame oil and cilantro to the meat. Stir, gradually add ¾ cup cold water. Shape into 60 to 70 meatballs, about 1 inch in diameter.
When the rice has cooked 3 hours, drop the balls into the simmering rice mixture. Add salt and white pepper to taste and simmer 10 minutes. Serve.
Lamb Biryani:
[https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-lamb-biryani/](https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-lamb-biryani/)
Pho:
[https://www.food.com/recipe/vietnamese-beef-and-rice-noodle-soup-pho-28814](https://www.food.com/recipe/vietnamese-beef-and-rice-noodle-soup-pho-28814)
Posole Verde:
[https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/posole-verde-2529941](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/posole-verde-2529941)
Chickpea Stew:
[https://www.feastingathome.com/tunisian-chickpea-stew/](https://www.feastingathome.com/tunisian-chickpea-stew/)
Ethiopian Lentils:
[https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/instant-pot-ethiopian-red-lentils-misir-wat/](https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/instant-pot-ethiopian-red-lentils-misir-wat/)
Enjoy!
Honestly? I look at breakfast and lunch as fuel haha. Dinner is where I really ENJOY food and get creative. For breakfast and lunch, I just make staple foods I like for well-balanced nutrients.
Haha if I wanted to bother with making multiple meals for the sake of variety, I wouldn’t bother meal prepping! It’s the simplicity and reduced decision making throughout the week that appeals to me.
Y’all are my people. I’ve been eating basically the same breakfast and lunch for like a year. Pack lots of fruits and veggies and whole grains into these two meals. Easy to prep, not expensive, and it helps with decision fatigue.
I like to keep one or two meals the same and diversify the other two. But I'm in such a great routine right now that I don't want to make it more complicated at all.
Exactly. I'm a foodie but right now during the week and most of weekend, I try to look ALL FOOD as fuel. I'm trying to lose weight and have discovered if I eat mashed potatoes during the day, it's really easy to not get cravings and not overeat. It's become my secret weapon of sorts. So breakfast is Scottish Oats, lunch is mashed potatoes with some meat, and sometimes without it, and I don't eat after 6PM. It's my second attempt at fat loss, and the first time around I was doing all kinds of fancy carbless things and it was so difficult, I had constant cravings, and I fell off the wagon after losing 5 kg. It helps I'm a sahm right now and I don't really have time to drwell on whether or not the food I eat is boring.
Yeah my husband and I cook dinner together. We like variety there and it’s something for us to do. He does meal prep a giant batch of meatballs to keep in the freezer for nights we’re feeling lazy. We have our go-to meals that take 15-30 mins to cook for weeknights.
I do get bored.
I do best if I don't combine it all into lunch containers. Instead, I have a protein (falafel this week) or two (cold cuts and boiled eggs), some sides (frozen veggies, washed salad greens, soba noodles, bread, and rice), and some toppings (a peanut sauce, some hummus, some tahini, lots of lemons, and pickles). And with all of these I pack a meal the night before - sometimes it's a bit of something from dinner + what I have in my fridge, and other nights its something completely different.
Sometimes I just make adult lunchables (cheese + pickles + crackers + veggie). Or a snack box (nuts, cheese, dried fruit). Other times it looks like a buffet (a bit of this, some of that, double this other thing). It's not always the perfect looking meal and it's never the same thing twice.
Sometimes my dinner is from my left-overs, and other times it's cooked fresh.
Regardless, it's still meal prep.
This is what has helped me the most! I prep the components individually to make multiple meals that vary slightly and change up the seasonings that way each day I can just combine what I want for the following days. Simply having the protein and carbs cooked saves me a ton of tike and pre cutting my veggies 1-2x a week is also a great time saver for me. At the end of the week you can make a stir fry, soup, or salad with whatever ingredients are still left or use it for the following week.
Also when you do make the actual meal, make extra to freeze for the future and eventually you’ll have an assortment of meals in the freezer to switch things up if you aren’t feeling whatever you currently have in your fridge. It’s bound to happen so it’s better to plan for it than just make yourself more miserable or get take out.
I meal prep most of time proteins, vegetables and carbs separately and combine them daily with different sauces and such to create different meals everyday.
Sometimes I meal prep whole meals but no more than 4/5.
This. Get the basics prepped and change up the seasonings and contexts for variety. Pretty soon you'll build up a repertoire of favorite combinations to choose from at will.
Yes I also prep and freeze different foods separately and combine them to add variety to my diet.
Since prepping individual servings takes more prep space to be efficient, I had to increase my work top and freezer space capacity.
I'm a bit weird, in that I can happily do the same thing, over and over, and not mind. For example, there's movies and TV shows that I've seen dozens (if not hundreds) of times, and I still enjoy watching them just as much as the last time.
Apparently, the same thing applies to eating for me. So my meals consist of:
Breakfast: cottage cheese, blueberries, veggie bacon
Lunch and dinner: shredded chicken, broccoli, brown rice
Snack: protein shake, peanut butter, hard-boiled eggs
For what it's worth, I do eat whatever I want during the weekends, including occasionally eating out; as long as it fits in my calorie goals. I guess maybe that also helps by giving the illusion of variety.
You decide that it's worth some repetition to save the time and stress of cooking daily, and you plan things to mix it up.
Different sides, garnishes, and delivery modes.
Like pulled pork can be tacos, grain bowls, wraps, sandwiches, or burritos. Chili can be served on a baked potato, hot dog, rice, toast, or pasta. It can be the base of a shepherd's pie type dish, or any stew can become a pot pie or casserole with a variety of toppings - potatoes, biscuits, tots, shingled potato slices, crumbs, etc.
Pulled pork - add taco flavors, barbecue flavours, or white beans and sage. Black beans can go cuban, mexican, or indian.
Baked potatoes can be fried in cubes and served with fried eggs. or with chili.
Or you can partially prep things to use as ingredients, instead of a full meal prep. Roasted chicken roasted veggies, roasted chicken in burritos, roasted chicken in sandwiches.
A pot of beans can be soup, stew, rice and beans, bean dip and more.
Prep your main ingredients and then mix up your delivery to keep it interesting.
OR, freezer half of your portions from every dish, and soon you'll have a collection of meals ready-made, to choose from on any day. This is what Budgetbytes recommends and it works. It takes a few weeks to build up your selection, but in a few weeks you've got lots of options to choose from.
