Q + A: Meal Prep TIPS + HACKS

Hi. Welcome to our Q and A series. This week is all about meal prep. We're answering the 10 most common questions you guys ask about meal prep. I'm Lindsay.

I'm Rachel.

And we're gonna jump right into the questions you guys have.

When do you meal prep on one day or multiple days?

So this has changed and shifted. When I had only just Brody, I would do a lot more bulk prep on one day during a weekend, during a nap time. Or I'd have my husband watch him for a couple hours so I could do a bulk prep. And. And now with two kids, I segment it a lot more. So I'm doing maybe a half hour here, 20 minutes here. So it's broken up. Typically, it looks like this Fridays, I'm home with the kids. So Friday mornings, Brody and I will meal prep pancakes or muffins or both if I can. So I'll do a baking item on Friday morning, and that's for Brody and me and my husband for the week. And then on Sunday, typically during nap time, I will try and get in a freezer meal, or I will prep and cut up veggies. I. I'll prep fruit, and I'll usually do, like, baked eggs or egg sandwiches for breakfast as well. So it's a lot more split up nowadays because Bella needs to eat, like, every two hours. How do you prep veggies for the week? Yes. So I think a lot of people are like, you just roast all your veggies for the week. They would get soggy and gross and yuck. So no, but I will prep veggies. And so when I say prep veggies, it means. So I will take something like peppers, and I'll pre chop them, and I will store them in a lovely produce saver container. We'll link those below because I love them. So. But I'll prep veggies and chop them. So if I'm having stir fry or tacos, I can literally pull them from the fridge and dump them into a pan. And I don't have to do the chopping on the weeknight. So I'll chop peppers. I will peel sweet potatoes and chop sweet potatoes. And simple. Something simple. Like when I just get home from the grocery store, I'll take something like asparagus. I'll take that out of the package if it's packaged or out of the bag, and I'll place it in a glass mason jar with a little bit of water and just store it in the fridge like this. And this will keep your asparagus for A week versus a couple days. They'll get mushy if they stay in the bag from the store. So it's little things like that. I'll also do that with any kale or any other fresh produce that have stems on them. I'll put it in a little water in a mason jar. So it's just little things like that that are considered quote unquote, prepping veggies. But if I'm going to during a weeknight, if I'm doing like a one pan chicken bake, I'll roast an extra pan of veggies that I'll use for the next like two days for lunches, for meal prep. So I'll do it that night. But I won't like pre roast veggies for a week.

How you decide what to make each week.

Yes. So if you're following along on Instagram, we are sharing my weekly meal plan, which is a really fancy post. It note that I write down every week. But there is strategy behind this in the sense that I literally look at our schedule for the week. If I have work events, if my husband has something, if we have a church night, whatever it looks like. And I will cater our meal plan to that. So quicker meals go on church nights or I'll pull from the freezer. And then if we have a night where we're just home, maybe that's when I'll do a 30 minute, you know, 1 or 2pm meal. So all my meals can be made in usually 30 minutes or less. But the meal plan is strategic. And then I, you know, switch out proteins so we don't have like beef two nights in a row or whatever. So I'll switch it out.

What are your go to meals?

Yes. So go to meals that are typically always on the meal plan are some type of stir fry, some type of tacos. Those are really easy, basic meals. But you just mix them up every week by switching out the protein. So we'll do steak tacos, we'll do shrimp tacos, we'll do salmon tacos, we'll do sweet potato tacos. Like you literally just switch out your protein sources or your main. And then you'll sometimes switch up the, the marinades or the sauces. I'll do like a mango corn salsa and then I'll do black beans or whatever you switch it up. Or for stir fry we'll do like beef and broccoli with a teriyaki and then I'll do a chicken curry with peppers. So it's the same type of Base, but you just switch out the sauces, marinades and proteins.

What do you do if you meal prepped but don't feel like eating what you prepped?

So that happened a lot when I was pregnant. I didn't really love leftovers when I was pregnant. It doesn't happen as much anymore. I'm pretty basic. I kind of, you know, I can eat the same thing all week, so I'm not as picky there. But if you are picky or if you're pregnant and you're meal prepping and you're like, yuck, that's gross. That's the beauty of meal prep is I would typically always pack extras in the sense of I, I would pack spinach, pancakes or muffins. So I'd have some other items to choose from on hand as well. Or, you know, that's just, that just stinks sometimes. And then maybe you just, if you're at a coffee shop, you grab lunch there. You know, it's the nature of the game. But yeah.

How do you rotate through your freezer stash so nothing goes bad?

So super simple as well. So I make a weekly meal plan and it sticks on my fridge. It's a post it note and then behind that is always another post it note. And. And this is just a running tally of what's in my freezer. So you'll see I've crossed off some items as we've used them, I've added items. So I literally just keep a running tally of what's in the freezer. And every week I typically pull one meal from the freezer on a night that we're busy or that we have an event going on. And then every weekend or week I strive to double batch something or to add one meal to the freezer. So every week I'm usually pulling something and then I'm adding something. So it rotates pretty frequently. And I keep a running tally so I don't forget.

