The Little Things
March 12, 2013

About two years ago, I finally realized that trying to cook every dinner right before I ate it and making lunches the night before (or morning of) was just not working for me. I was not eating well at all, and I really wasn’t excited about meal times. The fact is, it’s really difficult for me to work all day, then work out, and, by about 8 pm, I’m ravenous and not in the mood to cook. Most of the time it ended up being scrambled eggs or oatmeal for dinners, and a can of soup I would heat up in a mug at work for lunch. So, after a year of doing that, I realized that I needed to come up with a new plan! I decided that on Sunday afternoon or evening I would cook meals, or at least cut up everything in preparation, so that the time cooking during the week would be minimal. Another bonus: there are far fewer dishes when you cut things up at once!

Meal Prep 2 Collage

One of the things I decided up front was that I didn’t need to have a different food for each lunch and dinner throughout the week. While I like variety, convenience and less time definitely won out for me. I tend to eat the same think for lunch each work day, and make maybe 2 or 3 things each week for dinner.

I also cook in bulk and then freeze things for later so that it I can pull something from the freezer that makes an easy 2 meals. My freezer is stacked with various meal options so that in a time crunch, all I need to do is reheat and go! Of course I have my food staples on hand, and this makes things easier as well.

Every sunday, I make a lunch meal that will last for 5 days, I make a dinner meal or two, I cut up fresh vegetables for snacks the coming week, and I prepare fruit as best as I can and put them in containers to grab for easy lunches.

Here are some examples of common meals I make on Sundays:

LUNCH:

DINNERS:

Of course these are not the only meals I make, but give you an idea of meals that are easy to make and that are easy to prepare ahead of time.

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you do any meal prep on the weekends? What are some of your go to meals that are easy to freeze?

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One response to “Why Do A Weekend Meal Prep For The Week?”

  1. Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed says:
    March 12, 2013 at 8:38 am

    I need to do more of this! I keep saying it, but it really needs to become a HABIT. I think my upcoming Whole30 would be a perfect time for some Sunday meal prep!