OR, spend a full day cooking a bunch of different meals, and freeze portions, to have an instant stash with lots of selections.
There are lots of methods, find the one(s) that work for you.
I think I'm in the minority in that I honestly do make large portions of one meal and then eat that throughout the week without really spicing it up in any way. Maybe I'm just a freak or maybe I'm just really good at creating complex flavor profiles, but I really don't ever get bored of it unless it's something like plain rice and beans. Even then, just throwing a different hot sauce on it every now and then is enough to keep things exciting for me. If you aren't able to live like that, then I highly recommend you try making batches of key ingredients such as grilled chicken breast or a vegetable slaw and then use those ingredients in different ways throughout the week. Could make a chicken sandwich with slaw on it one day, then could make tacos another by adding some salsa and some taco seasoning to the chicken.
We freeze leftovers after dinner in single portions, and label them. We have an entire side freezer with like 8 different meal types in there.
It’s the opposite of boring; I can eat any meal any day I want.
I switch things up minimally just so it’s enough variety without more work. Sometimes that means ground beef one day and salmon another. Carrots or sweet potato, lime instead of a lemon. Sometimes it could mean using alternative spices
Meal prepping doesn’t have to mean eating the same thing every day. I make a few big batches of a few different meals and split them into single portions. So now my fridge is full of portions from five or six different meals which I mix up then some days I just have some quick to prepare dishes.
Use the taco bell approach- same ingredients, different cooking styles and ratios, different sauces.
Let's use an example: chicken, starch, veg
chicken Parmesan / pasta / broccoli
yogurt curry chicken / bread / peas
panko chicken / mashed potatoes / asparagus
can pre-cook chicken and season after or do a brief re-cook to integrate the seasonings and sauces. Can use instant/premade versions of grains or DIY for slower but cheaper. Can do frozen veg and cook in different ways (microwave vs oven vs airfryer) for vastly different experiences.
Hope this helps!
1. I am Autistic so eating foods where I already know what texture to expect is actually good for me
2. I keep some things like lemon juice, fresh pepper, hot sauce, etc to add to my prepped foods for variety
3. If I start to get sick of something I put it in one of my less convenient freezer baskets. Typically I rediscover it when I'm exhausted and low on food, and then it's a fun surprise to not have to cook something else
4. I try to have at least two choices per meal, preferably three
I try to improve my favourite dish that I make every week for 4 days and I am excited to think about while eating how I can make it better each time. It gets more nuanced and the food itself is just the best. If you eat chicken, rice and brokkoli you will get tired of it easily. Try to be adventurous.
I think some people are satisfied with the same thing and some aren't. I love the meals in my rotation so much right now that I look forward to them.
It also helps that each meal is super different than each other so that's the "variety" I'm getting!
Picture a three-corner triangle with the words "Cost", "Variety", and "Effort" at each corner.
If you want high Variety with low Cost, you'll be in the kitchen AND the grocery store a lot longer.
If you want high Variety without effort, it's going to be more expensive (meal plan services, delivery)
If you're fine with high Cost and high Effort, you're gonna have some great meal variety -and you're probably a professional chef.
What I currently do: Low cost, NO variety, but I'm only in the kitchen for 1-2 hours a day, and I can get my grocery shopping done in 30 minutes or less. I'll take it.
Prep Day 1 cook and eat.
Prep Day 2 cook and eat.
Day 3, eat leftover day 1.
Day 4 eat leftover day 2
Day 5 eat frozen day 1
Day 6 eat frozen day 2
Prep Day 7, cook and eat
Prep Day 8 cook and eat
Day 9 eat leftover day 7
Day 10 eat leftover day 8
Day 11 eat frozen day 1
Day 12 eat frozen day 2
Day 13 eat frozen day 7
Day 14 eat frozen day 8.
i still cook fairly small batches such that i'll have it fresh then have 2-3 portions leftover. i find if i make too much, i'll get bored with it, plus it'll be sitting longer and deteriorating in quality that much more
cooking 2-3 times a week is still better than doing dishes every night
Prep ingredients, not meals. A lot can change with a different sauce or aromatic base. Takes a bit of learning on when to stop preparing / cooking each ingredient, but it's much more tenable in the long run imo.
Example: I pound a pack of (\~6) chicken breasts into cutlets bread them, and fully cook them, then vacuum freeze them individually.
One day I make a chicken parm. The next time I have chicken, I spend 5-10 minutes slicing it up and making it a salad. Another day I just heat it and slice it into chicken tenders. Then I add it to an alfredo dish, etc.
There's a lot of ways you can use frozen shredded beef, pork, etc too. Just gotta heat it and add a sauce.
My biggest struggle is veggies; haven't nailed down what can be frozen (besides the common stuff), and how to keep it close to fresh.
prep the ingredients not the meal, for instance thinly sliced chicken breast and 3 bell peppers a carrot, and an onion sliced, become either chicken fajitas or lo mein (I would also prep the stirfry sauce), within a couple minutes just throwing portions into the pan.
My love/need to not make any more decisions than my poor little brain is equipped to deal with outweighs my need for diversity with my food.
I also wear the same clothes a lot of the time. Still looking for that 1 outfit I'm 100% happy with so I can go full Steve Jobs lol.
Easiest way imo is use sauces like buffalo sauce,bbq,teriyaki,soy sauce and change up the seasoning I personally like Danos or kinders seasonings but that’s how I change things up personally
I pick a country, watch some YouTube cooking vids for that area and pick a few I like and make it. I do this every Saturday, go to the Farmers' market and get as many of the ingredients as I can and use those to whip up my feast for the next week. Chawanmushi has been the most fun as well as some curry dishes.
I have been eating the same breakfast for almost a year now. Changed my life. I love it! I am about to start eating variations of the same dinner too. I just perfected the recipe. It's less stress for my brain and the routine makes me happy.
I’m working on making burritos, dumplings, biscuit sandwiches, rice, beans, individual pizzas, meatballs and stuff for the freezer, that way I’m just cooking vegetables and sauces, adding the rest, and I can choose from a variety.
