Tuesday is the new Monday.
Why can’t this be a permanent thing?
Since Monday was a holiday, it became food prep day (usually Sunday). I get a lot of questions about what I prep for the week, so I am doing another kitchen-themed Work It Out.
I am diligent about prepping proteins and carbs on food prep day. Veggies most often I do as the week goes because I like then fresh and they don’t take long to put together.
Breakfast
First up is breakfast. This is a place I half-prep, often making bars or Baked Oatmeal To Go. This week it was bars. I’m going to see how this recipe keeps before I share it, but it was a Carrot Cake Protein Bar creation. Half I keep fresh and the other half I freeze to have as a quick grab in the future.
Carbohydrates
Then It’s on to the carbs. I always have Ezekial bread and edamame in the freezer for a quick add to lunch. Then I prep some sort of grain and my sweet potatoes and/or winter squashes.
This week I make kaboacha squash (this often gets the twice-roasted treatment), quinoa, and sweet potato.
Proteins
My proteins are a mix of turkey, chicken, and seafood. This week I baked a ton of chicken (some of which I will freeze – it was a LOT) and made turkey burgers.
Chicken is most often baked, and the turkey burgers are done on the George Foreman grill. This chicken recipe was another new experiment that I promise I’ll edit pics for and share. The burgers are a simple mix of salsa and onion.
If anyone can care an easy way to clean the George Forman, I’d love you forever.
The seafood this week is a yellowtail snapper and salmon sashimi. Most often, I bake seafood with a simple seasoning. Tonight I just drizzled it with lemon juice and added minced garlic and freshly ground black pepper.
You’ll see a few of my veggies in the pic too. I made more of my Tabbouleh Salad and cut up celery.
It may seem like a lot, but once you get the hang of it, the whole prep takes less than 2 hours. Plus you can do other things (like laundry) while you wait for the food to cook/cool.
Preparing my food at the beginning of the week saves me time (and stress) in the long run. When you eat 6-7 meals a day, food prep is a life saver.
For more on my staple foods, flavor adds, and typical grocery store buys, check out the No Shit Diet post. 🙂
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Yes, these pics are all via iPhone. This is another time-saver. #sorryimnotsorry
Do you prep food for the week? How much time does it take you?
What your favorite things to take to lunch?
SALMON SASHIMI – That’s on my menu this week… MORE THAN ONCE! Oh and I totally stole a pound of turkey meat from my brother and his girlfriend this evening, Muahhh ha ha ha ha aha ha ha aha ha ah aha ha h ha!!! No one can get between me and meat, especially if it’s “free”.
What do I like to take for lunch? VERY interesting things…. Sauteed squid. Bison, Beef, Elk, Ostrich, Venison, Kangaroo or Wild Boar Burgers. Canned Oysters or Clams. Or I will stop at Whole Foods and RAPE their chicken on their salad bar…… I am sorry, was that a little too graphic?
Stole it?! I want stolen turkey tooooooo!
Where in the world did you find kangaroo in the US? I’ve been searching!
Do you live near a SPROUTS? If so, you can find the meat there – It’s by Durham Meats! Once you go their meat…. It’s will be the only thing you eat – AH! I was trying to rhyme and it WORKED!
How I clean my George Foreman (or rather Hamilton Beach…) grill: after everything is done cooking (or before I use it next, depending on if I remember to clean it after use), I close the lid and let it heat for a few minutes until quite hot. Then I squeeze some water onto the grill plates, close the lid, and let it steam for a bit; then I rub the stuff away with paper towel (be careful not to burn yourself) and/or use the little scraper tool that comes with. Sometimes I’ll need to repeat, but it’s not arduous.
Obviously this only works if you have a model that lies flat–I’ve seen some that are tilted at an angle for draining grease, mine lies level and just has ridges and a grease pan on the end.
Mine is angled but several people commented with similar suggestions for it. This is great – thank you!!!
I food prep typically on Sundays, a work week of breakfasts, lunch, dinner & 2 snacks to go. Usually it takes under two hours, I get in a movie, laundry & various other chores. I have been doing it for about a year, when I started it was like 4 hours a week but now I am fast! I live in a small town, have food allergies & teach fitness classes plus my 8-5 job so I am never home but I love my eats! 🙂
It does get MUCH faster. I can’t imagine not having it done… such a time saver. 🙂
All I do is bake a few chicken breasts on Sunday night for my lunches. Everything else I make fresh when I need it! I used to do a full-on meal prep of protein, carbs and veggies back when I worked full-time, but now that my schedule is more flexible I can get away with cooking as I go.
Lucky girl. I’m going to miss my work from home days in this new job.
I ALWAYS prep my food. With my goal I need to make sure I get in enough and clean foods, so meal prep it is.
Can I steal some of these turkey burgers and Carrot Cake Batter Bars? Look soooooo goood!!
I ususally pack chicken, veggies, quinoa and a package of mustard for lunch, or I grab a bag of salad and add my proteins and carbs. I am not a fan of lunch as I always feel so stressed while eating.
