How to Make All Your Meals for a Week Without Really Trying
^^Listen to the article below.
My good mic died partway through and we needed to persevere with backup mic. Thanks for understanding.
Hey folks,
Today I’m going to introduce you all to the world of “Not Trying too Hard Meal Prep”
I’ve been prepping my meals off and on for the past 10ish years and I’ve noticed three major things
1) I always eat more nutritious food when I do, and therefore, have more energy.
2) It definitely meets our standard.
3) Sometimes, meal prep is a tedious pain in the butt
After many years of experiments, I bring you this method - which gets the job done and is easy to do. Since this isn’t a food blog, we’re jumping right into actionable items and the philosophy will come after the post.
Get a printable follow along checklist here.
Get the printable shopping list here.
1) (The day before) Have your grocery shopping done.
• I get PeaPod to deliver groceries from my local supermarket, or just shop the day before.
I find shopping plus meal prep on the same day is too taxing and leads to me not doing it.
2) Get yourself into a happy(ish) place to prep the food
• Put on the coffee pot/kettle and eat a snack or meal.
• I like listening to tunes with my earbuds, so earbuds in is my reward for meal prep.
3) Gather your tools!
• BIG mixing bowl(s)
• Big mixing spoons
• Cutting board and knives
• Non-stick spray
• Olive oil, salt, pepper, spices (garlic powder, smoked paprika, cinnamon, and/or anything else you like)
• Tin foil
• Baking pan(s)
• Muffin Tins
• Lots of storage bins
4) Preheat your oven to 400°F/204°C
5) Prep your roasted veggies.
• This part can be very simple. Use this to clean out the fridge and freezer or deal with the 13 lbs of zucchini your neighbor gave you.
any veggie or mix of veggie - chop very roughly, bite sized pieces
olive oil (draw 6 circles around the mixing bowl)
garlic (measure with your heart)
any other seasonings you like (I use salt, pepper, and smoked paprika on everything. I just eyeball the measurements.)
mix thoroughly
get a baking sheet, put tin foil on it, spray tin foil with non-stick spray, spread veggie on top
400°F/204°C
put the veggie into the oven for about 40-60 mins. It depends on the veggies so watch it and stir ½ way.
Brussel sprouts, Broccoli/Cauliflower, and a Mix. This is enough for two adults for roughly two weeks.
• Optional: To add more variety, you can do a few trays of veggie. I like following and pick 2-3 to make each week:
• One tray of onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and mushrooms mixed together
(One red onion, 2 boxes of grape tomatoes, 4 bell peppers of various color, 2 boxes of chopped mushrooms)
• One tray of broccoli and cauliflower mixed together
(2 heads of broccoli and 2 heads of cauliflower chopped)
• One tray of just brussel sprouts
(2 boxes of split brussel sprouts)
• One tray of just asparagus
(2-3 bushels)
• Your favorite random veggie mix.
^^ Don’t think about this too hard. Get a lot veggies, and cook them. If you make too many, freeze them. It’ll work out.
6) Prep your starches
• Also very simple, plus who doesn’t love potatoes? Also, give them a google if you’re scared to eat a potato. Turns out, they’re our friends.
5 lbs (2.2kg) Sweet potatoes or white potatoes - chop into bite sized cubes and keep skin on
olive oil (draw 6 circles around the mixing bowl)
cinnamon (sweet potato) or garlic (white potato) (measure with your heart)
any other seasonings you like
mix thoroughly
get a baking sheet, put tin foil on it, spray tin foil with non-stick spray, spread starches on top
425°F/218°C
about 40-60 mins. Watch it and stir ½ way.
You’ll probably have a queue of trays waiting to go into the oven at this point. So just keep the cycle of baking trays going.
7) Prep the poultry (part one)
• We’re keeping it simple, so get 5-10 lbs (2.5 - 4.5kg) of chicken or turkey and let's do this.
Use the cutting board from the veggies, place the poultry on top of the cutting board
Hit the poultry with a meat tenderizer (mallet) until it is uniformly thick. Do not skip this step. Skipping leads to dry chicken and suffering.