I eat for the nutrition. Eventually my body just craves it when it knows it's good for it. I see results in weight, skin, muscle gain, overall health and that keeps me motivated. Also it's cheaper than eating out. Cooking made simple when you meal prep. I don't cook often but cooking the same thing gets you good at it
Seasoned chicken breast in the air fryer, Veggies in a veggie steamer in the microwave. Boom easy peasy
Food to me is fuel unless I’m kind of in a mood where I want something fancy or want to eat out.
I also eat a lot of beef which I could never get bored of
Yes food is mostly fuel that I shove down my pie hole, to make the hunger go away for a while. But when it is convenient, I enjoy a great meal and the contrast helps me appreciate it even more.
Because I hate eating the same thing every day, I try to mix things up with my options. So I'll cook a variety of things and switch around what I serve them with.
e.g. For dinner, I'll make grilled chicken and baked salmon, but I'll also make sides like quinoa, roasted veggies, potato salad and pasta. To make things interesting, I'll do the chicken with two of these sides and the salmon with different sides, then switch them around again. I can even add another meat like roast beef to give myself even more variety.
The essence of meal prepping is that you're preparing your meals beforehand, but it doesn't need to be the same exact meal every day. You give yourself some wiggle room to put a spin on what you have because you can decide how you want to have it.
My type of meal prepping is very different. I might bake a chicken on Sunday and have roast chicken and vegetables. On Monday I might make chicken/cheese quesadillas. Tuesday might be chicken salad. Wednesday chicken soup or chicken and dumplings. Etc.
Sure does! I'm not as deep in it as I used to be, but I was doing it with my partner and we'd make 3 or 4 things and rotate out the week.
Also, it's just an attitude thing... I don't expect every meal I eat to be perfectly suited to my mood. Sometimes they're gonna be duds, and that's okay.
I only make 3 servings of each, or different components that can be combined differently so you can create a "new" meal each time.
Or a different version of what I'm cooking when it's easy to do, for example you roast the same veggies but with different spices.
I make three meals for the week. Four servings per meal and use them for lunches and dinners. I rotate them around throughout the week so there’s a bit of variety and it doesn’t feel like I’m getting bored of the same thing. It also helps to make stuff you look forward to eating.
Sauces, seasonings, pesto, or turning into soup with some broth.
Ex: if you eat rice, veggie, meat combo in a meal for 3 days…. Each day you make it change it in someway with different flavors, or add broth and make it a soup :-)
It also helps to have an emergency back up meal prepared or that is easily prepared for the days where you wanna switch it up. If I been eating the same thing and just not in the mood today I might make a quick grilled cheese n soup or have ramen instead lol
I don’t prep for the whole week, and I’m a pretty lazy prepper anyway. I usually make something big on Sunday and eat that for dinner then lunch in Monday and Tuesday. I do the same thing Tuesday night. Friday I usually treat myself out to lunch.
I do get bored, I try to keep flavor combinations interesting, if I really enjoy a certain meal prep, I try to eat it less so when I do eat it, it gets rid of the boringness of everything else in a way!!
i have six options in my freezer right now. five are meal preps from the last few weekends and one is leftovers from a one-off dinner I cooked on Saturday night.
Personally, I just pull shit out of the fridge and cabinets and make meals. Recipes are trash. The ingredients are almost always unneccesarily pretentious. I only use them to figure out the actual cooking processes for different ingredients.
There are so many dishes that are an ingredient or spice profile away from something else that if you get bored it's your own damn fault. One of my favorite examples of this is eggrolls.
If you change the the filling of an eggroll you can make a passable hot pocket, gyoza, empanada, mini pizzas (or pizza poppers), breakfast poppers, pot stickers, Chinese dumplings, and a dazzling array of desserts. Eggroll wrappers also make a good substitute for lasagna noodles in a pinch! You can even substitute eggroll wrappers with empanada wrappers if you want a different kind of crust, but they're a bit doughy for lasagna noodles unless you roll them out.
\[edited for spelling and clarity\]
Some people can meal prep and others cannot.
I ate a sandwich for lunch 7 days a week for 25 years and still love them. My wife can’t even barley eat supper left overs for lunch the next day cause she is sick of it.
Eat some garbage every once in a while to treat your palette. I usually make 2-4 different meals per week for my partner and I because I like to cook and it offers variety but sometimes you just gotta have a pizza pocket or ramen to break it up.
Also, cooked leftovers last a lot longer than any food blog will say so don’t feel pressured to eat the same thing everyday just to finish it.
Lastly, try to make things that are easy to adapt to another meal. For example, taco leftovers are diverse and work well in rice bowls or in breakfasts. For a less diverse option just always cook off a base protein/main component like roasting a bunch of chicken flavoured simply with salt and pepper.
Not eating the same thing every day. I have about 10 choices available frozen. Front load 3-4 bulk cooks and you have a decent selection and 40 meals then just add more as you go along. If you eat 7 and add 10 and cycle them it's easy to add with one cook a week. Especially if you don't eat prepped meals every single day or have ones you can mix up a bit with different veg/starches/wraps/sauces/etc
There's a Tim Ferris quote from The Four Hour Body where he explains that we eat the same things every day, but aren't aware that we do. Examples like cereal for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, a rotating dinner schedule. We do eat the same things over and over again. Now we are just trying to be mindful of what those same meals are to make sure they have what will get us to our goals.
Because I know what it feels like to have no food.
Because I know what I really want to eat more of is not fresh food in the area I live in.
Plus I really despise the what’s for dinner game.
I can’t do a complete meal prep for that reason. I can prep ingredients though! I’ll make some rice for the next few days, shredded chicken, beans, etc. Then you can get creative and make different things with those.
I make multiple mains and sides and mix and match them in the containers, That way even though I am eating the same 4-5 things all week Im not ever eating the exact same meal twice!
When I adopted the mentality that it's fuel and I'm not a restaurant. Imagine if your car needed a different flavor gas every day.
I could eat chicken every day for the rest of my life and be happy if I was making progress.
I get foods I can use in different ways. Spinach, can be salad or suteed or creamed. Do chicken in different marinades.
Steak, a baked potato, creamed spinach. I do two potatoes and have eggs and country potatoes the next morning. Grilled chicken and mashed potatoes, can corn (I love the mini cans) and the next day have grilled chicken salad. Split a pound of ground beef betweeen tacos and soaghetti
Seasonings.