Yesterday, I made a huge baking tray with white fish, chicken, broccoli and caulflower in the oven – that gave me about 4-6 meals. Also, I make a huge batch of eggy oats for all the breakfasts 🙂 It takes me about 2 hours and I always watch Trash TV while doing it, which feels very relaxing. #sorrynotsorry 🙂
Come on over and steal away! 😉
I love eating salad bags! That reminds me… I’m out of spinach…
I’m with you on the meal prep thing- Carbs I do in batches for potatoes and kabocha and portion out and also have bread in the freezer! Proteins depends on time contraints- sometimes I make a batch of kangaroo/lean beef if its on special, otherwise I’m pretty easy with a can of chicken and tuna made into patties, or baked tofu.Veggies- I do day to day as you said, easy to prep!
George foreman… don’t even get me started. The inverted curls for the first wipe down, the bent over rows from shaking the crap out of it, then the face pulls doing another wipe down. who needs an upper body day?
So jealous of the kangaroo! I really want to try it.
You are spot-on with the GF cleaning description. Ugh.
I’m actually getting better at food prep. I used to try and wing every meal, buuuuut that didn’t work out so well when I was really busy. Now I’ll cook up multiple servings of my grains to use in a pinch, bake up a bigger batch of chicken breasts and stick ’em in the fridge, pre-wash all my veggies, and always make sure I have some kind of baked bars/muffins/cookies/breads lying around.
Sounds a lot like what I do – it makes the work week SO much easier, and what you don’t eat you can always freeze.
I try to prep every Saturday or Sunday for the week. I always make a few tupperware lunches and snacks and prepare things for easy dinners. I love your square muffin-like tin. Definitely need one of those! Perfect portions for oatmeal.
Thanks! It’s from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. 🙂
AHHH I NEED TO BE MORE LIKE YOU.
especially now that school is in session….
It takes some effort, but not bad once you make it a habit!
any easy way to clean the george formean (I use mine constantly) is: I turn it on and let it heat up for a min then unplug in then wipe it down with paper towls with hot water then dry with paper towls (no soap- I dont think you are supposed to use soap) I didnt get any meal prep done this weekend 🙁 Ill be hurting later this week!
Awesome – thank you!!!
Definitely food prep but I can’t say I always look forward to it. I actually love getting busy in the kitchen but when I know I have a solid 6 hours of cooking ahead of me it can seem a bit daunting. I always try to put together a good quinoa salad and bbq or bake some kind of meat.
6 hours?! Whoa. How much do you make???
mmm I need to find some acorn squash. definitely the season! I tend to just cut food and not actually cook it until the day of.
Does it last very long like that? I’m worried my veggies will dry out if I pre cut!
I most definitely do food prep for the week. We never have to wonder what to eat. And I have to clue about how to clean a Foreman grill. One of the reasons why I got rid of mine!
I really wish I could have a outdoor grill. *sigh*
very impressive, sweetie 🙂 meal prep helps me, too, even though I don’t eat that many times a day, but when I have my meats and carbs prepped it helps so much!
I food prep too, but I generally only prep lunch and snack since I throw breakfast and dinner together fresh. I never would have thought to prep seafood though. I always heard it didn’t keep well, but I’m not usually a big fan of fish anyway.
Some keeps better than others, but most doesn’t last more that ~4 days.
Love the breakfast bars! That seems like a delicious way to start your morning. Also the turkey burgers look tasty too! Something I need to use more often is definitely the george foreman grill.
Thanks! They saved me this morning!
Tuesday should definitely be the new Monday. How much better would every week be if we had a 3-day weekend?
That’s a great price for sashimi salmon! I need to go back to BHFM soon!
I’m terrible at food prep…I used to make my lunch the night before when I was taking it to work, but now I’m basically doing everything when I need it. And now that I’m essentially working from home most of the week (yay grad school!) that’s probably not going to change.
I’m a little jealous… 😉
I food prep every Sunday and it takes me about 2-4 hours, depending on what I am making, but that also includes cooking times and putting everything away. But I also tend to overcook {on purpose} so I can freeze meals so that once weekend a month all I need to do is prep snacks for the week and not meals. Saves my sanity!
I saw on Pinterest that before turning your Foreman Grill on, line it with aluminum foil so that when you’re done, you just let it cool, remove the foil and you’re good to go!
The foil thing is brilliant. That’s exccatly what I’ll do now – thank you!
I’m so impressed with your meal prep! I try to prep food on Sunday for the week and sometimes it happens and other times not, but when it doesn’t I always regret it! It makes life so much easier to have everything prepped and ready to go!
My meal prep comes and goes in waves. Sometimes I’m really good about it, other times…not so much.
I haven’t food prepped in a while. I typically just make more of what I’m having at each meal to last me the week 🙂
Yuuuum to everything about this- ‘specially the oatmeal to go bars.
