Containers are from Dollar Tree and my mommy planner is from Staples
Yes, I have decided to courageously embark on prepping my family's meals for the entire week including breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks for me and my husband (little one is still on baby food or just eats a little bit of what we eat). It's a lot of planning and a lot of work but totally worth it so far.
I first researched meals that I wanted to cook that both of us would enjoy. Something easy and quick in the morning, something filling and healthy for lunch and dinner and 2 snacks to enjoy. For breakfast I always keep cereal, bagels, frozen waffles, and eggs on hand so we can pick and choose what we want in the mornings. My husband gets up before me and Lilly do so something easy and simple he can fix himself when he's rushing out the door is key. For lunch I decided to fix the same meal ahead of time for the both of us to eat for the entire week. And 2 snacks that are healthy and filling. Dinner will be something different every night with Friday night being our going out or take out night.
Links to recipes down below
Breakfast Options on Hand
Eggs
Waffles
Bagels
Cereal
Snacks
4 snacks per day x 5 days = 20 snacks for the week
Apple and/or banana
Peanut Butter
Protein Bar
Lunch
2 lunches per day x 5 days = 10 total lunches for the week
Dinner
Monday
Spaghetti and salad
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Go out/take out night
Food prepping is a little bit of work and a lot of planning. These recipes that I found are great and the ingredients are pretty simple, most of the stuff I already had in the pantry and just had to pick up a few key things. Preparing and cooking all the lunches for the entire week only took me an hour and half, which was not bad at all on a lazy Sunday when it's raining. I created a shopping list with everything I needed for these specific meals for the week and a few things that we were out of and kept strictly to the list while we went to the grocery store. And surprisingly enough, we spent less money buying groceries this way then we normally do when we do our weekly shop! How I saved $$: 1) Go for the store brand things as much as possible 2) Check which grocery stores around you has the most/best deals of the week. Every single thing I bought was on some sort of promo or sale so that helped tremendously as well!
It took me an entire week to research and plan what meals I wanted to cook for lunch and dinner and to put my grocery list together. It took us about an hour to an hour and a half at the grocery store. An hour and a half of preparing the lunches and boom, I was done!
I will admit I am can be pretty lazy when it comes to cooking, I always take the easy way out with frozen family dinners or semi-homemade things. But I will tell you even for this multi-tasking momma I can do it and you can do it too. If this is something you've been wanting to try with your family TRY IT! Start planning and find a system/routine that works for you. I actually feel less stressed because I know and have everything I need for food for the entire week. I'm going to keep with it and keep updating on how my food preps are going.
Oh and the meals are husband approved so far :) He loves the rice and beans recipe that I made for lunch with chicken and beans.
Happy Food Prepping!
