Prep Day

[aksims123]

I read a lot on social media about a prep day but I find it difficult to discern what is being prepared.  Are they doing full meals or just snack & grab food?  Is there a resource for this important part of the program?

[Lynne Pawell Clemens]

I spend one day every weekend prepping for the week.  I make all (or most) of my main dish meats for the week.  I also prepare my roasted vegetables (sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, etc.)  I make things like Garlic Browned Beef and Grilled Chicken Thigh (from Well Fed Cookbook), Chocolate Chili, Paleo Sloppy Joe, Stewed Hamburgers, Pot Roast, Chicken Salad, Homemade Mayo. I cook 2# of meat for each dish I prepare. I store everything in mason jars and put some in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. 

 

Read Appendix A in It Starts with Food. Also the cookbooks Well Fed and Well Fed 2 have great information.

 

Hope this helps.

Lynne

[aksims123]

Thanks so much... heading to the book store today:)

[ladyshanny]

I usually make a menu on Wednesday afternoon/evening and at the same time make my grocery lists for both Costco and our regular grocery store. Thursday after work I do the shopping and Saturday afternoon I prepare every meal as far as I possibly can. Either cooked all the way through and then reheatable or chopped and all spice mixes ready to go. We eat leftovers for lunch every day and I make/prepare something that we'll eat for breakfast all week. I've found this way of menu making, shopping and prepping saves me the most amount of time, makes me (and the hubby) aware of what we're going to be eating, makes it so that we are never without food, and eliminates wasted produce or meats because they are all destined for something.

Some of my favourites that are easily preppable:

pork/beef/turkey/chicken burgers (I'll mix the raw meat with the seasonings on the wknd and then form patties and cook on the day of)

roasted veggies (roast & refrigerate, reheat in a skillet with some fat, good as fresh!)

Scotch eggs

Pina Colada Chicken (Well Fed 2...I cook the chicken in advance and chop all the veggies so all I have to do is put it together)

Pork Shoulder/pulled pork, 8 zillion recipes

Ground meats (I'll cook these in advance and refrig and then reheat with some precut veggies and premade sauce for a quick stirfry)

Chicken Thighs ( 35 minutes @ 435 and then refrigerate, use in a zillion different ways)

Silky Gingered Soup or Golden Cauli Soup (Wellfeds)

It is extremely rare that I will make something from scratch on a week night. (Note, I do not make all of this for one week......well....I guess I could.....but I try to make just 5 meats and rotate between chicken, beef, pork, turkey and fish)

[Juice06870]

I used to dedicate one day a week to prepping but lately that has not been the case.  Instead, whenever I prepare a certain protein, I'll prepare a lot of it so that I have enough to least for 4-6 meals.  IE 3.5 lbs of chicken at a time, or 2 lbs of ground beef at a time, probably the next night (usually on a sunday and monday).  I'll take the time while one of these is cooking to slice up some veggies to keep in the fridge to use at a moments notice - either toss them in a skillet or on a salad or something.  They cook quickly so I don't normally feel the need to cook them in bulk in advance.  

 

So by Monday night, I have most of the main food for the week prepared and then I can just mix and match it with various veggies on the side along with some avocado.