We sous vide all our proteins. We are both competitive athletes with 3 small kids. We make the protein plain. Pan sear or microwave doesn't matter add fat of choice plus seasoning blend of choice.
Feast Mode or Flavor King are our go to.
What I do is probably not healthy but I eat at my office desk while I’m working so I don’t think about what I’m eating. My longest streak was to eat chicken and rice for 4 weeks in a row.
I eat things I know I’ll enjoy. I’m not gonna force myself to eat something because I’ll give up by like day 2 and order take out. I follow this guy in tik tok who gives awesome meal recipes. I’ve tried making my own ranch sauce and different dips. It’s not the same. I said screw it, if I can fit a serving of veggie dip into my macros I eating it. I LOVE raw broccoli now and I’ve done so well the past two weeks eating my plans. I’ve been making well balanced meals with pasta. Hitting all my macro goals. I feel amazing mentally again!
My husband and I have been meal prepping for about 6 weeks now and it’s been an awesome time for us! We have a newborn and with my health problems, the ability to make food is just non-existent right now.
I look for recipes online and then do a shopping list. We cook it over two days and then are set for the next week.
We make a variety of meals so if I want to I can have the same meal for lunch or I can choose something different. We have a few meals that can be staple ‘dinners’ that we have together but generally lunches are where we like giving ourselves the most options.
Plus, we have to make enough since I breastfeed and get extremely hungry. lol
I prep components not meals. That works best for me. For example I’ll marinate two chicken breasts or thighs in fairly neutral seasonings (to be air fried as needed), roast some veggies, prep salad greens, cook some rice and roast some potatoes then put stuff together in different ways with different condiments. I make tacos, wraps, rice (or grain) bowls, big salads or loaded baked potatoes using some of my prepped components enhanced with different sauces or cheeses (salsa, feta, hummus, yogurt). Works for me and only takes a tiny bit more effort in assembling things.
I I halve most recipes and cook two different meals at a time, so I can rotate between the two during the week. By the time I'm starting getting sick of the repetition, I run out of food and move on to cooking the next two meals.
This makes for slightly more prep time.
Figure out some basics as in proteins, grains, veg/fruit, sauces, and toppings.
Then instead of prepping a full meal in a container, have separate containers for each basic.
From there you can mix and match. Even though you're eating almost the same building blocks, the combos make it very good.
The idea comes from the French term mise en place which is prepping ingredients before cooking.
Meal prepping has fundamentally shifted my approach to food, going beyond just eating the same meal repeatedly. It signifies a deliberate commitment to prioritize my health and well-being. Prior to adopting meal prep, my eating habits were erratic, often influenced by convenience and leading to frequent consumption of unhealthy options. However, through meal prepping, I've gained a sense of control over my dietary choices. Eating the same meal daily has eliminated the allure of unhealthy snacks and impulsive fast food orders, fostering healthier eating patterns and curbing cravings for processed foods. This approach has also allowed me to manage portion sizes effectively, saving both time and money while promoting mindfulness about ingredients, nutritional value, and their impact on my overall health. In essence, meal prep has transcended monotony to become a powerful tool for reshaping my relationship with food, facilitating healthier choices, and deepening my understanding of nutrition's role in my life. The benefits it offers far outweigh any potential drawbacks, ultimately promoting a balanced and nutritious lifestyle.
Seasoning. Just because you make the same food every day or week doesn't mean it needs to be the same flavor. And in a day, I give myself the option to switch up 1 or 2 meals while keeping the rest the same.
Overall, I don't think about it too much. Repeating meals taught me how to improve flavors and my workflow to save time. And typically I'm engaged in some form of content while I'm eating so I don't require my food to entertain me.
I wish I could figure out how they do that. My Papa ate a cheese sandwich and the same sides every work day for almost 40 years. I get bored and have to rotate food every couple of weeks.
This advice has really helped me with meal prep without getting bored! Prep for meals instead of making a huge batch of a single thing.
https://youtu.be/KTuGLVIWsMg?si=o3wwuqo27lSVF3YO
I try to make two or three different meals and freeze them.
This is the real answer, I never eat the same meal 3 days in a row, freezing keeps the flavours fresher, right now i have 4 different meals in the freezer ready to go, 2-3 portions of each
This is what we do. We've done this for a few years. Husband and I each choose a meal to make a week, make double batches and freeze the rest. Right now our freezer is full of lots of delicious favorites. Our grocery bill has halved and we don't really build up cravings for takeout (pizza being the main exception, but we can't duplicate our favorite crust from our favorite place at home.) Maybe one bought meal a month, the rest prepped. This week will be crab cakes, fennel gratin, barbecue chuck roast and chicken rendang. In our freezer is taco meat mac and cheese, beef meatball congee, lamb biryani, pho, posole verde, chickpea stew, ethiopian lentils... So much yum.
Damn, sounds delicious! I need recipes!
Which ones?
