Meal prep! Who's with me?

[Elode 8,093]

I've decide that I'm going to give this "meal prep" idea a go. I've been slacking on eating healthy. I have yet to gain weight but at the rate I'm going it's bound to happen. I order the stuff listed below from Amazon last night in preparation for my return to work next week. I end up drinking only a Protein Shake at work and then come home at night and want to eat the house. I still don't eat and drink together so when I get my 30 min break its either eat or drink. I think this will be an excellent way to keep full and focused so that I'm not eating junk when I get home. Do you meal prep for the week? What kind of foods do you make? I've found some really good YouTube videos with recipes ect...but I'm wanting to hear from the WLS community. We could even make this a "thing" if anyone else is interested in doing this together. We can take pictures and share ideas. I'm all for it! ☺️

[Bufflehead 6,358]

I am the laziest meal prep person! I get almost everything I need from Trader Joe's. Here's my standard Breakfast, lunch, and snacks:

early morning snack: FF hot coca made with cashew milk & FF whipped cream. under 50 calories

breakfast: Trader Joe's grilled seasoned white meat chicken strips, 3 oz. I just chop up 3 ounces and put it in a Glad container with a plastic fork. No need to refrigerate or anything (I take this to work with me and eat breakfast around 11 AM). 90 calories.

lunch: 3 ounces chopped Trader Joe's chicken breast + 1.5 oz frozen green veggies (asparagus, artichoke hearts, or green Beans - defrost in microwave for 30 seconds on level 3 power) + .5 T light champagne vinaigrette. Throw all ingredients together in another Gladware type container. No refrigeration necessary (lunch is usually around 2 PM). 115 calories.

afternoon snack: small Pink Lady or Honeycrisp apple (really small!). 55 calories.

The longest time I spend on any of this meal prep is the approximately 3 minutes it takes to heat up the cashew milk for the hot cocoa and then blend it in the immersion blender.

[Elode 8,093]

@@Bufflehead lol! Well ok then. You eat that every day?

[Bufflehead 6,358]

@@Elode every week day. On weekends I get wild and crazy: Saturday Breakfast is scallops and Sunday breakfast is shrimp.

Yes, I am totally a creature of habit -- I try to make food as routine as possible rather than a source of entertainment. That's what the psychologist I met with as part of surgery prep suggested -- he says that's what most non-obese people do. I do enjoy my food and change it up on rare occasions but for the most part I eat the same things every day with only minor variations.

[Christinamo7 4,042]

this weekend I will cook up a bunch of ground sirloin and ground turkey together with garlic, salt and pepper. this will make a number of fast easy lunch/dinners. I will crock pot about 6 chicken breasts with seasoning too.

Then, I will prep my lunches for the week and stack em up in the veggie drawer of the fridge so the 21 yr old boy wont find them. :-D

I love to cook - but getting some of this labor out of the way means I can easily have something different ready during the week in way less than 30 minutes.

[KindaFamiliar 3,867]

I'm similar..

Each Sunday afternoon, I cook up a batch of lentils with peas and anchovies...

I fry the anchovies off with some garlic and chili, then add the lentils and some fish stock...

When it's almost done, I add some frozen peas..

I know it sounds awful but it's not...

The flavours really work together...

Anyway...

Once it's cooled, I separate it into as many containers as I can get out of it..

Only very small serves, so I will usually get about ten from a bag...

Then I fry off some prawns (shrimp), salmon or scallops, also in garlic and chili..

Add a few prawns/scallops or a piece of salmon to each container and there's the week's lunches and dinners..

Half goes into the freezer to be used later in the week..

Half stays in the fridge..

It's just easier this way...

I live alone so am not interested in cooking for one each night..

Admittedly, it does get boring...

But as I've yet to get hungry, it matters not what I'm eating..

[Elode 8,093]

@@Christinamo7 I don't know why I'm just now thinking about this. It seems so common sense and I LOVE cooking too! I'm that annoying chick on FB that takes pictures of her food lol! People love it

[Elode 8,093]

@@KindaFamiliar I have never heard of such a dish. I like lentils and I like peas. I don't know about anchovies? I cook everything! Southern food, Korean food, Italian ect..... I like to learn new things!

[Christinamo7 4,042]

me too! and I love to see pictures of everyone else's food.

Tonight we made a tex mex meat blend. The family made nachos, I had my nachos without chips. I will make about 12 burritos with the leftover meat/beans for my husband and freeze all but 3 for his future lunches.

me too! and I love to see pictures of everyone else's food.

Tonight we made a tex mex meat blend. The family made nachos, I had my nachos without chips. I will make about 12 burritos with the leftover meat/beans for my husband and freeze all but 3 for his future lunches.

[Elode 8,093]

@@Christinamo7 I was wondering about freezing them meals after I make them since I'm going to do 10 at a time. Does the food still taste the same once it's been frozen?

[Christinamo7 4,042]

some things reheat well and others less so. It is always worth trying and see how you like it. I haven't run into anything that I didn't like as well after it's thawed out. If I am having a lunch or dinner that was in the freezer I try to take it out the night before and put it in the fridge.

[KindaFamiliar 3,867]

@@Elode

I came up with the dish when I was looking up 'high protein' foods..

Lentils, peas and anchovies were all on the list...

I already knew about the seafood..

I'd not eaten lentils since the late 70s when my mother went on a hippy food crusade and started doing the lentils and the chick peas and the mung Beans...

They tasted awful but at least we were all 'regular'..

Anyway, when I saw all these listed I thought I'd give them a crack...

The anchovies are only there for depth of flavor...

You can't taste them...

Or maybe it's because I eat them outta the jar so there's only ever half the amount in the brew...

Either way, the really bring out the sweetness in the peas and the seafood...

Now, I've forgotten the point I was gonna make...

So if you can think of something wise or funny right now and pretend I said it I'd be much obliged...

Thanx...

[Elode 8,093]

@@KindaFamiliar Well I figure that's the kind of food you foreigners must eat. Weird stuff like that. We're normal here in America. I might have to try it though. I'm not sure I can get past the peas with anchovies. That seems weird. Isn't that a lot of carbs also? Lentils and peas together? I guess they are natural? I had an African lentil Soup once with peanuts in it.....ok, now I don't know where this conversation is going either? Anywho. This meal prep needs to start ASAP because I just ate a White Castle burger and 4 hot fries. Not VSG approved.

[Elode 8,093]

@@Christinamo7 I'm going to try it. I cook a lot but never really freeze any of it unless it's chili or a Soup but then no one every remembers it's in the freezer so I end up throwing it out some months/years later.

[KindaFamiliar 3,867]

@@Elode

I'm just enjoying being in a conversation with you that doesn't involve you getting your bits out...

Yes, it's a few carbs...

But in the small portions I have it's ok...

Plus, it's generally my only carbs for the day...