Question for Meal Preppers

I find meal preppers facinating. I do well to make my breakfast and lunch the night before. I really would like to start doing it for several days in advance. I am just curious if preppers ever eat frozen meals and/or sandwiches in addition to their own meals. I love seeing the pictures that many of you post with the neat containers and the food measured out but I never see sandwich stuff. I understand about the bread setting soggy but do you ever make the filling and take bread on the side. I would like to hear your reasons for the way that you do things.

Replies

unknown

icemaiden37 wrote: »

Do you have the same thing each day?

I do...but I have highly targeted results. But what I recommend for people who just want to lose weight would be a meat, carb, veggie, fat of certain portion sizes. Maybe one meal for lunch is Talapia, and the next day it is Chicken, and the next day it is ground turkey...by the way...all three of these meats could be cooked in one hour with various carbs and veggie sources. You can hit your targets and macros in this way.

And if you are eating the same foods each day you can spice each meat differently...like in the video above when I prepped fish...I could have seasoned each portion differently...put different veggies in each container...even varied the carb as long as it hit my marcros.

Remember my goals are different than yours...than someone elses....my carbs are timed specifically to when I weight train as I want to get the maximum amount of results for my time spent building my body.

You can take this to what ever level you want...but honestly there is no point in taking it to a level that is not sustainable. Go at the pace you are comfortable with...but understand that drastic results are absolutely possible...if you put in the time and dedication...but again...it all depends on what you want...and how fast you want it...as in the end...it is you looking at yourself in the mirror...it is your health...your transformation...your responsibility, your ownership, of your results.

Own it first...and then start. Start where you are...with what you have. Over time you will learn...and make improvements.

unknown

I don't eat sandwiches and I mainly stick to the same foods: chicken, ground turkey, broccoli, zucchini, sweet potatoes and brown rice. I'm still new to meal prepping so eating the same foods until I get a super efficient system down keeps it less stressful. It takes me 2-3 hrs on Sundays.

unknown

I prep three sandwiches (tuna fish salad) and bags of raw veggies on sunday, and then two of each wednesday night. I've gone four days, but... mentally, I feel like they're fresher if I only do it three days out. I learned the hard way that you can't freeze a bag of chopped raw veggies and then take it out to eat it. bad bad things happen.

unknown

icemaiden37 wrote: »

DedRepublic wrote: »

Katiebear_81 wrote: »

I prepped my breakfast/lunch for the week last night, thanks to this thread! Ha ha. Dinner is easy - meat and veg in a pan... I don't mind doing that when I get home. Maybe next week I will prep for dinners, too.

I'd really like to get a bunch of protein shakers, that's such a great idea!

You are doing this the right way...pick one meal at a time...then move to the next....in a month or so you'll have it all figured out.

Do you have the same thing each day?

When I was hardcore prepping, I'd set out my menu for the week, get it all prepped, then I could grab what I wanted to eat that day (out of the premade choices). I usually had a few different choices for each meal. I was mostly doing it for convenience (I have two small kids - smaller back then!), and so I knew that I was making good choices regarding nutrition and not defaulting to Little Ceasar's $5 pizzas.

This weekend I'm going to make some space in my upstairs freezer for some precooked meals. We're renovating the room my big freezer is in, and I won't be bothered to navigate that minefield right now

I should have time on Sunday to make some dinners for the coming week.

unknown

icemaiden37 wrote: »

DedRepublic wrote: »

Katiebear_81 wrote: »

I prepped my breakfast/lunch for the week last night, thanks to this thread! Ha ha. Dinner is easy - meat and veg in a pan... I don't mind doing that when I get home. Maybe next week I will prep for dinners, too.

I'd really like to get a bunch of protein shakers, that's such a great idea!

You are doing this the right way...pick one meal at a time...then move to the next....in a month or so you'll have it all figured out.

Do you have the same thing each day?

