I’ve made stir fried chicken w/ veggies for work lunch. I splurged with a half cup of rice to go with.
Breakfast is a ham and cheese crust-less quiche and snacks will be clementines or wheat thins.
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That looks yummy, @Bajita! I might have to copy you!
Doing my usually breakfasts and splurged on deli meat for some lunches because I haven’t taken sandwiches for lunch in ages.
Ooh, I ought to try that. Hmm! Maybe make a rhubarb and blueberry qinoa (I like bluberries and rhubarb, heh).
Sounds like my wife. If I cook anything with qinoa, I hear about it, heh.
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@CatwithSevenToes. I’ve only ever had rhubarb with strawberries. I’ll have to try it with blueberries now!
Here’s my blueberry and rhubarb pie.
Oh my gosh, you do need to try it. It’s awesome. I’ve also made it with some small green sour apples that were growing around our old house, and I’ve made it with grapes. Though, I think concords would make a better rhubarb and grape pie, but I haven’t had those in ages.
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I’ve been slack on meal prepping and planning lately but it really does make my week go easier.
Yesterday I cooked a whole bag of lentils and used 1/3 of it in place is beans in my chili recipe. The rest of the lentils are going in the freezer, along with some of the chili, and a batch of taco meat (using ground turkey).
This morning I made up breakfast for the week. Taco breakfast bowls. I got the idea from skinnytaste but I didn’t use her recipe. I just roasted potatoes, made up taco meat, scrambled eggs and assembled.
I also made up a few lunches of sweet potatoes and chili.
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I’ve been thinking about adding sweet potatoes into my breakfast prep.
Never thought about combining sweet potatoes w/ chili before @geekgirl. 
This week’s lunch prep is tuna patties with a Mexican twist. I added cumin, cilantro and some minced jalapeno. I’ve prepped a side salad to go with and some fiesta ranch (w/ low fat sour cream) to use as a dressing.
Breakfast burritos are in the freezer and snacks will be strawberries w/ cottage cheese.
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Oooh yes please! I’ve done the XX meals in XX time freezer prep thing in the past and found it to be such a timesaver. Currently just stocking up on a few freezer basics such as hamburger meat, sausage link, etc. to be able to throw together something quick (spaghetti, tacos, etc.). Last week I made these easy slow cooker swedish meatballs (yummy and pretty simple) https://www.laurengreutman.com/slow-cooker-swedish-meatballs/. This week DH made some stew. Definitely interested to see all the ideas!
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Sweet potatoes are the bomb dot com!!
Does everyone have a favorite recipe website? I find myself using Pinterest a lot, but it’s hard to find real sites with full recipes. I generally use it for basic ideas. I found a few meal preps on blogs, and used a few recipes that way.
Skinnytaste.com has lots of good recipes. Even if you don’t care about “skinny” recipes I think it’s still a good site. You could adjust according by not using lower fat options.
I am such a fly-by-the-pants-seat cook. I can’t follow instructions, I find tweaks far too tempting to resist. That’s why all the recipes I’ve ever shared have read like “a handful of this” & “a pinch of that” & “this to taste”, lol. The Mister has been doing some food prep lately and the other day when he had the oven on I decided to economize cooking time and throw the sweet potatoes and squashes into the oven along with the fish he was making. I figure if you’re going to the trouble of heating up the stove, you might as well cook a few things at once.
This is how we end up with10 lbs of caramelized onion in the freezer.
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Iowa Girl Eats is consistently good! Unfortunately for her she developed celiac several years ago so her recipes are gluten free now, but easy enough to tweak. Still lots of good content, and I’m sure it’s awesome for the gf community!
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I have this week off for Winter Break so I’m taking a short break from meal prepping. I’ve made a pot of curried lentil and potato stew though.
I’m thinking about doing some meat prep for the freezer to help with future afternoon meal rush. I’m considering doing some hamburger prepped for tacos, maybe make a meatloaf or two. I also might marinade some chicken and run it through the vacuum sealer.
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I just finished cooking up 10 lbs of hamburger. It’s been portioned into approx. 2 lb batches and seasoned w/ onion and garlic. I’ve vacuum sealed each.
Next, I put about 6 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts in marinade and vacuum sealed those as well.
I have another 10 lb batch of burger to turn into a couple of meatloaves and hamburger patties.
On a slightly related note, I’m seriously considering becoming vegetarian. Does anyone have any suggestions? I do have a genetic tendency towards diabetes so I have to be carb conscious if I do this.
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I would suggest finding a few easy vegetarian recipes you like, and adding them to your regular meal rotation. They would become standard, go-to meals that you don’t even have to think about. It’s easier to gradually transition, than to panic and feel like you don’t know what to cook for dinner anymore.
Another easy way is to make your usual favourite recipes and to substitute the meat for an identical ‘plant-based’ meat. (Ground beef for Chili or shepherds pie, chicken cutlets, chicken nuggets, etc.)
If you want to have less expensive, less processed foods than the ‘fake meats’, you can substitute beans, lentils, tofu, etc. I love sloppy joes with lentils and soy protein instead of ground meat. Recipes like falafels are already naturally vegan. Vegetarian cooking really expanded my horizons and got me excited to taste new things.
I just love food so much. 
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Ooooh, I can help! I was a vegetarian for a year before going vegan. Are you looking for recipes, or what to buy that’s vegetarian? I would check out this website for an easy transition, and Connoisserusveg and The Stingy Vegan for recipes. Anything that is a vegan can be adapted back to be vegetarian, if you plan on consuming both eggs and dairy. Lots of vegetarian recipes can be heavy on cheese, so I would keep an eye out for that. It ends up being a lot of calories for not much nutrition.
I would keep an eye on your B12 if you don’t eat much of either, as it is found in animal products. Most multivitamins should have enough, but I’ve known vegans and vegetarians that have needed a supplement. Check with your doctor about that though. The guidelines for being a vegetarian are pretty lax. And you could always go pescatarin if you aren’t ready to give up fish. I did that as well. As long as you cut out the meat, you’re pretty much all set.
I have to agree, this is a pretty easy way to go at first, until you find a whole food alternative. I did it for a long time, getting ground soy protein and making goulash or tacos, and chick’n strips with veggies. I still eat it, just not as much, and beans are awesome! And lentils are quickly becoming my second fav.
I’ve been eating more meatless meals over the past couple of years, so I think a gradual shift would be easy.
Other than limited attempts at working with tofu, I’m clueless about plant based meats. I do believe I could do pescatarian. I love fish and seafood.
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