Can someone please help me- meal prepping

[PrepMeUp]

So I’ll start by saying I’m a terrible cook, I’m a fussy eater and a vegetarian. I’ve put on loads of weight and I’ve recently started to change my diet. I’ve lost nearly a stone so far so feeling motivated and my heads in the game. My main issue is once I’ve sorted the kids out (I’m a single parent) or got home from a long shift (I’m a nurse) it’s just easier to ring a takeaway or eat some junk. So I’ve decided to start meal prepping but I’m confused. These may seem like really basic, stupid questions but I’ve always struggled with food.

So I was thinking I’ll batch cook some meals/veg/prepare a salad/fruit salads on a Sunday ready for the week ahead. I’ve brought some special meal prep things off Amazon and have written down what I’ll put in them to try and stick in my macros and things.

So my plans are for example
-Veggie wrap, cheese squares, fruit

• Quorn chicken/ ham, salad, fruit, some protein
• Jacket potato, cheese
• Quinoa salad, veg, yogurt
• cold veg pasta, baby tomatoes, boiled egg, cheese

Things along that line. But do I just prep it, put it in the containers and it’s good for the week? Won’t it go off, or go soggy or just taste horrible? I’ve been looking at meal prep on Instagram and people do 7 days worth of meals (so 21 meals!) and prepare them. Does this work? I’m worried I’m going spend all afternoon preparing food for it to go off, especially the fruit? I won’t put banana In because it goes black so quickly .

Anyway if anyone has any advice that would be brilliant, I’m really trying to change my habits rather than diet and being able to just go to the fridge and have my dinner ready to go would be a massive help!

To be honest I rely a lot on our chest freezer. How much freezer space do you have?

Tomato/ passata type sauces are very easy to freeze, as are curries. E.g. chickpea curry if you're a vegetarian.

Why don’t you eat the same as the kids? It will save you having to make two sets of meals.

I wouldn't make salad more than a day in advance or it tends to go soggy or dried up round the edges.
Fruit salad is ok for a few days in the fridge so long as it's covered in juice (watch the calories in that!) or you chop up melon, kiwi, berries, they keep ok for a couple of days.
Boiled eggs are fine for a couple of days.
If you're going to let pasta go cold for salads you need a dressing or something on it or it tends to stick together!
Couscous is good for making in advance.
You can bake potatoes then freeze them and you could roast a big tray of veg to use with pasta, couscous or salads during the week.

The kids aren’t vegetarian so I pretty much everything they have (that I make) has meet in. Or because of my hours they eat out the house about 4/5 days a week (either at the Childminder’s or my parents depending where they’ve gone after school) so I don’t cook a lot for them. So by time I’ve fetched them, done everything we need to do, homework, clubs, bath etc I’m starving so it’s SO much easier to call for a takeaway (there’s one pretty much next door) and quicker which is a terrible habit and that’s why I want to meal prep so that I can just grab something that I know is filling and healthy

Well, I don’t meal prep in that way but I do plan what I’m going to have for the week ahead.

You can buy things like frozen, pre chopped onion which speeds up things like stir fries so you could make a veggie stir fry with straight to wok noodles in 10 mins. Fresh pasta and sauce is super quick and if it’s just you, that can be 2 nights meals. If your oven has a timer, you can put jacket potatoes in to come on later in the day so it’s ready for tea time. Quorn mince etc in a slow cooker if you have one so you can have chilli/spag bol. You could also make things that take more time at weekends like veggie lasagne and just microwave the leftovers for tea in the week.

Well done on the weight loss

Meat not meet

What works better for me is to make a batch, eat one that day, have 2 more in the fridge and then freeze the rest in portions. That means I’m not eating the same thing all the time. Lunch is almost always soup, daal or small potions of leftover dinner so they are happy for up to five days or so in the fridge.

I can’t imagine a wrap will taste great after five days in the fridge.

I would just eat a different fresh piece of fruit rather than prepping a fruit salad.

For dinners, I really like having the main bit done in the freezer so all I need to do is cook pasta/rice to go on the side.

I often roast a job lot of vegetables to go in pasta, salads etc. They usually keep for about three or four days before they’re a bit squishy. They’d be good with quinoa.

It sounds like you’re doing really well.

Do you have an aldi near you? They've extend their range of veggie food so maybe worth looking at.
Stock the freezer with things for you and the fridge for the children
Would your children mind having a veggie/fish based meal every now and then?

I agree that meal planning is much more important than meal prep.

I have a mental list of quick easy meals that I like when alone

• scrambled eggs + green beans + toast
• pasta + a sauce
• jacket potato + chilli
• potato rosti + veg
• cous cous + beans + cheese
• cheesy beans on toast

I use a lot of frozen veg (e.g. frozen precooked aubergine) and batch cooking (make big batch of chilli, freeze in portions for 1 person).

I wouldn't prepare a wrap or salad in advance & expect it to last, but I know if I have all the ingredients ready to go, it only takes 10 mins to put it together.