My mom taught me this way to clean the GF:
Right when I am done with it I unplug it and sort of slant it toward the sink, then I squeeze a soggy paper towel and the water starts to steam and run through the grooves…along with the gunks. Usually it is pretty cool at that point and I can wipe with the damp paper towel to get the stickier bits and … and repeat as necessary until it’s so fresh so clean. You have to flip to do the top…
I think the key is paper towel and water almost immediately after you cook. But carefully!
Ahhhh… the steam method seems to be the most popular. I’ll give it a whirl. Thanks! 🙂
That’s awesome that you prep so much ahead of time in the weekend! I go in phases 😉
You should start freezing food now, baby mamma! 😉
I really need to start doing food prep too.. Everyone seems to be doing it. I’m just worried that I won’t wanna eat what I prepared since I go by IE rules. Sigh.
That’s why I make such a wide variety of proteins!
We prep differently, I love it!! I make meals and portion them into grab-and-go containers (since I’m ALWAYS late in the morning). That does mean that prep often takes me 3 hours though, instead of 2. Hmmm…I should copy you and do a post about this. 🙂 Hope your first day is fabulous!!
I don’t portion because I don’t know what I’m pairing with… but I do pack it the night before I’m taking it to work!
And YES – I would love to see you post on this!
I agree with Missy on how to clean the GF, that’s how we did it when we had one too. I always plugged it in next to the sink to make it super easy.
I don’t always prep everything at once. I usually clean and cut all the fruit & veggies right away, then on Monday nights I grill whatever we are having for dinner and all my lunches.
Wow, I am impressed! my husband would die for yellowfin and for meals like this to be waiting for him!
I really need to food prep! It seems like it makes life so much easier!
It really does! Just have to get into the habit and it’s easy!
Food prep is half the reason I eat as well as I do. I’m humble too…obviously.
I always make a big batch of granola for breakfasts and then pair it with some fruit and Greek yogurt (either plain or honey flavored). Lunch lately has been a whole bunch of salads or snacks (think veggies and some sort of dip) all of which get prepped on the weekends. Dinners are usually a free for all, but I try to make things in large quantities so they last more than one meal. I can’t even imagine trying to make every single meal on the spot plus have any semblance of a life.
Your being so humble is part of your charm. 😉
Thanks for the tips!
So do you bake the chicken then freeze the cooked chicken? How long does that last? How do you store it? When you want to reheat it, do you just microwave it?
I freeze the cooked chicken if I am not going to be able to eat it in 4-5 days. I just pop it in a baggie and reheat when I need it. 🙂
we do our best to prep on Sundays and/or Mondays for the week ahead. we try to have easy ingredients on hand to whip things up in a flash if needed 😉
I have plantain bread in my freezer. 🙂
I prep, pre-portion, plan and freeze large portions of proteins every weekend. Carbs I do in smaller batches & pre-portion & refrigerate as well on weekend. Fresh salads daily and other veggies are purchased frozen. I work like 80 hours a week so I can grab my gladware containers and run! Never have to decide what I’m gonna eat at 7 pm, just grap, nuked & done! I have been perfecting my technique for years but couple hours a weekend and I’m set. Fail to plan, plan to fail…
80 hour weeks?! You have to prep or starve! 😉
I feel you on cleaning that damn grill. I went out and bought one with removable plates that I can soak and sometimes put in the dishwasher. Life is much easier now. 🙂
That would be amazing! I’ve had this one since college… maybe time to upgrade!
SERIOUSLY need to get back into meal prepping. I’ve been told I can’t eat the same thing every day anymore b/c of (you guessed it) my food allergies. I used to rock at food prep. Now I’m kind of lost and have been scavenging (free produce at work FTW) and buying stuff from my coop’s salad bar over lunch (wallet does not like).
Maybe I’ll make a couple of different things that I can freeze easily (though freezer is running out of space!) like turkey burgers. Thanks for the inspiration. I realized this week that my depression is happening because I’ve been eating junk (forget my weight and fitness … mental health is most important!). Our freebie this week at work was cookies … not the same as free produce.
I can’t eat the same thing every day because I’m allergic to being bored. That’s why I make such a variety!
You have inspired me with your prepping skills. I’m trying to do more! Tomorrow is my prep day!
Thank you! I’d love to hear what you make – I’m always looking for ideas. 🙂
Try spritzing your Foreman grill with some warm soapy water while it’s still hot, then close the lid for a few minutes before scrubbing. I used to do that all the time with mine. I don’t have one anymore, but I make good use out of my HUGE grill pan that I got as a wedding gift…yeah, there’s ONE good thing I got from my marriage! Oh, and the tv and the xbox and the cat! 😉
Look at you, focusing on the positive! Mwah!
Ciao!
I would like to know how many grams of chicken/fish and veggies do you eat per meal??
thank you! Sorry for my bad english…
baci dall’Italia 🙂
Hi! It’s not so much per meal as it is per day. I aim for 1.5x my body weight in gram of protein… that’s a lot. For a more “normal” active person, aim for .75-1x.