Does anyone have some go to easy to prep meals that fit the TBAB approach? I am currently on a calorie reduction with approx 250p / 150c / 50f. I am having a hard time sticking to the lack of variety in my meal prep. I struggle most with vegetables at lunch in an office with only a microwave and no sink.
Some go to staples in my plan:
Breakfast - 170g non fat Greek yogurt and 200g strawberries or blackberries.
Lunch/Dinner - 200g Chicken, 100g brown rice, 200g broccoli or some other vegetable
Snack - 200g berries and 25-50g whey
I dont have time to cook at night when I get home so I batch cook a ton of chicken on Sunday and just reheat it throughout the week. Any suggestions for other protein prep would be great.
I also prep veggies by roasting a few tray-fulls on Sunday as well.
Any thoughts on breaking up the monotony would be greatly appreciated.
I use the RP diet app, which allows you to create meals with their macro targets and save them. So I now have a number of go to meals that I can load up. The app even changes the proportions (to the degree possible) when the macro requirements change. That said, the macro recs are probably different, the app requires at least 4 meals a day etc.
Not sure what TBAB refers to, but this is what I do for meal-prepping.
Besides chicken, other types of meat that have versatile uses after pre-prepping include any kind of ground meat (beef or turkey), pork tenderloin, and chuck roast. I like to cook my ground meat with some onion and garlic. I freeze anything I’m not going to be using right away in the size portions I will need for a meal. I can add it to vege soup, pasta sauce, a burrito, etc. Both chuck roast and pork tenderloin are super easy. For a chuck roast, I put it in the oven with about 1/2-1 inch of liquid in a covered pan, then cook at 325 for an hour. I turn it down to 275 and add onions and carrots and cook another couple hours. It is done when you can tear it apart with a fork. You can use the pan juices to make gravy or as a base for vege soup. You can eat the meat “as is” or shred it and put it in vege soup, chili, or add barbeque sauce. Pork tenderloin is likewise cooked with some liquid. You can find recipes online and probably on the package you buy it in.
You can also cook a London broil, and slice it up and put that in the freezer. When I was in college, I used to work at a high class steak house and their “secret recipe” was to marinate the London broil in Kraft Zesty Italian dressing for a couple days. Don’t overcook it, slice it against the grain in thin slices. So, so, good. You can use it on salad or sandwiches.
I make big batches of vege soup and freeze it in the serving size I’m going to use. I make plain vegetarian for me because I use it as a vege and have a separate meat (usually chicken; sometimes I just add the ground turkey I prepped earlier) I make vege beef for my husband and son.
For the base, I use low-sodim V8 juice. I usually do 2 bottles. This is what I would put in with that: 1-2 chopped sweet onions, 1/2 c chopped celery , 3-5 whole carrots (wait till they are cooked, then fish them out and chop them. Take like a minute after they are soft but I think it’s a pain while they can still roll around) . 1/2 green cabbage sliced thinly (I slice the other half and freeze it, then the next time, dump that in) , I usually add a large can or carton of chopped tomatoes. Simmer. After the carrots are soft and you’ve chopped them and put them back in, I add frozen peas and corn … I season toward the end: basil, oregano, thyme to taste (I use a lot) and a couple bay leaves. You can throw any other veges you like in there and leave out any you don’t. Personally I think the tomato-cabbage-onion combo is important, but YMMV. If you want to make it vege beef, put in the beef broth during cooking. Since you will be using the already cooked chuck roast, add 3-4 oz for your protein to the jar before freezing.
I freeze the soup in freezer safe canning jars. Then you can pop them out of the freezer, defrost in the microwave, pour into a bowl, and eat. The actual prep for the soup goes fast. Simmering time is obviously longer (couple hours). I was thinking this would also work for veges at work. 2 cups of plain vege soup is about 4 servings of veges. This is my go-to during the winter because once it’s done, I just grab it whenever I need veges. In the summer, I switch to salad.
Ball makes the freezer safe jars.You’ll need the ones that are 1 1/2 pints to get 2 cups into. The sides of the jars go straight up, rather than having a neck that narrows. (Those are regular jars and will crack when the food expands when it freezes.) It will say “Freezer safe” in a light blue box on the carton. You have to buy 9-12 at a time, but you’ll need that for a lot of soup. Walmart carries them.
Also, to break up the monotony of your chicken, try making or buying some spice mixes. I have a whole jar of Cajun seasoning that I’ve mixed up . (It’s good on the rice, too). Save the broth from your chicken and use that as part of the liquid for your rice. It makes it tastier and blends with the chicken. I lalso ike Tone’s Cilantro Lime seasoning as well. It gives you a different pop of flavor. Mexican seasoning is pretty easy —just sprinkle with chili powder, cumin, onion powder, and garlic. Add some hot sauce or cayenne if you like things hot.
Crock pot/instant pot. Buy a big one. Some things I make in it:
-Chili (chicken breast, pork tenderloin. You can use beef too but have to brown it and I’m lazy). Cans of diced tomatoes/tomato paste and spices. Veggies of choice. If you need carbs, beans, corn, etc.
-Spaghetti (same as chili, different spices). Noodles separate in a giant vat, combine.
-Beef stew (have to brown the meat), but veggies, some beef stock.
-Oatmeal (steel cut oats, frozen strawberries/blueberries/raisins/lots of cinnamon). I make a bunch of these in 400g post cook weight (350 calorie) sizes.
-Chicken gyros → half chicken breast/thighs, spices, carrots, red onion. Buy some pitas.
-BBQ pulled pork tenderloin → BBQ sauce, onion, spices.
-Cilantro lime chicken → Chicken, corn, black beans, tomatoes, chipotle and other spices (cilantro and lime of course too).
All of these I make with 4-5 lbs of meat and all of them can be done on your macros.
I can provide details on any recipies if you’re interested, though if you don’t like spicy food as much you may want to half the cayenne, chipotle, chili, cumin, etc.
Do you use stocks at all (chicken/beef/veg, seafood, shrimp) These add flavor, but also importantly, the umami that is highly satisfying. Mushrooms are a good source of it, as is soy sauce, liquid amino’s, fish sauce, etc. All of these can add a ton of flavor, without adding many calories. Grow some fresh herbs and use those. Use different cooking methods for the same meat and/or vegetable, gives alot of variation on texture. Toasting your spices in a pan, and then adding the meat and/or veg can add a deeper flavor. You can also flavor your cooking oils with herbs/spice to create profiles that way.
One thing that’s often overlooked in “meal prep” is to buy the best ingredients you can, and then treat them with respect. Do not overcook your shit. Get an instant read thermometer.
@Chef_Chris
Yes, Costco–can get beef/chicken stocks in bulk (along with meat and veggies). Made a trip today, didn’t need stocks, but chicken breasts/thighs < $3 a pound, round steak, $3.29 a pound and already cooked turkey breast (NOT lunch meat/nitrates, just oven roasted turkey breast) at $4 a pound. Prepped stuff to cook tonight and tomorrow for the week (note that I do have a family of 5 and my maintenance is 3700 calories a day, so it may look a little excessive):
6 lbs chicken tenderloin, quinoa made with chicken broth (dinner tonight plus leftovers). Feeling lazy so veggies are frozen veggies.
Round Steak. After I cook the steak I use the broth/stock that’s left in pan to cook onions/poblano peppers/tomatoes in it. Use that this week with hard boiled eggs as grab and go breakfasts.