Not meal prep exactly, but I hard boil a load of eggs at the beginning of the week. Peel them and put them in a plastic Tupperware type thing in cold water (stops the outside getting a bit rubbery). Change the water daily (if I remember!) and they last the week and are handy to quickly grab and go.
I also make a giant jar full of salad dressing so it’s quick to throw on a few leaves when wanted. I cut up lettuce and keep it for a few days and it’s fine. Some of the cut edges may turn a little brown by day 3, but that doesn’t affect the taste.
Veggie couscous or tabbouleh will keep well. As would lentils. Nice with some fried halloumi.
Waitrose do mini portions of feta cheese, really handy if you don’t eat it too often.
Generally I find it lasts better if things are prepped, but not mixed/dressed until the last minute. It only takes a couple of minutes to put things together if it’s all prepped and the dressing ready to go on.
Not sure about the fruit salad, though I do prep melon and that keeps well on its own a few days.

With meal prepping I think the choice is either to prep whole meals in containers and keep them in the fridge or prep the components of meals for easy assembly. I do the latter.
For example, I may cook up a batch of quinoa and stash it in the fridge, chop peppers, cucumber, tomatoes etc and keep a mix of Mediterranean veg (ready cooked) in the freezer. That’s then easy to through together with some feta one night, some chickpeas another or maybe a fried egg.
Similarly, if I batch cook some Bolognese at the weekend I’d do a huge batch and then add kidney beans in chilli sauce and some more spice to half of it and then portion up for Bolognese and chilli for the next couple of weeks and store in the freezer.
Make use of a slow cooker and an oven timer so things can be ready within a short time of getting home.

Don't chop salad much earlier than the night before (preferably not even that). The good news is that it doesn't take long to chop salad, even if you like it cut small. You'd have it cut before finishing the phone call, never mind getting something delivered.

How are you with roasted vegetables? Onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, few other things tossed in olive oil and shoved in the oven while you put the kids to bed or have a shower (or put on the timer - I don't know how well this would work but can't see why not). Add a tin of chickpeas and some potato wedges and you have a meal.

You need to make your own frozen ready meals, fresh food like your list doesn't last all week.

Brilliant thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. I know it sounds pathetic but I’m really uneducated about food, my mum always cooked for me and once I left home at 17 I’ve pretty much lived out the freezer and on meals out and takeaways although that’s improved since the kids but if I had to cook for them 7 nights a week I don’t know what I’d do but I want them to be able to make healthy choices plus the weight gain has prompted this change in me! I’ve read all your replies and I think prepping ingredients and writing down a proper meal plan will be better rather than it getting to 8, kids have just gone bed, I’m starving and thinking I’ll just get a pizza etc.

I’ll have a look at Aldi, I’ve got about 5 close to me but don’t ever really go there but I’ll nip in on my next day off.

On the three days a week that I don't eat dinner with DD, I tend to do a mixture eating batch cooked meals from the freezer (like curry, pasta sauces, bolognaise (you could do a veggie version), soups) and then I have my list of go-to meals that are quick but appealing and healthy like:

stir fry
poached eggs with rye toast and asparagus
couscous with roasted veg and halloumi
jacket potato (not quick but all you have to do is chuck it in the oven) with what filling and salad
omelette and salad

Whenever I can, I eat my main meal with DD because I just absolutely do not have the time to cook a good meal for DD and then a separate meal for me later on and do the clearing up for two lots of cooking. It means I end up eating earlier than I would naturally but is worth it for the benefits.

Even having a frozen pizza and eating half with salad would be better than a take away. That’s a favourite easy meal here. It’s obviously not as good as a cooked from scratch type meal but there’s nothing wrong with that sort of thing now and again. I always put a jacket spud on one evening and an easy freezer one on another. I think you’ve got to be realistic about fitting in cooking and life!

If you really like pizza, try Northern Dough company's frozen pizza dough (most supermarkets now stock this). It's really nice, defrosts in the microwave in a couple of minutes then you put your own toppings on. Not healthy, but better than a takeaway pizza and just as fast.

Do you have a slow cooker? If so, have a look at 'dump dinners' on Pinterest or Google - it's an American thing, but some good ideas to get started with, albeit I find there aren't many veggie options.

I try and plan easy quick meals for busy nights, even if that's beans / beans + egg on toast (which is a lot more filling than it sounds). Also eat a lot of jacket potatoes.

I try and keep a few meals like the pizza dough, or a jar of pesto, in the cupboard so if I'm too hungry / tired to cook I've preplanned something that's healthier than a takeaway. It's always best to plan and buy when you're really full. Good luck

If you look up mason jar salads and try to do those I think it would help. I basically make my salad for lunch or dinner but whilst I'm making it I make another two and a half mason jars (wide neck) worth. So I have two large salads ready to go and a side salad all in the fridge and nicely packaged so it still feels like a treat.this way I only have all the chipping and washing up
Once and the salads feel a little like a takeaway. I do make them interesting though.

I make either a big salad thing that is the same but the carb base is different.

Finely chop the following -
Cherry Tom’s
Cucumber
Spiting onions
Olives
Use a potato peeler for carrot ribbons
Mange toute
Basil leaves
Parsley leaves

Then make a simple vinegarette-
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Teaspoon on whole grain mustard
Salt and pepper
Or the steve McQueen Italian dressing in a bottle is DELICIOUS.