Place the meat into a bag or bowl and add whatever marinade you want
Place the marinated meat into the fridge
8) Tidy Up (part one)
• We are largely done with our tools now, so let's clean up before the kitchen gets too crazy.
Keep out a stirring spoon and/or spatula to stir veggies as needed.
Put everything else into the dishwasher, or wash them by hand.
Wipe down the countertops
9) Half Time Check in
• We are about half way done so lets do a recap of all the things that should be happening
You have baking trays ready with veggies or starches. As the trays in the oven finish, you can one of two things
1) you empty the contents into a largish storage containers like tupperware and fridge them
2) Have a little army of storage bins ready to receive the right amount of veggie/starch. Go with 4 oz (113 grams) of starch and 1 cup of veggie (8 oz or 227g) in each bin.The meat is marinating in the fridge
The kitchen is tidied enough
10) Half Time Break (ish)
• At this point, we are basically waiting for all the baking trays with the veggie and starch to finish
• It’s the perfect time to eat a meal, watch a show, do some work, tidy up, do laundry, etc.
• Be sure to mind your timers so you don’t burn anything.
11) Time for Breakfast! (all optional)
• So yes, we are prepping our breakfast after the veggie because this bit is entirely optional. Cooking eggs and bacon takes almost no time, so it’s easy to do it daily. That said, I much prefer to do it this way because I hate daily cooking. If you don’t want to prep breakfast, skip to step 15.
12) Muffin Tin Eggs
• So simple and you have a week of eggie in about 15 mins.
Get a muffin tin and spray it with a generous amount of non stick spray
Crack an egg into each cup
Salt and pepper on top
400°F/204°C
Cook for 10-12 minutes.
Note: You can do this with egg whites too, but cooking times vary wildly depending on how much egg white to add to each cup, so watch it.
13) Baked bacon
• Faster than making bacon on the daily.
get a baking sheet, put tin foil on it, spray tin foil with non-stick spray, place bacon, turkey bacon, or veggie bacon on top. (Don’t go crazy with the pork bacon. That’s a treat, not a staple.)
400°F/204°C
Cook for 10 minute and check it. This is delicate work, add a few more minutes if you need to. My ideal bacon is 10 mins on the top shelf and 2 minutes on the bottom.
14) Box Up Breakfast
• This can be done in one of two ways
Have your little army of bins ready and put 1-2 eggs and 2-3 bacons in each. Also add 1 cup of veggie (8 oz or 227g) - yes, breakfast veggies. For energy. For more art. Eat the veggie.
Put the cooked eggs in a big bin and the bacon in a big bin and fridge them. Take as needed through the week. Be sure to add the veggie.
15) Cook the meat
• Almost done! It’s time to cook the poultry.
Get a baking pan, and put tin foil on it. The skewer goes in the middle of this pan.
Get a skewer and place a piece of meat into it. You might need to fold it if it is a large chicken breast. Repeat, but put the second piece at a 90 angle from the 1st. Repeat, and put that 3rd piece of meat at the same angle as the 1st piece of meat. Repeat until done.
If you don’t have a metal skewer, half an onion or potato and some kabob sticks works fine.
400°F/204°C
Cook for 90 mins for 5 lbs of meat and 2 hours for 10 lbs.
Check it when the timer goes off and cook more if you need to.
When the meat is cooked, take it out of the oven and let it cool down a bit so it doesn’t hurt when you chop it up
Chop it into bite sized pieces
16) Cooking is Done! Let's check in and box it up.
• The cooking is done! Here’s what you should have by now.
All the veggies are cooked and are either in large bins in the fridge/freezer or in tiny travel sized storage bins in 1 cup (8 oz or 227g) portions
All the starches are cooked and are either in large bins in the fridge/freezer or in tiny travel sized storage bins in 1/2 cup (4 oz or 113 grams) portions
All the meat is cooked and chopped. Add 5 oz (141 gram) to each bin or put the meat in large bins in the fridge/freezer.
(Optional) All the breakfast eggs and bacon are cooked and are either in large bins in the fridge/freezer or in tiny travel sized storage bins. 1-2 egg and 2-3 bacons per bin. 1 cup (8 oz or 227g) has been added to each bin too.
