Do you struggle with figuring out what to eat for family meals? Are you getting tired of eating the same things for lunch every single day? Creating make ahead meals and having a meal prep day might be a good solution.
Meal planning is something I’ve always had a tough time with. I’m pretty good at planning what we’ll have for dinner, but I never know what we’re having for lunch. I also feel like we end up wasting a lot of food, even though we do a lot of things to try to use up leftovers.
One thing that has helped me is to do a meal-prep on the weekends. {Getting a freezer has also made a big difference.}
On the weekend, I plan out what we’ll eat for the week. I plan for five days of meals, and I try to look at our schedule for the week. I put easier-to-prep meals on days when we have a lot going on. Then I go grocery shopping on Monday morning when the stores aren’t as crowded.
After I’ve done the shopping, I do a meal prep. Here’s are some things you can do for weekly meal prep:
What to do on a Meal Prep Day
- Cook a batch of beans in the crockpot after soaking them overnight. If you have an Instant Pot, you could also cook up a batch while you’re working on other things.
- Click here to see more pressure cooking ideas that would work well for a meal prep day.
- Make roll-ups and freeze them.
- If I can pre-cut any vegetables we’re going to eat this week, I do that.
- Make and freeze some bread machine breadsticks.
- Cut veggies and put together Mason Jar Salads
- Make a big batch of rice in the rice cooker, and use it throughout the week. You could also make this in a pressure cooker.
- Freeze meal-sized portions of meats in separate freezer bags. We like to buy family packs of meat, but we don’t eat them all at once. This makes portioning them out easier when you’re ready to use the meat. I like to buy chicken and turkey in bulk from Zaycon for better quality and price.
- Put snack foods in individual baggies.
- Make a few freezer meals. I get a lot of good ideas from MyFreezEasy. In fact, a lot of times I use MyFreezEasy to plan everything out for me so I don’t have to put a lot of thought into the whole meal prep process.
I don’t do all of the meal prep things every week, but I do try to have at least an outline of a plan for what we’ll eat for the week. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of getting meals on the table.
If your family likes to order out, make sure you include this in your plans too. That will cut down on wasted food, and it will give you something to look forward to!
How do you meal prep for the week? Any ideas on how to make meal prep easier?
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I tell myself I’m going to make roll ups every week and never do. I really need to do a better job of meal prepping.
Hi Logan! Maybe you could ask someone to make some for you for when the baby comes? That would be a nice way for someone to help you out! 🙂
I love meal prep and planning. it’s so much fun.
Heather @ The Nerdy Fox recently posted…Arvazallia Shampoo & Conditioner
Thanks, Heather!
When my family was bigger I used to do a lot of meal prep ahead of time. Now there is only 3 of us in the house. I do like baking ahead and freezing still and I do make freezer jam. Occasionally I’ll make an extra batch of enchiladas….to freeze and have on hand later.
Hi Theresa! I love the idea of making freezer jam. I’m going to have to search for how to make it!
I need to do more meal prep days, because sometimes I’m WAY too lazy to cook and then I end up having so much junk that is much quicker to make 🙁
Nancy recently posted…Tips on travelling with your pets
I am the same way! If it’s the end of the day and I’m worn out, I’ll always go for what’s easiest. Sometimes, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. 🙂
Great ideas, Katie!! I don’t have a family (well…just a boyfriend and a pooch). But, I still find meal planning helpful. On Sunday, I typically write out what dinners we’ll have over the course of the week and then make a grocery list. I actually plan on which meals on which days. I organize my grocery list by section. The boyfriend usually does the shopping (thank goodness! ha).
I haven’t gotten to a point where I’ve actually pre-cooked food on the weekend — sounds like a great time saver though! Will try to start doing more of that.
Thanks for the helpful post. (Found you on the Grow Your Blog FB page…cheers!)
Jennifer Kennedy recently posted…4 Ideas to Think about BEFORE Creating Course Content
Hi Jennifer! It sounds like you guys have a great system. 🙂
I love to hear how other people save time in the kitchen! I was curious-why do you put snacks in individual bags? We just go and get something to snack on. 🙂
Kristie recently posted…When Healthy Changes Make You Feel Worse
Hi Kristie! If we’re at home, we just grab snacks and put them in a bowl for the kids. But, the kids have to take snacks to school, and we sometimes take snacks with us in the car. It’s nice to just be able to grab it and go! 🙂
I love this! Right now the only thing I do is make up banana muffins for my daughter’s breakfast every couple weeks. I make 2 big batches and freeze them, and they usually last about 3 weeks. =) Eventually I want to double a recipe each week and freeze the other half, so I have a good stockpile of meals.
Jaime recently posted…Meijer Deals 4/5-4/11
Hi Jaime! That’s a great idea! My boys eat different things for breakfast, and it’s always a shuffle to get things ready in the mornings. I might have to try some banana muffins – that sounds like something they’d like!
These are such great meal planning tips! This is something I need to get better at since it saves so much money and is healthier!
xo katie // a touch of teal
Thank you, Katie! I hope this helped. 🙂
I should start to separate portions with my snacks. I just love food too much!
Ashley recently posted…Why I Write In a Journal?
Me too, Ashley! I need to do this with our potato chips. 🙂
One of my favorite things to do is to make a double batch of my family favorites and use half right away and freeze the other to be used later. It’s a super simple way to get a few back-up meals in the freezer for busy weeknights.