What's going on?

Locked down our meals for the next five to six weeks. I don’t have the exact number but this is about $600 worth of food for my wife and I. The last picture is last week’s meal prep and not made with this batch, just an example of what one week of meals looks like.

Chicken Prep 1: Chicken, Olive Oil, Italian Seasoning, Garlic, Onion Powder, Salt and Pepper

Chicken Prep 2: Chicken, Olive Oil, Taco Seasoning

Steak: Prime Top Sirloin (No Cap), Olive Oil,Garlic, Onion, Salt & Pepper.

We aim for 6-7 ounce of protein in each meal, each bag contains about 60 ounces of raw meat. I cooked all the protein in a sous vide machine so not a lot of weight is lost in the process.

Teriyaki chicken w/broccoli & rice, cheesesteak pasta, banana bread. Recipes in the condiments.

I know, 5 isn't nearly as exciting as those family of 12 meal preps, but it is more realistic for most people. We started meal prepping when my girlfriend went back to teaching full time in the classroom. We have 3 kids, all in different schools, and she teaches at one. I work from home, so take all that with what caveats you will.

Our meal prep really starts on the Monday after we shop and do our actual food prep. We have a menu on the fridge that lists the days, and the dinners for those days. We plan what dinners we want around what the weather is going to be, what we have going on after school, what needs to be used up, etc. On that same board is a "grocery list" section that we use for suggestions. If one of us thinks of something we want for dinner in the coming weeks, it gets written down. This is how we come up with 90% of our dinners for the weeks.

We do our shopping and prepping every 2 weeks. The weekends the kids spend with their other parent are our shopping weeks. On the Friday before, we gather up the meals from the list, add in any more we need to bulk it up to 11 meals, then start the list. We try to duplicate ingredients, so if we're doing chicken breast one night, we might switch pulled pork to pulled chicken so we aren't buying extras. Then, we shop our pantry and freezer. Whatever we already have gets crossed off the list. Our list is divided up by the 3 stores we shop at most, just to make sure nothing gets forgotten.

The next day, Saturday, we do our shopping. We start around 8am and are home and done by about 12:30pm. This includes breakfast at a local diner, it's important to treat yourself. Once our shopping is done and things are pur away, we are done for the day and enjoy our Saturday.

Sunday, the real work gets done. Once we are up and caffinated, we set to work. Sandwiches for the kids, including lunch meat sandwiches, and homemade uncrustables. Then the Mrs. will take leftovers, snack trays, pasta salads, and occasionally sandwiches. We don't usually prep for me as I can cook for myself or eat up leftovers at home. We also make breakfast burritos, mini muffins, and mini pancakes for grab and go breakfasts on school days.

Where the most of our prep time goes through, is snacks. We prep baggies of berries and grapes, and we slice apples and toss them in a lemonade drink mix to stop them from browning. We cut up blocks of cheese and sticks of salami and pepperoni, and break down bags of chips, pretzels, and trail mix into individual servings. We have two teenage boys and entire bags will vanish if we don't. Also, working from home lends itself to voracious snacking, I am not innocent.

The most prep we do for dinners is breaking down and freezing big bags of peppers and onions, garlic, and some other occasional veg. Otherwise, dinners are made fresh every night.

We just finished our Sunday prep and I thought I'd share our process because it's a lot of work and I'm proud 😂

Pictured: 79 burritos ready to eat for breakfast

No thought or care was put into portioning, wrapping them well, or even if they taste good

Just simple chicken and some veggies for my first attempt. Here’s to saving money and eating healthier!

I like to start my day off with high proteins, then do a carb heavy meal for lunch, I figure this is a pretty well off shot at that!

I like a warm lunch for my office job and always try different meal preps, but this is usually a go to when I’m short on time. I tend to get grossed out of chunks of chicken being reheated after day 2, but never get an ick from shredded. I pre cook my chicken, shred, and then freeze to make this even easier!

Ingredients: 1.5 cup white rice uncooked 3 cups cooked shredded chicken 1 can green enchilada sauce 1 can corn 1 can black beans (I rinse them) 1 can green chilies (4oz) Sprinkle of shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions: Cook your rice, this takes the longest. (I use rice cooker). Heat chicken, enchilada sauce, and green chilies in pot. Rinse black beans in sink. Assemble bowls. For this amount I do 4 lunches.

Follow up post from my earlier monthly prep. It’s been a long day in the kitchen.

Meals left to right:

Meal One- Instant Pot ground turkey, white rice and fire roasted veggies

Meal Two- SV Chicken, steamed baby carrots and baked broccoli

Meal Three- Don Lee Farms grilled chicken patty, Aerofarms micro greens, and fire roasted veggies.

