Meal prepping anyone?

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I’ve been meal prepping the last two weeks for weekday lunches. I cook something on Sunday in bulk, pack it into 5-6 individual containers, and then I can just grab a container and pop it in the microwave for lunch. I have been eating the same exact thing for breakfast for about a year or more now, so I figured I could do the same thing with lunch too, at least for a full week.

I did some googling and there are lots of ideas out there for single-container lunches. Most of the ones I bookmarked are recipes that contain some kind of chicken, vegetables, and rice. Last week I grilled a bunch of chicken breasts with some Tuscan seasoning, and then roasted a lot of broccoli, cherry tomatoes, squash/zuccini, and cut up red onions. I laid all that into 5 containers over a bed of yellow rice. It was pretty good, super easy, and most of all super healthy and right in line with my macro needs.

This week was similar, except I marinated some chicken breasts in a mixture of pineapple juice, soy sauce, and olive oil overnight. Then I grilled them with some fajita seasoning. I also grilled some sliced onions, and a bunch of red bell peppers (cut in half), along with zuccini. I also put this over a bed of yellow rice in multiple containers. Super delicious.

There are so many ideas for this stuff on the web. I have to say, most of them involve baking the chicken in an oven which to me is about as tasteless as you can get regardless of how you marinate or season it. Grilling makes most everything taste better, especially on something like a Big Green Egg (YASSSS!!!)

Anyone else do this and care to share ideas? It has taken me about 45 minutes to do all the prep/cooking for both of these, which is nothing given the bang you get out of it.

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I use air fryer, but you should see the best options of air fryer in your country(I am not from US), because I had 3 machines, and the first one was a total crap, cant eat anything because was dry AF, the others two is great, fries, chicken breats, beefs, etc… is just perfect and without oil, I just use aluminum foil because I am lazy prick who doesnt want to clean the machine everytime I use.

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Totally. Fit Men Cook (and its app) got me into meal prepping years ago and those are some really satisfying recipes for sure. What i find now is that i kind of just do incredibly simple meal preps because i can A) hit my numbers better and B) i’m a simple man. If i had a superpower i’d say it is the ability to eat stir fry for months if not years.

The instant-pot has been a life-altering experience in this regard. Don’t debate it. Just get one and come back here and thank me later. I’ll toss some kind of protein in there with a marinade i either store-bought or made myself. There are dozens of instant pot recipes out there.

My only regret is i didn’t get hooked up with one of these things when i was in college. I could’ve avoided this whole skinny-fat mess way earlier.

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I’ll have to check out Fit Men Cook. I bought my wife an Instapot for Christmas, but I haven’t used it. She’s made a few meals from it, but we haven’t meal-prepped using it.

I’m trying to eat less fatty meats in order to control calories while still getting lots of protein and some quality carbs and veggies. I haven’t really thought of an instapot or air-fryer as helping with that but maybe I should.

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I’m pretty averse to bodybuilding food but I will often big pots of things like pasta and meat sauce or curry and rice then pack it into bowls so I know what portion I’m getting each time. I figure if I took all the extra time creating a recipe on my fitness pal I might as well make it easy to just pop the bowls into the microwave throughout the week and know that I am actually getting the serving specified in my recipe.

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I need to be doing this. Going to check out that app AND look into an Instant-Pot.

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I cook food for lunch and dinner for the whole week on the weekends. In my experience it’s best to keep things as simple and interchangeable as possible. Basically on a typical week it’s as simple as cooking 2 different types of meat, a bunch of veggies, and a 2-3 types of carbs. Each meal gets 4-5oz meat, 150-200g of vegetables, and however many carbs I need filling in the rest to hit my macros/calories for the day. This makes it rather easy to rotate stuff in and out, as meat, veggies, and carb sources are all fully interchangeable. You don’t have to eat chicken every day. Don’t be afraid of leaner cuts of steak, lean ground beef, lean cuts of pork, and even chicken with the skin on (so much better tasting than cardboard skinless breasts). I overate boneless skinless chicken breasts my first year into fitness and avoid them at all costs these days. The thought of eating another plain, dry boneless skinless chicken breast just makes me want to gag, haha. I mean I make them once in awhile, but it has to be just smothered in tons of sauce. There is nothing wrong with leaner cuts of other meats. Chicken is overrated in the fitness community, imo. You can, and should, also venture out from just plain old rice. There are dozens of carb sources out there that are nutritious and get the job done. And if you really want to save time, there’s nothing wrong with some plain old frozen veggies with some form of seasoning.

