This Week’s Meal Prep Plus Four Tips To Help You Master Your Prep

Feeding myself has grown increasingly complicated with summer laundry piling up, my kids having 500 after camp activities and the baby preferring to see the world from my arms! Whenever I feel that moment of overwhelm, I know what I need to do! I wake up super early and stock my fridge with tons of foods that I love so I can eat well without thinking about it all week long! 

Pictured here: 

1. I took out the steamer basket and steamed the snap peas and some carrot sticks for the baby. 

2.  I roasted apples with cinnamon for her while roasting the baby sweet potatoes (for her and me!) to make the sweet potatoes, simply slice in half, spray an olive oil spray at the bottom of a Pyrex, place the cut side down onto the Pyrex and spray again the top skin. Cover and cook until soft, about 45 minutes. 

3. I sliced the tempeh and used a salad dressing I made several days ago as the marinade with an extra spoon or two of water. (FYI I find that meal prep works way better when you aren’t using recipes. Recipes waste time!) I used the same salad dressing (which was lemon, oil, salt, zaatar spice) for the string beans, also adding extra water to the roaster pan. 

4. I sautéed a few onions to throw into various dishes because onions makes everything taste better! 

5. Once I got everything that needed Cooking into the oven, I washed and destemmed 3 bunches of kale, which lasts wonderfully in the fridge for a week. I also squeezed 8 lemons while waiting for the food to finish cooking.  

Here are some tips that work for me when setting up a meal prep:

1. Set up the foods that need to be cooked first. Then, once those are in the oven, start with cleaning the raw vegetables. 

2. Use the oven instead of stove whenever possible (my food and pots are less likely to burn and I HATE standing over the stove).

3. More is More! Always make double batches of freezer- friendly foods like beans, grains and other main dishes. This will cut the time next week’s prep will take because you’ll be simply pulling a completed dish from the freezer! 

4. Only prep what you love! Never make a double batch of something you haven’t tasted before!  No one likes wasting precious time of their day to make food that will sit in the freezer and ultimately get tossed in the trash! 

Have you tried prepping your food in advance? I’d love to hear your thoughts!