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Food prep and storage

unknown

So my husband and I really want to start prepping meals in advance but we are struggling with the best way to store things. We don't have a lot of space but even if we can do a few meals a great it would really help.

I'm not entirely sure what the best meals are too pre do but we make things like shepherds pie. Pasta that sorry if thing.

Any suggestions would be a great help. Thank you

Becca

unknown

If you make pasta ahead, you can freeze it or stick it in the fridge. You can put it in regular old Rubbermaid but you can also put it in a large ziploc and then flatten it and it will take up less space in the freezer. If you freeze a bunch of meals this way it makes stacking them easier (if you have a freezer that is a drawer you can stand them upright like files in a filing cabinet.)

I've never had shepherd's pie so I'm not sure about freezing that one. You could probably just make it, including baking, ahead of time and then pop it in the oven to warm it up.

Over the years I have found that most foods can easily be made ahead and refrigerated or stored. I usually like to try to make enough for the meal we're going to eat that day (or the next) plus enough to freeze. That might be a way to start--cook once, eat twice and you'll find out which recipes are good that way.

unknown

I usually use tupperware, about the size needed and no bigger. But ziploc bags can make a lot of foods fit into spaces they otherwise wouldn't!

If you make a lot, freeze whatever you won't eat in the next few days. Or, don't make more than you can store. (So if you can't store a huge pot of pasta sauce, make a smaller pot of pasta sauce.)

You may also want to clean out the fridge (and freezer). I find a lot of times when we say there's not much room in it, it's not because we literally eat a fridge's worth of food every week, it's because there's a lot of stuff in there we're not eating, probably won't eat, and should either make an effort to eat ASAP or just toss. In future, buy smaller sizes (small mustard, smaller jars of pickles, etc) of things that tend to sit around taking up space and not getting eaten up fairly quickly. Even if the bigger size is a better deal -- if small mustard takes 1 year to use up instead of 3, but takes 1/2 or 1/3 the fridge space, that might be worth it. (Exception being if you really do get decent turnaround -- then yeah, save the money by buying bigger size.) Maybe set a goal -- dedicate a % of your fridge space to food that is supposed to live there more than 2 weeks (such as condiments), and that's it. The rest (and likely the bulk) goes to short-term food storage.

As for *what* meals, it depends on what you like. I tend to cut up and roast as many veggies as I can fit in my roasting pan, then keep in the fridge. That way, I'm not cutting and cooking veggies daily, and I'm more likely to eat them, because they're tasty and ready to grab. I buy whole chickens and roast those, that's easy, but you can also do like a baking sheet of chicken breast if you're trying to reduce fat/avoid skin. You can do up something like pork tenderloin, and have pork ready for a few days. Something like a steak or pork chop takes so little cooking time that I rarely do it ahead per se, but I might do extra (or extra big and cut up) to have leftovers. Any foods you like should be able to be prepped ahead of time, really, unless you're particularly picky about temperature/reheating (so if, say, you would not eat a cold steak, or a reheated steak, then you likely wouldn't pre-cook a bunch of steak).

unknown

I make a whole package of chicken breasts on my George Foreman grill or baked in the oven and then freeze each one individually. Then I have quick lunches.

I will also separate frozen broccoli in to portions so my husband and I can just grab a bag and throw in our lunchbox. If you do it per week you can just put it in a ziploc and keep in the freezer without it getting a weird taste or anything. Buy a bunch of gladware or ziploc plastic containers (generics work well too). Some have measurements but most of them work really well to fit a protein, veggie and carb. I also use mason jars to store cut up veggies or oatmeal/yogurt. It's not just a fad, they really do keep longer! Good luck!

unknown

Thank you all. Some good tips

unknown

Hi! I meal prep every Sunday for more than a year now. I measure each protein and place them in ziplock and freeze them. The ones that I will eat for the next 3 or 4 days I place them in tupps and just put them in fridge. Hope that helps

unknown

I freeze casseroles for a few hours so I can cut them into portions and then lay them side by side in a freezer bag. If you're freezing meals for two, pour stew, soup, chili in quart freezer bags to lay flat and freeze. They don't take up much room. I freezer cooked for 6 years without a large freezer, then got a stand up freezer as a gift and I've been in love ever since lol.