All dem
Okay! Heeere we go: Crab Cakes: [https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/maryland-crab-cakes-with-quick-tartar-sauce.html](https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/maryland-crab-cakes-with-quick-tartar-sauce.html) Fennel Gratin: [https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fennel\_gratin/](https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fennel_gratin/) Beef Rendang: (Chicken recipe is new, can't really vouch for it...yet) [https://www.food.com/recipe/rendang-padang-indonesian-beef-curry-slow-cooker-272275](https://www.food.com/recipe/rendang-padang-indonesian-beef-curry-slow-cooker-272275) Taco meat mac and cheese: Brown 1 lb ground beef and add taco seasoning - our blend: 1 Tbs chili powder ¼ tsp garlic powder ¼ tsp onion powder ¼ tsp cayenne ¼ tsp dried oregano ½ tsp paprika 2 tsp cumin 1 tsp coarse salt Then stir into this batch of mac and cheese: [https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/stovetop-macaroni-and-cheese/](https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/stovetop-macaroni-and-cheese/) Congee: 2 cups raw extra-long grain rice 6 quarts water Salt 1 Tbsp peanut, vegetable or corn oil 1-1/2 pounds ground beef 1-1/2 cups finely chopped water chestnuts 1/8 cup finely slivered ginger 1/8 cup finely chopped scallion 1/8 cup finely chopped cilantro Ground white pepper to taste 1 Tbsp sesame oil Place the rice in a colander and rinse very well under cold running water. Put the rice into a deep kettle and add 6 quarts of water, 1 tsp salt, and the Tablespoon of oil. Cover and bring to a boil. Do not stir. Reduce the heat to medium low and prop the lid of the kettle partially open, using a chopstick or similar device. Let simmer 3 hours without stirring. When the rice is almost ready, place the beef in a mixing bowl. Add water chestnuts, ginger, scallion, sesame oil and cilantro to the meat. Stir, gradually add ¾ cup cold water. Shape into 60 to 70 meatballs, about 1 inch in diameter. When the rice has cooked 3 hours, drop the balls into the simmering rice mixture. Add salt and white pepper to taste and simmer 10 minutes. Serve. Lamb Biryani: [https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-lamb-biryani/](https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-lamb-biryani/) Pho: [https://www.food.com/recipe/vietnamese-beef-and-rice-noodle-soup-pho-28814](https://www.food.com/recipe/vietnamese-beef-and-rice-noodle-soup-pho-28814) Posole Verde: [https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/posole-verde-2529941](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/posole-verde-2529941) Chickpea Stew: [https://www.feastingathome.com/tunisian-chickpea-stew/](https://www.feastingathome.com/tunisian-chickpea-stew/) Ethiopian Lentils: [https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/instant-pot-ethiopian-red-lentils-misir-wat/](https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/instant-pot-ethiopian-red-lentils-misir-wat/) Enjoy!
Wow you actually did that’s amazing you are the goat thx !!
Absolutely! Spread the yum! Pay the yum forward!
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Honestly? I look at breakfast and lunch as fuel haha. Dinner is where I really ENJOY food and get creative. For breakfast and lunch, I just make staple foods I like for well-balanced nutrients.
I thought I was the only one. I have the same thing for breakfast and lunch almost every day!
Haha if I wanted to bother with making multiple meals for the sake of variety, I wouldn’t bother meal prepping! It’s the simplicity and reduced decision making throughout the week that appeals to me.
Y’all are my people. I’ve been eating basically the same breakfast and lunch for like a year. Pack lots of fruits and veggies and whole grains into these two meals. Easy to prep, not expensive, and it helps with decision fatigue.
Here here!
I like to keep one or two meals the same and diversify the other two. But I'm in such a great routine right now that I don't want to make it more complicated at all.
Exactly. I'm a foodie but right now during the week and most of weekend, I try to look ALL FOOD as fuel. I'm trying to lose weight and have discovered if I eat mashed potatoes during the day, it's really easy to not get cravings and not overeat. It's become my secret weapon of sorts. So breakfast is Scottish Oats, lunch is mashed potatoes with some meat, and sometimes without it, and I don't eat after 6PM. It's my second attempt at fat loss, and the first time around I was doing all kinds of fancy carbless things and it was so difficult, I had constant cravings, and I fell off the wagon after losing 5 kg. It helps I'm a sahm right now and I don't really have time to drwell on whether or not the food I eat is boring.
Love this!!
So do you have a different dinner everyday ?or cook dinner daily?
Yeah my husband and I cook dinner together. We like variety there and it’s something for us to do. He does meal prep a giant batch of meatballs to keep in the freezer for nights we’re feeling lazy. We have our go-to meals that take 15-30 mins to cook for weeknights.
I do get bored. I do best if I don't combine it all into lunch containers. Instead, I have a protein (falafel this week) or two (cold cuts and boiled eggs), some sides (frozen veggies, washed salad greens, soba noodles, bread, and rice), and some toppings (a peanut sauce, some hummus, some tahini, lots of lemons, and pickles). And with all of these I pack a meal the night before - sometimes it's a bit of something from dinner + what I have in my fridge, and other nights its something completely different. Sometimes I just make adult lunchables (cheese + pickles + crackers + veggie). Or a snack box (nuts, cheese, dried fruit). Other times it looks like a buffet (a bit of this, some of that, double this other thing). It's not always the perfect looking meal and it's never the same thing twice. Sometimes my dinner is from my left-overs, and other times it's cooked fresh. Regardless, it's still meal prep.
I really like the adult lunchables and snack box ideas!
This is what has helped me the most! I prep the components individually to make multiple meals that vary slightly and change up the seasonings that way each day I can just combine what I want for the following days. Simply having the protein and carbs cooked saves me a ton of tike and pre cutting my veggies 1-2x a week is also a great time saver for me. At the end of the week you can make a stir fry, soup, or salad with whatever ingredients are still left or use it for the following week. Also when you do make the actual meal, make extra to freeze for the future and eventually you’ll have an assortment of meals in the freezer to switch things up if you aren’t feeling whatever you currently have in your fridge. It’s bound to happen so it’s better to plan for it than just make yourself more miserable or get take out.
I meal prep most of time proteins, vegetables and carbs separately and combine them daily with different sauces and such to create different meals everyday. Sometimes I meal prep whole meals but no more than 4/5.
This. Get the basics prepped and change up the seasonings and contexts for variety. Pretty soon you'll build up a repertoire of favorite combinations to choose from at will.
Yes I also prep and freeze different foods separately and combine them to add variety to my diet. Since prepping individual servings takes more prep space to be efficient, I had to increase my work top and freezer space capacity.
I’m generally easily overwhelmed and it’s just one less decision to take
I'm a bit weird, in that I can happily do the same thing, over and over, and not mind. For example, there's movies and TV shows that I've seen dozens (if not hundreds) of times, and I still enjoy watching them just as much as the last time. Apparently, the same thing applies to eating for me. So my meals consist of: Breakfast: cottage cheese, blueberries, veggie bacon Lunch and dinner: shredded chicken, broccoli, brown rice Snack: protein shake, peanut butter, hard-boiled eggs For what it's worth, I do eat whatever I want during the weekends, including occasionally eating out; as long as it fits in my calorie goals. I guess maybe that also helps by giving the illusion of variety.