Cook up either some
Orzo
Cous cous
Quinoa

Mix the chopped veg into the cooked and cooled carb option. Squeeze a lemon over. Then add your dressing and some salt and pepper. This will keep for 3/4 days.

I eat mine as a stand alone meal. Could be a side though. Lovely on top of some salad leaves.

5 crackers, some cheese and a handful
Of salad leaves and a dollop of hummus. Simple healthy lunch. Alternate cheese with a boiled egg. Switch the hummus to another dip like baba ganoush, guacamole etc.

Batch cook a tomato pasta sauce. Add in a chilli flavour season packet and a tin of black beans. You have chilli.
Add in extra chilli flakes grate over some Parmesan and add some olives you have a rustic Italian sauce
Add in quorn mince and some chopped mushrooms and extra garlic you have spaghetti Bolognese.

All of the above can be made in advance and portioned out and served with loads of things like
Jacket potatoes
Pasta
Garlic bread
Rice
Pita breads

I love chilli served with rice with a fried egg on top.

What kind of takeaway do you tend to get? There might be a healthy version that is easy to prep. I find micro rice really good when I'm in a hurry, that's half the meal prep done.

Those aren’t meals, they’re picnics!

My favourite veg recipe is Jamie Oliver’s veg chilli. I do 4 times the quantities then freeze it (16 portions). You can then have it with rice or cous cous or in a jacket potato.

You could cook a vat of vegetable tomato sauce with lentils then defrost to have as spag bol or make into a lasagne (use a jar of cheese sauce if you like), shepherds pie, in a wrap etc.

I also make pasta and broccoli in cheese sauce, which freezes ok.

I’ll look for my very quick pizza dough recipe (no kneading or rising needed) and I make potato wedges by washing potatoes (don’t peel) then chopping into wedges and shaking up in a freezer bag with oil, salt and whatever spices you like (we like smoked paprika).

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/veggie-chilli/

www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/bread/quick-pizza-dough

I also chop bags of cheap onions and peppers and freeze those ready to go. And whole chilli peppers.

Agree, when people talk about meal prepping I think they usually mean making lasagna or chicken curry or spag bol in the slow cooker, and making extra portions to freeze.

The meals you’ve suggested are not really suitable for preparing in advance but they are quick and easy to make after work! If you’ve got an auto setting on your cooker you could also put the jacket potato in it in the morning and set it to be baked when you arrive home.

Hamlyn do some great wee cookbooks called things like 200 Slow Cooker Recipes, 200 Salads etc.

There are also a series of cookbooks called The Really Easy Pasta Cookbook, the Really Easy Student Cookbook etc, I’d recommend them.

I definitely wouldn’t prep 7 days of salads/fruit. I’ve seen the same kind of pictures and articles and I think it’s very dubious.

I’d suggest cooking something you like, maybe a lasagne, and making a big tray of it and then freezing it in single portions (wrap it well to avoid freezer burn and always write the date and what’s in it on the outside).

Then the following weekend cook something else so that you’re building up a stash of single portion microwave meals.

In the meantime aim to cook some really quick and simple meals like stir fried veg and rice (handful of frozen veg on the pan for a few minutes, dash of soy sauce, 2 minute microwave rice), omelette and toast.

And supplement that with a few microwaveable meals from the supermarket and cartons of soup.

Give yourself permission to have a night off for a takeaway so you won’t feel like a failure when you’re having a bad evening because it’s allowed (you’ll probably find you make an extra effort so you can save your takeaway for another night)

Don’t try and get everything perfect at once by trying to cook everything from scratch, eat all the right macros, or never touch a takeaway again. Just try and establish a new routine of eating easy and quick food that’s faster to throw together than waiting for a takeaway. If you can get that established and the occasional bit of batch cooking, the rest will follow.

A few ideas (aware some of these have already been mentioned):

Stuff in the slow cooker e.g. bolognase, vegetable curry, chilli. If the kids like pulled pork I like to do a whole pork joint in the slow cooker just with some stock, bbq sauce or beer. There will be plenty for burgers, sandwiches, wraps etc.

Chopped frozen veg. Some veg tastes a lot better fresh but things like frozen sweetcorn, spinach, Broad beans are good.

Stir frys are really quick, just a few minutes to fry some noodles and veg and cover in your favourite sauce.

Buy some pesto, or even better make your own, it's really easy and will keep a few days in the fridge. Just stir into cooked pasta and it's delicious. Can add other things like cherry tomatoes and herbs for extra flavour.

Homemade soups. Generally fry an onion, add whatever veg you fancy and then some seasoning and a pint of stock, simmer and then put in the blender.

For breakfast I like to have overnight oats. I just put oats in one of those jars with a latch lid, can get them in the supermarket for a couple of quid, then top up with milk or a flavoured milk like almond or hazelnut then add in whatever you fancy, I like peanut butter, dried banana and cinnamon. Leave in the fridge overnight and it's ready to eat in the morning.