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@Euby Man you totally nailed the fajita idea that I do often although I don’t want all the carbs so I use riced cauliflower instead of rice and add that to the peppers and fajita seasoning…truth be told I was at trader Joe’s buying riced cauliflower and I saw peppers named “Melange a trois” but read instead “Menage a trois” so of course I bought them I mean really who wouldn’t!!! and the combo was yummy (Ok you totally did not need to know the entire story, but it entertains me so why not)… Oh I also added a chili lime turkey burger to the mix… have had that everyday this week.

I tend to get into grooves of having the same thing daily. I think that is actually a legit thing to do, it’s easy to track on MFP (my fitness pal) and you don’t have to think. I also use high fiber wraps often for sandwiches or cut up a bunch of veggies, add chicken and put a light dressing or just balsamic vinegar on it often. Also I season chicken a ton of ways so that it is more palatable. Have you also thought of using a 96/4 burger for things? It’s low in calorie and fat for beef and you know it’s not chicken. You know I will probably think more about this and write additional ideas, but for now, my pillow is looking way too inviting.

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I am boring. I prep breakfast (1 serving of oats, 1 cup of egg whites, and 1 whole egg) and Lunch ( 8oz uncooked grilled chicken thighs(lot better tasting than breast) - I will sub this with steak or ground beef if I have left over from previous dinners, 1 serving basmati Rice, half a bag of frozen broccoli/cauliflower, then add soy sauce after the micro wave). Gets boring, but it only takes me 1 hour on Sunday morning and will be for 5 days worth. With 2 little kids, I need all the time I can get. I put 2 in the fridge and 3 in the freezer. That way, if I get to go out for lunch, I can save for the next week. Like I said, it is boring, but the more boring it is, the more I can stick to it. I have noticed, when I get fancy, I tend to want to eat out a whole lot more. Ill have protein shake or protein bar and fruit as snacks, then whatever we make for dinner.

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I have one of those George Foreman grills for chicken. I pour a lot of Tony Cachere’s Cajun seasoning on it (I actually buy it on ebay and have it shipped to Iceland). Makes it super tasty. I have that for dinner usually with veggies and a sweet potato or rice. For lunch I often make casseroles on Sundays and portion them out. I also have a lot of food intolerances so I can’t buy prepared food for lunch anyway… I have been making this great ground beef chili for years now… I have a few recipes that I just rotate through (I’m a bit lazy not to invent new stuff I guess…).

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BBQ all the things (grill for you Muricans)!

Get mince meat (ground meat for you Muricans) make burgers out of them (beef, venison, kangaroo, venison), steaks (sirloin, hangar, etc), chicken thighs, and sometimes breasts (marinated in something) all on the BBQ.

I usually do a week’s worth on the weekend, sometimes less. The BBQ is a monster so I can cook everything in about 10 to 15 minutes so a Wednesday cook is not out of the question. It is the meat preperation that takes time.

I generally eat red meat. I am sick of chicken breast, although on the barbie it comes out quite tender and juicy.

I also like doing a casserole (Greek kokinisto) or meat bolognese sauce which I also store and just portion out for lunch.

Veggies are steamed 90% of the time (easy to chuck in the microwave).

Rice and pasta are go to carbs.

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Excellent post, Teddyd! I grill most everything, including veggies, on a Big Green Egg. Adds tons of flavor. Skinless chicken breasts are almost always marinated overnight in pineapple juice, a little soy sauce, and a bit of olive oil. Or I’ll marinate them in yogurt and some kind of seasoning. I’m not a fan of leftover beef of any kind. LOVE it freshly cooked, but the next day it’s just not very good to me. I’m a big fan of chicken thighs also, especially skin on and slow smoked.

Grilled veggies are awesome. I split yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes in half and cook them like you would a steak, spritzing with olive oil. You can season them too depending on the flavor profile you are after (mexican, greek, italian, etc). Veggies that are more stringy like green beans and asparagus also grill up nicely. I even like to grill heart of romaine lettuce. Split it in half, spritz with olive oil cook it until it just starts to wilt on the outside. Add a little grated parm, salt and balsamic vinegar at the table and it’s awesome.