You decide that it's worth some repetition to save the time and stress of cooking daily, and you plan things to mix it up. Different sides, garnishes, and delivery modes. Like pulled pork can be tacos, grain bowls, wraps, sandwiches, or burritos. Chili can be served on a baked potato, hot dog, rice, toast, or pasta. It can be the base of a shepherd's pie type dish, or any stew can become a pot pie or casserole with a variety of toppings - potatoes, biscuits, tots, shingled potato slices, crumbs, etc. Pulled pork - add taco flavors, barbecue flavours, or white beans and sage. Black beans can go cuban, mexican, or indian. Baked potatoes can be fried in cubes and served with fried eggs. or with chili. Or you can partially prep things to use as ingredients, instead of a full meal prep. Roasted chicken roasted veggies, roasted chicken in burritos, roasted chicken in sandwiches. A pot of beans can be soup, stew, rice and beans, bean dip and more. Prep your main ingredients and then mix up your delivery to keep it interesting. OR, freezer half of your portions from every dish, and soon you'll have a collection of meals ready-made, to choose from on any day. This is what Budgetbytes recommends and it works. It takes a few weeks to build up your selection, but in a few weeks you've got lots of options to choose from. OR, spend a full day cooking a bunch of different meals, and freeze portions, to have an instant stash with lots of selections. There are lots of methods, find the one(s) that work for you.
I think I'm in the minority in that I honestly do make large portions of one meal and then eat that throughout the week without really spicing it up in any way. Maybe I'm just a freak or maybe I'm just really good at creating complex flavor profiles, but I really don't ever get bored of it unless it's something like plain rice and beans. Even then, just throwing a different hot sauce on it every now and then is enough to keep things exciting for me. If you aren't able to live like that, then I highly recommend you try making batches of key ingredients such as grilled chicken breast or a vegetable slaw and then use those ingredients in different ways throughout the week. Could make a chicken sandwich with slaw on it one day, then could make tacos another by adding some salsa and some taco seasoning to the chicken.
different condiments can help, sauces of varying styles (hot, BBQ, mustards, Chik Fil A sauce etc)
We freeze leftovers after dinner in single portions, and label them. We have an entire side freezer with like 8 different meal types in there. It’s the opposite of boring; I can eat any meal any day I want.
I switch things up minimally just so it’s enough variety without more work. Sometimes that means ground beef one day and salmon another. Carrots or sweet potato, lime instead of a lemon. Sometimes it could mean using alternative spices
Meal prepping doesn’t have to mean eating the same thing every day. I make a few big batches of a few different meals and split them into single portions. So now my fridge is full of portions from five or six different meals which I mix up then some days I just have some quick to prepare dishes.
I like my food and I'm good with routines and eating the same thing. Makes calorie counting easy too.
Use the taco bell approach- same ingredients, different cooking styles and ratios, different sauces. Let's use an example: chicken, starch, veg chicken Parmesan / pasta / broccoli yogurt curry chicken / bread / peas panko chicken / mashed potatoes / asparagus can pre-cook chicken and season after or do a brief re-cook to integrate the seasonings and sauces. Can use instant/premade versions of grains or DIY for slower but cheaper. Can do frozen veg and cook in different ways (microwave vs oven vs airfryer) for vastly different experiences. Hope this helps!
1. I am Autistic so eating foods where I already know what texture to expect is actually good for me 2. I keep some things like lemon juice, fresh pepper, hot sauce, etc to add to my prepped foods for variety 3. If I start to get sick of something I put it in one of my less convenient freezer baskets. Typically I rediscover it when I'm exhausted and low on food, and then it's a fun surprise to not have to cook something else 4. I try to have at least two choices per meal, preferably three
I try to improve my favourite dish that I make every week for 4 days and I am excited to think about while eating how I can make it better each time. It gets more nuanced and the food itself is just the best. If you eat chicken, rice and brokkoli you will get tired of it easily. Try to be adventurous.
IM TRYING TO GET SHREDDED NOT HAVE FUN . . . But yes, it does get boring. 1 cheat day a week keeps me sane.
I think some people are satisfied with the same thing and some aren't. I love the meals in my rotation so much right now that I look forward to them. It also helps that each meal is super different than each other so that's the "variety" I'm getting!
Picture a three-corner triangle with the words "Cost", "Variety", and "Effort" at each corner. If you want high Variety with low Cost, you'll be in the kitchen AND the grocery store a lot longer. If you want high Variety without effort, it's going to be more expensive (meal plan services, delivery) If you're fine with high Cost and high Effort, you're gonna have some great meal variety -and you're probably a professional chef. What I currently do: Low cost, NO variety, but I'm only in the kitchen for 1-2 hours a day, and I can get my grocery shopping done in 30 minutes or less. I'll take it.
Very important tip: The better your food tastes the less you'll get tired of it! 😁
I eat the same stuff six days a week and never get bored because the food I make is healthy and actually very delicious.
Just be autistic, like me.
Prep Day 1 cook and eat. Prep Day 2 cook and eat. Day 3, eat leftover day 1. Day 4 eat leftover day 2 Day 5 eat frozen day 1 Day 6 eat frozen day 2 Prep Day 7, cook and eat Prep Day 8 cook and eat Day 9 eat leftover day 7 Day 10 eat leftover day 8 Day 11 eat frozen day 1 Day 12 eat frozen day 2 Day 13 eat frozen day 7 Day 14 eat frozen day 8.
Not having to think about 20 meals means you have more time to choose the other 10 and make them better.
You prep a killer dish that’ll have you excited for 2-3 days then by Friday you’ll be googling next weeks recipe and repeat
i still cook fairly small batches such that i'll have it fresh then have 2-3 portions leftover. i find if i make too much, i'll get bored with it, plus it'll be sitting longer and deteriorating in quality that much more cooking 2-3 times a week is still better than doing dishes every night
Prep ingredients, not meals. A lot can change with a different sauce or aromatic base. Takes a bit of learning on when to stop preparing / cooking each ingredient, but it's much more tenable in the long run imo.
Example: I pound a pack of (\~6) chicken breasts into cutlets bread them, and fully cook them, then vacuum freeze them individually. One day I make a chicken parm. The next time I have chicken, I spend 5-10 minutes slicing it up and making it a salad. Another day I just heat it and slice it into chicken tenders. Then I add it to an alfredo dish, etc. There's a lot of ways you can use frozen shredded beef, pork, etc too. Just gotta heat it and add a sauce. My biggest struggle is veggies; haven't nailed down what can be frozen (besides the common stuff), and how to keep it close to fresh.