This is an example of an entirely different meal back in the days that I still needed to prepackage entire meals. Now that I work from home, I store the components - protein, veg, and starch in big containers and measure out as needed. But if you’re an office worker, you make little bins like these.
17) Tidy Up (part two)
• You did it! Now let's clean up the mess
Put everything else into the dishwasher, or wash them by hand.
Wipe down the countertops
Make sure everything that should be in the fridge or freezer is in there
Take out the trash and recycling
Treat Yo’ Self!
Some important things to note
1) This might seem daunting at first, but gets really easy with time and practice.
2) Always feel free to make the process your own. Change whatever you need to change. Consider this a base model that can be built upon.
3) I’m an average sized female with a sedentary job who lifts weights at least 3x a week and walks her dog about 3-5 miles a day. I’d start out with the meals I’ll list below and adjust if needed.
4) Meals
Breakfast - 1-2 eggs, 2-3 bacons, 1 cup veggie
Lunch - 5 oz protein, 4 oz starch, 1 cup veggie
Dinner - 5 oz protein, 4 oz starch, 1 cup veggie
Snack - protein shake(s) or apple with 1 tablespoon peanut butter
^^ this is why it’s good to have some veggie/starch variety
5) Hot Sauces, fancy mustards, Bolthouse yogurt dressings, and other low calorie sauces are your very best friends. Meal prep can sometimes get boring, use these to fix things up.
6) If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, do a google search for the veggie alternatives and cook those instead. Since I eat like a trash panda, I don’t have the skills to do a nutritionally sound plant based meal prep guide.
7) The only goal here is to make an easy guide for people who want to eat healthy, and don’t want to try too hard. If you have certain goals like weight loss, muscle building, lowering cholesterol, etc - then you’ll need to check with your coach or doctor to get something tailored to your specific needs
8) Meal prep isn’t for everyone and that is okay. For me, a person who hates cooking, would rather be drawing, but still wants results in the gym, it’s the best solution I have, so I vastly prefer it to preparing meals daily. However if you enjoy cooking, this might not be the best solution for you. However, like everything on this blog, it’s just another tool for you - so maybe it has a place during super hectic, and busy weeks.
9) Experiment with the best time for you to do meal prep. Right now, I like Sunday morning or a split of Sunday and Monday. I’ll do the breakfast prep on Monday since it’s fast and I can set it all up before lunch and pack it away after lunch. But I’ve done it after work, while working (mind those timers), and really late at night too. See what works for you.
10) Shake it up a bit. Eating the exact same thing every week of the year is a recipe for disaster. Make sure you vary your veggie and protein sources once you get the hang of this.
Shopping list
Roasted Veggie Trays - Pick 2 or 3
• One tray of onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and mushrooms mixed together
(One red onion, 2 boxes of grape tomatoes, 4 bell peppers of various color, 2 boxes of chopped mushrooms)
• One tray of broccoli and cauliflower mixed together
(2 heads of broccoli and 2 heads of cauliflower chopped)
• One tray of just brussel sprouts
(2 boxes of split brussel sprouts)
• One tray of just asparagus
(2-3 bushels)
• Your own mix of your favorite veggie. Any veggie works. Try to avoid a lot of corn.
Starches
• 5 lbs of sweet potatoes or regular potatoes.
Protein
• 5-10 of chicken or turkey. Boneless. Skinless. Breast or thighs
• 1 salmon filet or steak
(This is not included in meal prep. This is for your fancy dinner on Friday night or whenever you want a meal prep break. It’s good to change up protein sources too.)
Breakfast
• 1 dozen eggs
• 1-3 packages of bacon (turkey or plant based most of the time, pork some of the time)
(The amount of bacon slices per package varies wildly by brand, so do your best)
Random other stuff you might need
• Cooking spray
• Salt/pepper
• Olive oil
• Garlic or garlic powder
• Cinnamon
• Sauces - hot sauce, mustard, dressing, bbq, ketchup, soy, teriyaki
If you try it, please let us know if you liked it and what you changed to make it your own.
Best of luck!
❤️
Written by Sarah Dahlinger
Discussed by Sarah Dahlinger and Sarah Forde