Meal Planning/Prep Tricks

Perhaps the hardest part about eating healthy, home cooked meals is the planning and prep.  We live in a busy time with an emphasis on convenience.  The following tricks will make it much easier to cook and prepare your food so that when it is time to eat, you can just toss everything in a pot,  pan or oven and quickly heat it up so that you can have your healthy food faster than it would take you to wait in line at the drive-thru.  

1. Get some good, sturdy, reusable containers.  Cheap, BPA-free, deli cups of varying sizes with lids work great and don’t leak.  Plus, all the lids will fit on all container sizes!  

2. On the weekend or during the evening after the kids go to bed, take a few hours to prepare some of your main ingredients.  Slow cookers and pressure cookers are your best friends.  

   1. Make an all-purpose seasoning.  Try to mix and match herbs and spices according to your taste.  Try a different combination each week.  Use this when cooking and combining your ingredients throughout the week.  (Hold back on the salt, you can alway add more later.)

   2. Make an all-purpose sauce.  Something you can put on a salad, use as a dip, a spread for sandwiches, or to flavor food as desired.  Something fresh, herby and tangy is especially good

      1. Using yogurt as a base with some citrus juice and other herbs and seasonings works great.  Experiment with your flavors! 

   3. Make a large pot of beans, peas or lentils.  Try doing something different each week.  Make enough to last you all week.  Or at least half the week then make more of a different kind when you run out.  Don’t over-flavor it.  Keep it fairly neutral so that you can flavor it later according to the dish.  

   4. Make a large pot of brown rice, quinoa, or some other grain.  Make enough to last you all week.  Or at least half the week then make more of a different kind when you run out.  

   5. Roast a cookie sheet full of sliced veggies in the oven at 450 for 15 minutes.  

      

   6. Slow cook a pot of chicken or beef with carrots, onions, and garlic with some broth and a little soy sauce.  Save the meat, veggies and the broth separately.  Use this sparingly throughout the week or for a couple special meals.  

   7. Wash, slice, dry, then freeze your fruit on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  (berries, peaches, bananas, etc.).  Once they are frozen, separate into bags or containers.  

   8. Prepare a large batch of basic sourdough, separate it into several bags, and store in the fridge.  This can be repurposed throughout the week to make bread, rolls, pizza, kolaches, hand pies, etc. for breakfast, lunch or dinner.    

      1. The dough will get more sour as it sits, so don’t expect perfect, mild, fluffy sourdough baked goods while using this method.  For fresh, mild, sourdough, it is better to make it normally; baking when it is done rising rather than refrigerating.  

   9. Pre-chop, wash and prep your fresh veggies.  Carrots, radishes, peppers, lettuce, etc.  This way you can make some quick grab and mix salads and snacks.  

      1. Don’t chop things that will go bad faster if chopped (like cucumbers or mushrooms).  

3. Plan to use your pre-prepped ingredients to make a variety of dishes so that you don’t get bored with the flavors and end up ordering take-out.  Plan these dishes simply. Something you can just throw together in a pot with some broth or water to make a soup, stew or curry or on a pan to quickly heat and eat.  Use your sauces and seasonings to give them your desired flavor.  

   1. Don’t feel restricted to the pre-prepped ingredients.  These are just there to make things faster and easier.  Add things as needed. 

   2. Don’t get hung up on measuring out ingredients for dishes where it doesn’t matter (most of them, unless you are baking a cake).  Learn to go by feel and learn from your mistakes.  

      1. It is better to under-salt and add more later, than to over-salt and make a dish inedible.  

4. Make some healthy snacks throughout the week.  

   

   1. If you have healthy snacks ready to eat, then you are far less likely to snack on junk.  

      1. Popcorn seasoned with your seasoning (see step 2a)

      2. Homemade trail mix with dried fruit

      3. Baby pickles, baby carrots, grapes, nuts, good cheese, etc.  

      4. Homemade banana ice cream

         1. Frozen bananas, coconut milk, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt in the blender.

         2. Blend until creamy

         3. Add some nuts and dark chocolate chips

         4. Store in the freezer until you are ready to use

5. Learn to use leftovers! Leftovers take away the stress of making a new meal.  

   1. Use leftovers from previous meals to make completely new meals.

      1. Fried rice is a go-to easy leftover meal.  Take rice and any leftover meat and veggies and fry them in a pan with some coconut or avocado oil.  

      2. Use some sourdough to make “Hot Pocket” style leftover hand pies.  

         1. Grate some cold butter into the dough (about ¼ - ½  a stick, depending on how much you are going to make). Knead together, folding often so that the butter gets trapped in different layers.

         2. Roll out the dough in a 6-12 inch round (depending on how big you want it. 

         3. Place a large scoop of leftovers slightly off center.

            

         4. Fold the dough over the leftovers and seal the edges like a calzone, empanada, or pasty.  You can use a fork to press the edges to make it look pretty.  

            1. Optionally you can brush the outside with an egg wash or buttermilk.  

         5. Bake at 375 F for about 25 minutes on a greased baking sheet. 

         6. These work great on the go or can be refrigerated for later and reheated as needed.  

            1. Try making them at night after a big dinner for lunch the next day.  

6. Have fun with it!  Prep foods that you look forward to eating later.  Don’t settle for boring.  This should not be a chore, you should be learning to play in the kitchen.