Quick meal prep | Monday Aug 17

I have been following a weekly routine where I "prep" most of my family's food for the week on Sunday (or this week Monday) throughout the day.  It makes a lot of dishes, even more mess, but it is will worth it.  It took me *years* to be able to convince myself to eat the same things more than one day in a row, or even the same two meals for lunch in the same week.  I finally realized I could work through lunch by eating my meal at my desk, whether I had to pump (until June of this year) or whether I could catch up on my dictations and phone calls.... It saved me time and money.  And pounds.  Lots of pounds :)  August is probably my third or so month in a row --- and I haven't missed a week yet!  (If I did, I would order from Simply Caveman - paleo prepped meals).

This week, I somehow convinced Forrest to stop at a Farmer's Market type of outdoor store on our long drive home from a weekend away, and quickly grabbed a few fresh fruits and veggies to add to week's meals in addition to what I already had in the freezer.

I bought
*1/2 peck of white peaches (?it included about 10 so not sure if this is 1/4 or 1/2 of a peck)
*1 cucumber
*2 zucchini
*1 red onion
*2 nectarines
*Hickory smoked sea salt

I had in my fridge/freezer/pantry
*Frozen swai (a white fish at aldi, very good and < $5 for a several pound package)
*8 eggs
*Pistachios and almonds
*Frozen cauliflower
*Frozen green beans
*Sweet potatoes

I ended up hesitantly going to Wal Mart as I was completely out of Almond Milk for Hunter.... big mistake.  Long lines.  I bought Almond Milk, grapes, and soy yogurt.  And got out of there as fast as I could.

This morning, while Hunter was playing, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F and placed the swai on a large baking sheet (the best one for meal prepping is at Sam's club in catering section, <$10 for two large baking sheets with about an one inch lip all around) with Hickory smoked sea salt, pepper, and garlic infused olive oil.  It baked for 30 minutes while I "baggied" nuts for us and puffs for Hunter.

Later in the day and before I left for the store, I put the frozen "fine" green beans in a crock pot with a little of water, sliced almonds, some garlic infused olive oil, TINY sprinkle of salt... and let it cook on low for about 3-4 hours.

I also microwaved 2 steamer bags of plain cauliflower... Hunter and I had some with lunch and I put the rest in tupperware that I will add to a protein for Hunter for dinner this week.

While I was doing all that, I preheated the oven for 450 degrees F to make one of our meal prep staple recipes--- Oven-Fried Sweet Potato Wedges.

Last, I packaged all the fish and added a veggie to each tupperware.  This made about 6 meals and will last probably through Thursday.  I also put chicken from the freezer into the fridge so I can marinade and make that along with the zucchini and red onion Wed/Thurs to have food for the rest of the week.  This time, I decided to prioritize a nap (because, #momlife) and do half my prep now, and half later in the week.  Plus, I usually make a large grocery trip to Aldi or Kroger the day before prepping which wasn't possible this week.  I also plan to peel/slice cucumber before bed and add vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper to have for my afternoon snack.

My daily meal plan looks like this:

Breakfast - pre-packaged bar on way to work with black coffee
Snack at work - 2 baked eggs
Mid morning snack - fruit + nuts
Lunch - fish, green beans, and sweet potato wedges
Mid afternoon snack - cucumbers (plus these salted dried pea crisp I am obsessed with at the moment)
Dinner - since I did a small prep I will probably just make a smoothie, heat up a veggie burger from the freezer, or have a bowl of cereal. Usually I have enough pre packaged meals to eat for dinner also, maybe next week!

Do you meal prep?  What are your favorite recipes?  My biggest success has been when I use very few recipes and just bake/grill 2-3 proteins, 2-3 veggies, and have fresh fruit ready to go.