Doing weekend food prep feels SO GOOD

[Anonymous]

Working parents + active kids and nothing makes me feel better than a fridge stocked with healthy food.

There may be an element of anxiety here, but I spent some time yesterday roasting vegetables and cooking proteins to have on hand for meals this week and I swear, this is better self care for me than shopping or the spa or whatever. I don't do it every weekend, but when I do it makes such a difference.

Am I the only one?

[Anonymous]

I feel exactly the same way. Every weekend, I plan out all of my meals for the whole week and prep whatever I can. It feels amazing, especially because I know I tend to reach for the least healthy options when I am hungry, tired, and have not planned well.

[Anonymous]

Ooh walk me through yoru prep and what you did.

[Anonymous]

i want to do this but it seems overwhelming. i know it's a good thing to do. i just need a push!

[Anonymous]

My cousin does this and loves it. I would hate it, for two reasons:
1. I want to eat what I want to eat in the moment. I don't know days in advance what I'm in the mood for.
2. A lot of food isn't really good re-heated or cold. It needs to be freshly cooked to stay crisp and juicy.

[Anonymous]

Even if I just wash and cut vegetables on Sunday so they are ready to steam for several meals, I like I’ve won the lottery when it comes time to make dinner during the week.

[Anonymous]

I feel like healthy food shouldn’t take long to make so prepping is not necessary.

[Anonymous]

Full pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My cousin does this and loves it. I would hate it, for two reasons:
1. I want to eat what I want to eat in the moment. I don't know days in advance what I'm in the mood for.
2. A lot of food isn't really good re-heated or cold. It needs to be freshly cooked to stay crisp and juicy.

I get this but I don't need every meal to be sumptuous. I just need to be fed some days. NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like healthy food shouldn’t take long to make so prepping is not necessary.

OP here and that is the opposite of my experience? All that washing and chopping of produce takes a lot of time.

I only manage to do it every other weekend maybe, but as PP said, if I don’t, we eat crap. And I’m a fan of crap occasionally, but too much of it doesn’t feel good.

I made a batch of homemade granola with the kids that they’ve been eating with yogurt and berries for breakfast, plus did a batch of hard-boiled eggs.

Grilled chicken for dinner Saturday night, but doubled to have leftovers to add to salads for lunch all week.

Roasted a bunch of chickpeas, sweet potatoes, beets and broccoli, also to add to salads during the week.

It wasn’t a ton of work, but there’s no way I have time for this during the week, so it’s a lifesaver.

[Anonymous]

I would love to be so organized (I'm not at all though). My kids would call it leftovers, my DH would worry that it's gone bad, and they all look askance at vegetables cut a day early, especially carrots and peppers -- they change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Full pass.

I am with you. To me, prepping just expands the time i am involved in my most hated chore - cooking. And then you are also eating “leftovers”. But glad it works for you OP.

[Anonymous]

Agree OP! I use air tight containers for chopped vegetables and make rice/pasta & frozen shrimp to use for meals. It makes nights easier because I am always tired after work.

[Anonymous]

Oddly enough... now that I'm working from home... I find that i can actually meal prep during the day and cook pretty involved meals during the week.
Yesterday I braised a chicken, starting at lunch time I cut up a whole chicken into small pieces, chopped tomato, pepper, garlic, onion, ginger and set it to marinate. At 5 I started it on the stove. While it was stewing I did some limited weights exercises. Sometimes if I'm not cooking the main (and like reheating frozen beer battered cod from Costco or whatever), I can just use the 5-6pm hour to do veggies and sides. Sometimes I even start cooking at lunch time if it's like a beef soup or something that needs a few hours. Or if I have a longer lunch break can even make the pasta sauce at lunch and then work longer into the event and just boil noodles at 6.
I'm doing this mostly M-Th and then Fri and Sat are takeout/no cleanup, Sun sometimes husband cooks. For lunch at home either make a quick salad with canned fish and/or leftovers.
I have a desk job that can be stressful but is mostly limited to 8-5. This type of full on cooking I used to do only on the weekends pre-covid, but now am able to make it part of the daily routine because of working from home. But then the weekends are flipped, focusing more on longer workouts or cleaning the house or outdoors excursions and very little cooking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like healthy food shouldn’t take long to make so prepping is not necessary.

OP here and that is the opposite of my experience? All that washing and chopping of produce takes a lot of time.

I only manage to do it every other weekend maybe, but as PP said, if I don’t, we eat crap. And I’m a fan of crap occasionally, but too much of it doesn’t feel good.

I made a batch of homemade granola with the kids that they’ve been eating with yogurt and berries for breakfast, plus did a batch of hard-boiled eggs.

Grilled chicken for dinner Saturday night, but doubled to have leftovers to add to salads for lunch all week.

Roasted a bunch of chickpeas, sweet potatoes, beets and broccoli, also to add to salads during the week.

It wasn’t a ton of work, but there’s no way I have time for this during the week, so it’s a lifesaver.

More importantly, how do you store it all?