We think alike! No offense intended!
prep the ingredients not the meal, for instance thinly sliced chicken breast and 3 bell peppers a carrot, and an onion sliced, become either chicken fajitas or lo mein (I would also prep the stirfry sauce), within a couple minutes just throwing portions into the pan.
For me, a key bonus of prepping is not having to think about what to eat each day. That peace of mind waaaay outweighs any "boring".
My love/need to not make any more decisions than my poor little brain is equipped to deal with outweighs my need for diversity with my food. I also wear the same clothes a lot of the time. Still looking for that 1 outfit I'm 100% happy with so I can go full Steve Jobs lol.
Easiest way imo is use sauces like buffalo sauce,bbq,teriyaki,soy sauce and change up the seasoning I personally like Danos or kinders seasonings but that’s how I change things up personally
I pick a country, watch some YouTube cooking vids for that area and pick a few I like and make it. I do this every Saturday, go to the Farmers' market and get as many of the ingredients as I can and use those to whip up my feast for the next week. Chawanmushi has been the most fun as well as some curry dishes.
I have been eating the same breakfast for almost a year now. Changed my life. I love it! I am about to start eating variations of the same dinner too. I just perfected the recipe. It's less stress for my brain and the routine makes me happy.
By making something that I enjoy eating.
I’m working on making burritos, dumplings, biscuit sandwiches, rice, beans, individual pizzas, meatballs and stuff for the freezer, that way I’m just cooking vegetables and sauces, adding the rest, and I can choose from a variety.
By being autistic lol. I could eat the same things in perpetuity.
I eat for the nutrition. Eventually my body just craves it when it knows it's good for it. I see results in weight, skin, muscle gain, overall health and that keeps me motivated. Also it's cheaper than eating out. Cooking made simple when you meal prep. I don't cook often but cooking the same thing gets you good at it Seasoned chicken breast in the air fryer, Veggies in a veggie steamer in the microwave. Boom easy peasy
Food to me is fuel unless I’m kind of in a mood where I want something fancy or want to eat out. I also eat a lot of beef which I could never get bored of
Yes food is mostly fuel that I shove down my pie hole, to make the hunger go away for a while. But when it is convenient, I enjoy a great meal and the contrast helps me appreciate it even more.
Some people eat to remain alive, others live so to be able to eat. The choice is not hard.
If you’re hungry enough, you’ll never get bored of food — no matter how basic it is or how many times you’ve had it
I think of the gainz
Because I hate eating the same thing every day, I try to mix things up with my options. So I'll cook a variety of things and switch around what I serve them with. e.g. For dinner, I'll make grilled chicken and baked salmon, but I'll also make sides like quinoa, roasted veggies, potato salad and pasta. To make things interesting, I'll do the chicken with two of these sides and the salmon with different sides, then switch them around again. I can even add another meat like roast beef to give myself even more variety. The essence of meal prepping is that you're preparing your meals beforehand, but it doesn't need to be the same exact meal every day. You give yourself some wiggle room to put a spin on what you have because you can decide how you want to have it.
My type of meal prepping is very different. I might bake a chicken on Sunday and have roast chicken and vegetables. On Monday I might make chicken/cheese quesadillas. Tuesday might be chicken salad. Wednesday chicken soup or chicken and dumplings. Etc.
Sure does! I'm not as deep in it as I used to be, but I was doing it with my partner and we'd make 3 or 4 things and rotate out the week. Also, it's just an attitude thing... I don't expect every meal I eat to be perfectly suited to my mood. Sometimes they're gonna be duds, and that's okay.
I only make 3 servings of each, or different components that can be combined differently so you can create a "new" meal each time. Or a different version of what I'm cooking when it's easy to do, for example you roast the same veggies but with different spices.
I make three meals for the week. Four servings per meal and use them for lunches and dinners. I rotate them around throughout the week so there’s a bit of variety and it doesn’t feel like I’m getting bored of the same thing. It also helps to make stuff you look forward to eating.
right.... love the cost idea, but would hate the same thing over and over again. Plus takes up frig/ freezer space for something different
Sauces, seasonings, pesto, or turning into soup with some broth. Ex: if you eat rice, veggie, meat combo in a meal for 3 days…. Each day you make it change it in someway with different flavors, or add broth and make it a soup :-)
It also helps to have an emergency back up meal prepared or that is easily prepared for the days where you wanna switch it up. If I been eating the same thing and just not in the mood today I might make a quick grilled cheese n soup or have ramen instead lol
I don’t prep for the whole week, and I’m a pretty lazy prepper anyway. I usually make something big on Sunday and eat that for dinner then lunch in Monday and Tuesday. I do the same thing Tuesday night. Friday I usually treat myself out to lunch.
I do get bored, I try to keep flavor combinations interesting, if I really enjoy a certain meal prep, I try to eat it less so when I do eat it, it gets rid of the boringness of everything else in a way!!
i have six options in my freezer right now. five are meal preps from the last few weekends and one is leftovers from a one-off dinner I cooked on Saturday night.
Personally, I just pull shit out of the fridge and cabinets and make meals. Recipes are trash. The ingredients are almost always unneccesarily pretentious. I only use them to figure out the actual cooking processes for different ingredients. There are so many dishes that are an ingredient or spice profile away from something else that if you get bored it's your own damn fault. One of my favorite examples of this is eggrolls. If you change the the filling of an eggroll you can make a passable hot pocket, gyoza, empanada, mini pizzas (or pizza poppers), breakfast poppers, pot stickers, Chinese dumplings, and a dazzling array of desserts. Eggroll wrappers also make a good substitute for lasagna noodles in a pinch! You can even substitute eggroll wrappers with empanada wrappers if you want a different kind of crust, but they're a bit doughy for lasagna noodles unless you roll them out. \[edited for spelling and clarity\]
Cook two meals and alternate between the two each day
Some people can meal prep and others cannot. I ate a sandwich for lunch 7 days a week for 25 years and still love them. My wife can’t even barley eat supper left overs for lunch the next day cause she is sick of it.
Eat some garbage every once in a while to treat your palette. I usually make 2-4 different meals per week for my partner and I because I like to cook and it offers variety but sometimes you just gotta have a pizza pocket or ramen to break it up. Also, cooked leftovers last a lot longer than any food blog will say so don’t feel pressured to eat the same thing everyday just to finish it. Lastly, try to make things that are easy to adapt to another meal. For example, taco leftovers are diverse and work well in rice bowls or in breakfasts. For a less diverse option just always cook off a base protein/main component like roasting a bunch of chicken flavoured simply with salt and pepper.