Do you have any time saving meal prep hacks?

Yes. So my time saving meal prep hack is this is perfect because we have a busy week. So these were literally in my fridge and freezer. But I would say steam in a bag. Brown rice is a super simple one. I love having a grain on hand. So whether it's quinoa or brown rice or farro or whatever it is, if I have time, I'll bulk prep that on Sundays. But if I don't, I have it in the freezer and steam in a bag is my go to. And then you can make a Meal I out of steam in a bag. So a grain, it's like a grain bowl. You'll see this on my list a lot and then you'll top it with a veggie. This is like steam in a big broccoli. But any type of veggie you can top it with. And then buying the pre grilled chicken breast, this is from Target. Or buying a rotisserie chicken, something that you can top it with. And then literally add a sauce or a marinade or a pesto or whatever you have on hand. You could always add a runny egg. That's another go to. So literally grab grain, veggie and pre cooked protein is a go to. You can make it a burrito bowl. Add canned corn and canned black beans. Keep it really budget friendly. So that's those are a good hack.

Are some of your grab and go snacks that don't require meal prep?

Yes. Usually in my purse is nuts or trail mix is my go to. I love trail mix. I have apples. They travel really nice. Apples with a little peanut butter or nut butter packet is a nice way to add a healthy food fat. You can have a banana nut butter, those instant oatmeal cups or you can make your own instant oatmeal. Having instant oatmeal on hand, you just have to add hot water to which you can get at a coffee shop. And perfect bars. I like perfect bars.

How do you meal prep on a budget and balance eating quality or organic with budget friendly meals?

So that's something that's going to take more work and it's a little bit more strategic when planning and buying things. Things in bulk are buying on sale and being flexible at the store. So if you see something's on sale, like if you know beef steaks are on sale, it's like adjusting your meal plan. So it takes more work and you have to be flexible. Honestly, it's something I'm not that good at yet. I'm still working on. We do budget a little heavier for our grocery bill because it's something I personally feel investing in. But that said, I'm not always buying organic. I will take the conventional route a lot and so I spend the bulk of our money on produce and meat. So not produce like vegetables but on meats, salmon, chicken, anything, eggs. I will spend more money on those because those are protein sources. So that's where a lot of basically like pesticides or unfriendly things that they really store in those and they cling to those. So I will spend more money on our produce and meat. And then dairy would be the second tier. So it'd be like your meats. And then Dairy is my second tier because of Omega 6s versus Omega 3s. Maybe that's something we can talk about another time. But grass fed dairy comes with more omega 6s. Is what you. Or more omega 3s. Omega 6s have inflammation which are more present in other dairy forms. And then produce like your fruits and vegetables. And fruits and vegetables. A lot of time buy conventional. There's the Dirty Dozen you can look at. And you can try and buy organic for the Dirty Dozen. And. But anything with a peel or a skin on it, like bananas or avocados, always buy conventional.

How did you get started with meal prep? It seems like a great idea, but overwhelming.

So it can be overwhelming because people overcomplicate it. I personally started years ago back in my fitness competition days when I, like stood on stage in a bikini and you were forced to eat salmon or a tilapia and asparagus for every meal, so you had to prep it. So I started years ago and I'm glad I did because I had the habit prior to having kids. And so it's just been a natural part of my life that has carried into motherhood. So I'm grateful for that because it is hard or could be overwhelming to just like up and start. So I had that habit before, so I feel grateful for that. But that said, if you want to start meal prepping, I think people overcomplicate it. You'll scroll Instagram and you'll see these people have spreads of like, here's my 17 meals I've prepped for the week. And you're like, well, who has time for that? So start small like you do with anything. If you're going to start working out for the first time or do anything, you start small. So I would say start by maybe making one pan of muffins a week that you could use throughout the week, or you could freeze and make one pan of muffins throughout the week, something you can enjoy. Or make one extra sheet pan of roasted veggies or throw two extra chicken breasts on the grill. Something. Just start small and then you'll see the. You'll see the benefits of it and you'll see how you. How much you like, reap throughout the week and how much easier it makes your life. Especially if you have kids and take. Typically that's what motivates me. Like, you know, I could spend Fridays just sipping coffee and chilling with the kids and that would be fun. And some days I do that. But making pancakes together is something me and Brody like do together. And it's a fun activity, but also makes my mornings so much smoother. And that's what allows me to get a workout in and get a shower in and get food on the table and do all the things I need to do before work. So that is our Meal Prep Q and a series, our 10 answers to your 10 questions. And and we're going to post more details in the blog post associated with this video. Links out to recipes we love and links out to the products we love for meal prep. So check out that if you want more details. And we'll be back next month with another Q and A series.