I don't! I have so many dishes in my freezer - varieties of soups, stews, chilis, curries, beans, nuggets, meatballs, burgers, meatloaves, casseroles, stuffed peppers, burritos, etc. and they're all in individual portions (with the exception of the cauliflower/cheese sauce, marinara, BBQ, enchilada sauces) or flash frozen.

All I do is make a list of a few dishes, cook them, portion, and freeze. If you do a small load (maybe 2-3 dishes per weekend) you will build up quite a stash. I tend to cook 6-8 different dishes in a weekend, then use the following weekend to make 1-2 or just take the weekend off.

unknown

DedRepublic wrote: »

Steph38878 wrote: »

@DedRepublic That truly is awesome!!

Thanks bud...it really makes your week easier.

I love it when people do this type of thing. I'm so boring with my food, so these suggestions and videos are absolutely GREAT! Appreciate it very much.

unknown

softblondechick wrote: »

When I prep veggies for week, I make egg salad. Or cut up a chicken, ie, tear down rotisserie chicken, so it is ready for salads.

The bonus of veggies prep is at end of week you throw stuff in a crockpot and decide what it looks like, soup, chili, and you make a batch of that for eating, freezing.

I love this idea of prepping veggies for the week and then throwing them in the crockpot at the end of the week! Thanks, I am going to try it next week.

unknown

DedRepublic wrote: »

Queenmunchy wrote: »

Haha @DedRepublic, your freezer looks like mine! I've done this for 7 years but never splurged on a standup freezer (single mom and bought a house 3 years ago). My parents bought one for me as a christmas present last year and I think I went nuts prepping 8 weeks worth at a time for weeks!
I honestly can't imagine how some parents can cook everyday while we need to do homework, bring the kids to extracurriculars, bathe them, etc. I make my time work for me!

Yes, Yes, and yes...you ROCK!!! Honestly people think I'm nuts...but if they only knew how lazy I am!!! Ha ha...I prep on Sundays...like even my powder meals and preworkouts in color coded shaker...so I can just grab and go. I spend ZERO time during Monday-Friday cooking. I also spend ZERO dollars buying food Mon through Friday

Ha! Color coded shakes and preworkouts! Love that idea too! I have 2 teenage sons who are in sports and workout etc. too. One leaves his protein shake at school because he is too lazy and would probably forget it if he did it the night before or that morning. However, I'll bet if I had measured out powders in shaker cups lined on the counter no doubt everyone would take one in the morning. I may just try this!

unknown

@DedRepublic. Thanks for the fish prep vid.
@11:20 et seq. "It's so much easier just to eat smarter, then it is to do all these extra workouts and kill yourself. Most people can just lose weight just eating right and walking." No truer words were ever spoken!
Thank you for bringing it..
Thanks to OP - nice topic.

unknown

Glad to know I'm not the only Blender Bottle hoarder.

unknown

Queenmunchy wrote: »

icemaiden37 wrote: »

DedRepublic wrote: »

Katiebear_81 wrote: »

I prepped my breakfast/lunch for the week last night, thanks to this thread! Ha ha. Dinner is easy - meat and veg in a pan... I don't mind doing that when I get home. Maybe next week I will prep for dinners, too.

I'd really like to get a bunch of protein shakers, that's such a great idea!

You are doing this the right way...pick one meal at a time...then move to the next....in a month or so you'll have it all figured out.

Do you have the same thing each day?

I don't! I have so many dishes in my freezer - varieties of soups, stews, chilis, curries, beans, nuggets, meatballs, burgers, meatloaves, casseroles, stuffed peppers, burritos, etc. and they're all in individual portions (with the exception of the cauliflower/cheese sauce, marinara, BBQ, enchilada sauces) or flash frozen.

All I do is make a list of a few dishes, cook them, portion, and freeze. If you do a small load (maybe 2-3 dishes per weekend) you will build up quite a stash. I tend to cook 6-8 different dishes in a weekend, then use the following weekend to make 1-2 or just take the weekend off.

Do you date your portions? How long is too long to sit in your freezer?

unknown

I love this thread.