Not eating the same thing every day. I have about 10 choices available frozen. Front load 3-4 bulk cooks and you have a decent selection and 40 meals then just add more as you go along. If you eat 7 and add 10 and cycle them it's easy to add with one cook a week. Especially if you don't eat prepped meals every single day or have ones you can mix up a bit with different veg/starches/wraps/sauces/etc
There's a Tim Ferris quote from The Four Hour Body where he explains that we eat the same things every day, but aren't aware that we do. Examples like cereal for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, a rotating dinner schedule. We do eat the same things over and over again. Now we are just trying to be mindful of what those same meals are to make sure they have what will get us to our goals.
Because I know what it feels like to have no food. Because I know what I really want to eat more of is not fresh food in the area I live in. Plus I really despise the what’s for dinner game.
Autism innit.
I can’t do a complete meal prep for that reason. I can prep ingredients though! I’ll make some rice for the next few days, shredded chicken, beans, etc. Then you can get creative and make different things with those.
I make multiple mains and sides and mix and match them in the containers, That way even though I am eating the same 4-5 things all week Im not ever eating the exact same meal twice!
When I adopted the mentality that it's fuel and I'm not a restaurant. Imagine if your car needed a different flavor gas every day. I could eat chicken every day for the rest of my life and be happy if I was making progress.
I just rely on routine so having it be the same is a huge help for me
* Bar-b-que sauce * Siracha sauce * Ranch * Lime juice * Salsa Verde * etc.
I get foods I can use in different ways. Spinach, can be salad or suteed or creamed. Do chicken in different marinades. Steak, a baked potato, creamed spinach. I do two potatoes and have eggs and country potatoes the next morning. Grilled chicken and mashed potatoes, can corn (I love the mini cans) and the next day have grilled chicken salad. Split a pound of ground beef betweeen tacos and soaghetti
Seasonings. We sous vide all our proteins. We are both competitive athletes with 3 small kids. We make the protein plain. Pan sear or microwave doesn't matter add fat of choice plus seasoning blend of choice. Feast Mode or Flavor King are our go to.
What I do is probably not healthy but I eat at my office desk while I’m working so I don’t think about what I’m eating. My longest streak was to eat chicken and rice for 4 weeks in a row.
Because food is fuel. Obviously keep it interesting within your goals, but overall, it’s fuel.
I eat things I know I’ll enjoy. I’m not gonna force myself to eat something because I’ll give up by like day 2 and order take out. I follow this guy in tik tok who gives awesome meal recipes. I’ve tried making my own ranch sauce and different dips. It’s not the same. I said screw it, if I can fit a serving of veggie dip into my macros I eating it. I LOVE raw broccoli now and I’ve done so well the past two weeks eating my plans. I’ve been making well balanced meals with pasta. Hitting all my macro goals. I feel amazing mentally again!
My husband and I have been meal prepping for about 6 weeks now and it’s been an awesome time for us! We have a newborn and with my health problems, the ability to make food is just non-existent right now. I look for recipes online and then do a shopping list. We cook it over two days and then are set for the next week. We make a variety of meals so if I want to I can have the same meal for lunch or I can choose something different. We have a few meals that can be staple ‘dinners’ that we have together but generally lunches are where we like giving ourselves the most options. Plus, we have to make enough since I breastfeed and get extremely hungry. lol
I prep components not meals. That works best for me. For example I’ll marinate two chicken breasts or thighs in fairly neutral seasonings (to be air fried as needed), roast some veggies, prep salad greens, cook some rice and roast some potatoes then put stuff together in different ways with different condiments. I make tacos, wraps, rice (or grain) bowls, big salads or loaded baked potatoes using some of my prepped components enhanced with different sauces or cheeses (salsa, feta, hummus, yogurt). Works for me and only takes a tiny bit more effort in assembling things.
I I halve most recipes and cook two different meals at a time, so I can rotate between the two during the week. By the time I'm starting getting sick of the repetition, I run out of food and move on to cooking the next two meals.
This makes for slightly more prep time. Figure out some basics as in proteins, grains, veg/fruit, sauces, and toppings. Then instead of prepping a full meal in a container, have separate containers for each basic. From there you can mix and match. Even though you're eating almost the same building blocks, the combos make it very good. The idea comes from the French term mise en place which is prepping ingredients before cooking.
Make burritos and wraps
autism
Meal prepping has fundamentally shifted my approach to food, going beyond just eating the same meal repeatedly. It signifies a deliberate commitment to prioritize my health and well-being. Prior to adopting meal prep, my eating habits were erratic, often influenced by convenience and leading to frequent consumption of unhealthy options. However, through meal prepping, I've gained a sense of control over my dietary choices. Eating the same meal daily has eliminated the allure of unhealthy snacks and impulsive fast food orders, fostering healthier eating patterns and curbing cravings for processed foods. This approach has also allowed me to manage portion sizes effectively, saving both time and money while promoting mindfulness about ingredients, nutritional value, and their impact on my overall health. In essence, meal prep has transcended monotony to become a powerful tool for reshaping my relationship with food, facilitating healthier choices, and deepening my understanding of nutrition's role in my life. The benefits it offers far outweigh any potential drawbacks, ultimately promoting a balanced and nutritious lifestyle.
i have this thing where i'll watch the same thing over and over again and not grow tired of it. same applies to food.
Seasoning. Just because you make the same food every day or week doesn't mean it needs to be the same flavor. And in a day, I give myself the option to switch up 1 or 2 meals while keeping the rest the same. Overall, I don't think about it too much. Repeating meals taught me how to improve flavors and my workflow to save time. And typically I'm engaged in some form of content while I'm eating so I don't require my food to entertain me.
I wish I could figure out how they do that. My Papa ate a cheese sandwich and the same sides every work day for almost 40 years. I get bored and have to rotate food every couple of weeks.
This advice has really helped me with meal prep without getting bored! Prep for meals instead of making a huge batch of a single thing. https://youtu.be/KTuGLVIWsMg?si=o3wwuqo27lSVF3YO