I like to eat lunch and dinner with my family, but I don't love having to cook EVERY meal from scratch. Trust me, I DO love to cook and try new recipes, but just having meals ready to throw in the microwave has been a LIFESAVER for me as a busy working mom. To avoid the preservatives, sodium, and calories of store bought "quick meals" I have started to make my own. Don't get me wrong-I used to be the queen of "Healthy Choice" lunches for me and frozen burritos for the husband. When I taught school I would stop at home every day for lunch on my commute between schools and have a "Healthy Choice" meal and a Coke Zero...and maybe a piece of chocolate or two ;). I just realized how pricey and unhealthy they were and how gross we felt when we lived on those "quick meals".
Now my alternative is to meal prep meals that we enjoy and that are healthier options! We usually do one "meal prep" day each week to cook protein and assemble meals. I usually make 1 or 2 pots of soup or pans of taco/fajita meat at least 1 time a month. (Usually soups in the cooler months and taco meat in the warmer months).
My #1 BIGGEST tip- INVEST IN A BUNCH OF CONTAINERS!! We go through a lot of containers and they are not all created equal! The "ziploc" brand ones crack easy in the freezer, but the "rubbermaid" brand has held up pretty well. Having soup size containers and meal size containers (like I use in the video) make meal prep a breeze!!
Some 'hot' food we like to prep and keep in the fridge/freezer for the week/month:
Things we put in the fridge:
-Chicken
-Pork
-Shrimp
-Veggies
-Brown Rice
-W/W Pasta
-Quinoa
-Taco Meat
-Fajita Meat
-Spaghetti Sauce
Things that we freeze:
-Diced chicken
-Soup (chicken rice, chili, taco, vegetable etc.)
-Chicken Alfredo
-Spaghetti Sauce
-Taco Meat
-Fajita Meat
-W/W Pizza Dough
-Misc. Freezer crockpot meals from Pinterest
I made this video specifically for my clients using the 21 Day Fix meal plan but you can still apply the same concepts whether using the program or not.
Post #1 Meal Plan Madness: Meal Ideas & Grocery List