Food prep on the weekends?

[LoveLife]

Life has been really hectic around here lately. I started school in August part time, then upped it to 3 classes this semester, but the schedule of these classes is making it almost impossible for me to cook.

We've been eating a LOT of junk. I'm talking fast food, probably 6 times this month alone. Junky snacks, unwholesome everything. DH and I are both tired of it and on our DS got a nasty cold this weekend- and he NEVER gets sick.

I'm looking for ways to help me get back to cooking good, wholesome, healthy meals for my family. I have to study while DS naps, so nap time is out for food prep. DH works long hours, so he can't cook more often because we'd be eating at around 8 if he had to cook after he got home. I'm using my slow cooker once a week, and may up it to twice a week- but need more crockpot recipes.

Do any of you do food prep on the weekends?? Like cook meats, cut veggies and stuff? Does it help you get things together during the week? How do you go about it?

Does anyone have any other suggestions to help me get our family back on track?

THANKS!

[Alyantavid]

I always do. I make big batches of muffins, waffles or pancakes to freeze and then reheat quickly. I make pasta or potato salads to eat on all week. Soups as well, since dh eats at home and I pack my lunch all week. I'll make up some egg salad or tuna salad for sandwiches too. Hardboiled eggs make really good snacks.

I meal plan so if I know I'll need something in particular, I'll go ahead and chop the veggies for it. Then I can just throw it together.

[caiesmommy]

It depends on what you normally eat? I do some prep on the weekends, usually sun the only day dh is home(it helps that he's there to distract the little ones)
We're veggies so some tips might not help
I usually make
-muffins for snacks
-dice onion/garlic and store in a glass container for the week(every meal we eat starts with onion/garlic
-make veggie broth for the week
-make a huge batch of rice(sometimes)-1 meal of curry on rice, fried rice or lemon rice, leftover rice in soup ect


I use to make a "traditional" sun dinner(back when I ate meat...long long time ago)
1 week would be a roast w potatoes/carrots ect in the slow cooker
then I would have
-roast beef sandwiches
-soft tacos with the beef
-shepards pie with the beef/carrots diced/more veg and the potatoes mashed up
-soup w whatever was leftover
Chicken the next week
-stir fry
-chicken noodle soup w homemade broth


Find ingredients that you can overlap meals with

[Ola_]

I think the crockpot is a great idea. Here is one website that may help you for recipes:
A Year of Slowcooking

I love the idea of making waffles or pancakes ahead of time to reheat. You could do the same with oatmeal - make a batch in the crock pot overnight and then refridgerate/freeze portions so you just need to reheat it and eat.

There's a lot of ingredients you can prepare ahead of time. For example I usually have a bag of chopped onions in the freezer. I just chop an extra onion or two, toss into a ziplock bag, flatten out and put in the freezer. I add it to recipes just like fresh chopped ones, since they thaw so fast because they're in small pieces. Currently I have red and white onions in there, I'll bet you could do garlic too. If you have a food processor that would be one way to get the onions done but I do them by hand and it's not that bad. Amazing how fast it makes meal prep.

For other veg there is probably more you can cut up beforehand - maybe celery, carrots, stuff like that? Just keep in closed containers in the fridge so they don't dry out. Not potatoes or stuff that will brown though. I do this for snacking veggies and it works well (currently have a cut-up cauliflower in the fridge). I'm not a big meat eater so I don't know how much you can do ahead of time, but I know for the crockpot you can just put them in there frozen, so maybe that will help?

I'd also do a meal plan and post it along with the ingredients and recipes in the kitchen, so you're not hunting for it when you want to cook or put stuff in the crockpot. I put mine on index cards, but really anything would work as long as it's easy for you to access.

[Magelet]

You can do lots of veggie prep 2-3 days in advance at least (and with lots of veggies, more I'm sure). even potatos can be chopped a few days in advance, just store them submerged in water in the fridge.

in terms of advance prepwork, if you use sauted onions like I do, it's useful to note that they keep. therefore you could saute 10 onions worth of onions until caramelized on the weekend, pop in the fridge, and scoop out into the pan and heat (or pop cold on a salad) and use as you normally would. it's super fast and helpful since I use them in everything. they last at least 2 weeks in the fridge.

menu planning helps with budget and time big time.

for healthy snacks:
boiled eggs
veggies with vinegrette or creamy dressing or mayo to dip (pretty easy, very quick to make at home, and you can make a big batch of homemade dressing to keep all week, or use a healthy storebought version)
hummus (you can make a big batch on the weekends, use canned or home cooked chickpeas, some minced garlic, salt, lemon juice, water and olive oil, whir it around in a blender or much much easier, a food processor til smooth.) you could buy pita but it's great with veggies or a spoon too.

in terms of quick healthy foods:
breakfast for dinner. egg dishes are so fast and easy. When eggs are in season, we LOVE having scrambled eggs and toast for dinner. and it's super cheap. we add some cheese and sauted onions and veggies to them sometimes.

grain or bean salads you could make a big one on the weekend, (they're not fast persay if you cook your own beans, but you just have to put them in a bowl with water and let them soak themselves, then put them in a pot with water and cook themselves and then add veggies and cheese or meat and salad dressing (extra acid extra salt). they're better the 2nd, 3rd, 4th day etc. you could make a big batch, have it for dinner 2 nights and several lunches. (french green lentils are great!)

one of my favorite 14 minute dinners:
boil water for capellini/angel hair. while it boils, heat lots of olive oil, and some sundried tomatoes in a pan (optional garlic) (optional leftover chicken cut into small peices), ideally with the oils the tomatoes came in. salt. when the water boils, put the capellini in to cook (takes 2-3 minutes), and put frozen peas straight into the oil. By the time the pasta is done and drained, the peas should be hot, so pop the pasta into the sauce or the sauce over the pasta. (optional stir in goat cheese or ricotta) serve with some parmi.
it's fast, easy, tasty, and if it's not a nutritional powerhouse, it is a LOT healthier than fast food.

I'm a cook, so to me, cooking is integral, and necessary to my life, but if I had very very little time during the week, and only a little time on the weekends, I'd make big batches of foods like grain and bean salads, batches of hummus and salad dressing, sauted onions, hardboiled eggs multitasking on one weekend day, and then make stews in the crockpot, stir-fries, and eat those pre-cooked foods, along with the occasional pasta dish.
good luck. you can do this.

[LoveLife]

You ladies are wonderful! You've made me feel like I can acutally get back on track. I know that sounds dramatic, but I've been feeling so overwhelmed and hopeless lately that this is just what I needed.

I've always meal planned, but had trouble finding the time to follow through with my plan. I think that prepping on the weekends will help so much and I'm going to start today! I'm feeling very excited and motivated. I'll update and let you know how it goes.