How to you eat healthy and prep your food ? working FT

amother

Orange

Sun, Mar 12 2017, 5:34 pm

I end up eating junk...dinner has been takeout or defrosted pizza...it is aweful. I am not adjusting well to working full time on the home front. I need help..how do I figure it out for myself and my family? Especially meal prepping?

I appreciate any suggestions!

amother

Coffee

Sun, Mar 12 2017, 6:00 pm

Look into instant pot - it's a multicooker , that includes pressure cooker. It's literally a life saver. There are a lot of recepies on YouTube and instant lot groups on FB .

ra_mom

Sun, Mar 12 2017, 6:58 pm

Prep and freeze all proteins ready to go on Wednesday eve when your weekly order comes home.
Cook sides on Sunday and keep in fridge.
Have dinner (or at least the main protein) cooking either in the oven or the crockpot while you're at work. Come home to hot dinner.
Throw together bag of lettuce with grape tomatoes as the veg side.

Raisin

Sun, Mar 12 2017, 9:05 pm

Buy bags/cubes of frozen onion, garlic, carrots, butternut squash, mushrooms, etc. Throw these into pots in various combinations and make soup. I try and do this at the beginning of the week and I eat soup almost every meal. (my family, not so much. Sad

) Takes pretty quick.

For the rest of the meals, look into instant pots or crockpots. Besides that, there are plenty of quick meal ideas without these. With a grill pan you can prepare: Grilled chicken breast, salmon, other fish, steak, boneless chicken thighs, veggie burgers in a just a few minutes. Get some nice spice mixes to sprinkle on these. While it is cooking make a salad or microwave/steam some frozen veggies. Cook some rice, potatoes, past etc either on the spot or make a big batch on sunday. Cooked rice can be made quickly in to egg fried rice. Pasta can be mixed with cheese and sauce.

Or just serve with warmed pita.

SingALong

Sun, Mar 12 2017, 9:13 pm

Another vote for the grill pan-I can usually cook chicken cutlet or thin meat like minute steak in under 10 minutes. After the protein is done I'll sauté some sliced veggies (onions, peppers, mushrooms, squash, etc) as a veggie side, so only made 1 pot dirty.

On Sunday or any available evening, peel and slice/cut up vegetables you need for the next 3 days, keep in the fridge in separate plastic containers to stay fresh. ( like cut up cucumbers, peppers tomatoes, mushrooms, shredded carrots, etc). Then supper prep is much faster, plus ready veggies on hand to toss into a salad or stir fry.

lfab

Mon, Mar 13 2017, 12:01 pm

I cook a lot ahead and freeze. Meatballs, sloppy joes, soups, etc. I also do a lot of the prep the night before. For example, if I want to serve fish for dinner I'll prepare it all the night before. When I come home from work I just have to stick it in the oven. For chicken I use a crockpot. Again, prepare everything in a crockpot liner (the plastic bags that into the pot) and stick in the fridge. In the morning I put it in the crockpot and dinner is ready when I get home. Sides are simple and easy, rice, roasted veggies, etc. If it's important to you splurge on time savers such as pre-washed and checked lettuce, frozen broccoli/cauliflower that doesn't need to be checked, etc. When I'm serving something not as healthy for dinner (lasagne, pizza, etc) I take a veggie soup out of the freezer. This way I fill up on that and eat less of the unhealthy food.