Meatloaf recipe: 3lbs lean ground beef 1 cup Bread crumbs 1 cup milk 2 eggs 1 diced onion Parsley 1 Green Bell pepper Pepper 2 tsp Salt 2 1/2 tsp Onion powder 2 tsp Garlic powder 2 tsp Italian seasonings 2 tsp 1 hr 20 min at 375F 48g ketchup and 24g Worcestershire sauce

Butter Chicken recipe: -Marinate 1000g chicken breast with 4 crushed garlic cloves, 3 tbsp paprika, 3 tsp turmeric, 3 tsp garam masala, 3 tsp salt and pepper, 340g 5% Greek yogurt, and 1 whole lemon juice. -For the sauce slice 1 onion and put in the pan until soft, then add 1 tsp of: paprika, turmeric, garam masala, salt and pepper. 50g 5% Greek yogurt, and 1 can chopped tomatoes (400g). -Mix until well combined then blend for 1-2 mins until creamy -Cook the breast on the pan then portion it into containers then add sauce to it.

Mashed potatoes recipe: 1,332g (Bowl and basket) 5lb bag: 990 calories (198 calories per meal) and 27g protein (5.4g protein per meal) 1 cup milk 150 calories (30 per meal) and 8 grams protein (1.6g per meal) Cheese low fat 140g total calories 450  (per serving 90) protein total 35g (per serving 7g)

I am one of those girls that has food paranoia and I'm always freaking out on "if something is still okay to eat or not" my bf says I overreact (which prob true) however it makes meal prepping hard and im looking for answers on how to get over this!!!

I do all my meal prep Sunday, and will cook enough for Monday-Wednesday but anything past Wednesday is "expired" to my paranoid brain 🥲so then I have 2 awkward days where I will just buy those pre made meals from the grocery store that you microwave and it defeats the whole purpose of meal prep lol

How do you meal prep for 5 days? Do you do it all on Sunday, or do you prep again mid week?

For those that do it all on Sunday, what do u prep and can u promise me it's still okay to eat past Wednesday 😭😭

*open to eating anything, no diet restrictions

1,380 calories 174 gram of protein

Feeding 2 adults plus a hungry teen and a tween.

Pic 1 & 2 - Chili scaled up from Recipe Tin eats for lunches (made about 7 quarts, some was eaten already). Served plain in a thermos for the kids & with cheese and chives on top for adults. 2 containers will be frozen for later. https://www.recipetineats.com/chilli-con-carne/#wprm-recipe-container-25272

Pic 3 & 4 - It was my first time making this Yogurt marinated chicken I found in an old r/mealprep post & it was a hit! https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/middle-eastern-chicken-kabobs.html Served with roasted potatoes (I cooked 5 lbs) and steamed carrots & broccoli. Enough for dinner on Monday and a couple more lunches, plus some potatoes with breakfast one day.

Have a day trip to the aquarium tomorrow and some extra time today, so got some prep done.

Pasta salad (based loosely on this recipe but I adapt it based on whatever is in the fridge) We'll take some of this as lunch for our day trip and save the rest for lunch leftovers.

Freezer burritos (adapted from this recipe ) I usually add in a bit of rice and that seems to make it easier to eat in your hand rather than needing to eat from a plate- excellent if you're also holding a baby.

Zucchini muffins - these freeze great. Yummy Toddler Food has a ton of muffin recipes that help me use up produce and enable me to have snacks on hand for the kids.

No microwave, no furnace, hell nothing except my instant pot and some pans.

I am very much devoted to achieving a sexy-er body by the end of the spring, and I am looking for a balanced, high protein diet that is possible to with extremely common items.

Gonna go to gym 5 times a week, have protein shake, multivitamin and fish oil as supplements

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Hello! For context I only plan to prep my launch for 3 to 5 days. I have time to get my breakfast ready and hopefully will have for dinner prep too.

I plan in doing something quite simple like chicken, broccoli/veggies, rice but I would appreciate any other simple recipee suggestions. It doesnt have to be low in carbs, I am currently on a bulk anyway.

If I prep for only 3 days can I store it in the fridge or do I have to put it in the freezer?

Are plastic meal containers alright for storage?

Will they keep the taste after reheating in a microwave?

Are there any food that you would never meal prep or reheat the next day?

Any tips, ideas appreciated!

i get so bored of meal prep pretty quickly, so i try to design the prepped meals more modularly and mix up different sides and sauces. here’s to hoping i make it through them all!! generally trying to eat healthy, whole foods and grains if i can!

On weekdays, time is usually short, but I still want to eat something delicious and nutritious. I’m always looking for new, quick meal ideas that don’t compromise on flavor or health.

What’s your go-to meal for busy weekdays? Whether it’s a 15-minute dish or something you can prep in advance, I’d love to hear your favorite time-saving recipes!