Baked potatoes are awesome on the grill, even if you nuke them first to get them cooked. Split them in half, then cook them for a couple of minutes on each side to absorb some grilled flavor.

Pro tip: If you’re cooking a fatty meat like steak or whole chicken thighs, then putting the veggies on the grill while the meat is cooking helps them to absorb more flavor from all that fat rendering down onto the hot coals. That really gets some smokey moisture happening inside a ceramic grill, and it gives everything on the grill a great flavor.

Shrimp skewers on the grill are awesome too. I like to marinate them for 30 minutes in canned tomato sauce, with a little bit of garlic, olive oil and finely chopped cilantro mixed in. Skewer them with as much of that sauce on them as you can, and cook them super hot for about 2 minutes per side max. The tomato sauce will dry kind of thick but not sticky, and it’ll char ever so slightly while absorbing grill flavor. This one is always a hit with guests, especially alongside a nice ribeye.

I highly recommend some kind of ceramic grill, like a Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, or Primo. They are life changing.

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I bake chicken thighs and potatoes at the same time. Simple and easy. In the summer I’ll grill instead of bake.

I also make stews in the dutch oven. Stews are so simple and you can kind of wing it once you have the basics down.

I make my breakfast/pre-work shake of whey, oats, and berries the night before.

I don’t prep breakfast (breakfast tacos lately), as they take 5 mins.

I tend to cook twice a week. Sunday for meals M-W, and weds night for meals Th-Sat. Sunday food is usually a little looser.

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I usually prepare my weekday meals 3 days ahead and keep having one same dish until I get tired of it and start having another.

I’m only into chicken, so my favorite meal is just some rice with chicken breast. I make several batches ahead of time and stick them in the freezer.

There’re several healthy chicken recipes I found on many sites such as eatingwell and healthykitchen101 but can hardly find some reliable one. Can any chicken lovers here recommend me some easy make-ahead chicken recipes, please?

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Take a crockpot, add 6 ounces of water, mix in salt, pepper, and garlic powder, add between 5-7 raw chicken breasts, put crockpot on low for 7 hours. After 7 hours drain crockpot of liquid, shred the chicken with two forks, dump 16 ounces (basically a whole bottle) of your favorite BBQ sauce, mix it into the shredded chicken, enjoy.

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If you ask me about the benefits of using the Foreman Grill vs stove top cooking with a pan, here are my thoughts about it’s advantages:

  • Your food will cook fast, top and bottom at the same time, and no flipping.

  • Smoke and steam is minimal because the food is covered.

  • Food won’t be sitting in it’s own grease because of the grill’s tilted design.

  • Cleanup is minimal if you line the grill with non-stick foil. Also line the drip trap with foil. This way you can lift the junk up and dump it - no muss, no fuss as they say. I’ve been doing this for years on my little Foreman, and it’s definitely the way to go. My hands never get greasy. The grill looks almost brand new. Latest modern models were reviewed here, feel free to check if you interested.

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pre cook all my lunches once every 2 weeks

Spicy chilli with sweet potato and carrot mash hnnnnng

The time and money I save is worth the hour I spend every other Sunday

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My father owns a restaurant and I usually go to his restaurant to cook or ask one of his cookers to cook for me or get something that’s already cooked. It’s so damn tastier to cook in a kitchen fully equipped with commercial catering equipment than at home when you have a table and a gas cooker. It’s kind of funny when I think about my father. He has invested more in his business than in his own kitchen.

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I’ve prepared thai green curry this week for lunches - easy to make, fry some chicken in a wok, add in a jar of thai green curry paste, cook for a few mins, then add in coconut milk (I used 400ml with 5 chicken breasts), then I added in 3 bell peppers, whole diced onion, a large packet of steam veg (broccoli, carrot and cauliflower) and diced red and green chillis. Cook the whole lot until the chicken is fully cooked, then I made 200g of white rice (40g per day).

The coconut milk has quite a high fat content, but a good alternative is almond milk with some cornflower.

Macros are:

Calories: 650
P: 65g
C: 44g
F: 26g

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I second a Big Green Egg! Have had it for 9 years now, and couldn’t be happier. I usually don’t prep by the week, but always make enough at dinner for my wife and I to have leftovers for lunch the next day. It’s always a lean protein, complex carb, and veggies…usually with a sauce/relish/salsa etc.