To all you meal prepping mamas

[justonesherryformedicinalpurpo]

I never meal prep or batch cook but yesterday I gave it a shot. It was spread throughout the day but by the end I was wiped!

Here is what I made but I still don't feel like it's helped me out enough! Sandwiches aren't great for my LO as she is fussy with veg atm so I prefer to sneak it in hence the sauces and soups.

Soup for a few lunches which we will eat with some bread and butter.

Vegetable sauce to serve with pasta or gnocci and cheese.

I also made a rice and black bean dish for DP for the week. He doesn't expect me to make him lunches and I never normally do. I guess I am trying to feed all of us!

After breakfast and dinner which was mash with spring chicken I don't feel like I have got very far at all.

I still have to make dinner every night. I can use some of the veg sauce for one but still.

I kind of think maybe it is easier to continue to serve eggs with veg and bagel or bread for lunch and spend 45 mins feeding DD /bribing DD etc. And then make dinner but at least I am not cooking as much.

So my question is how much do you prep? How far does it go? Was it harder at first but you have got used to it? And are there any appliances you use to help?

I recently bought the latest Ninja blender which blends, chops etc. and is just amazing which does help.

Thank you

I do a massive shop once a month and batch cook on my day off currently in maternity leave so gone out of the window a bit

Vat of bolognese which gets made into spaghetti bolonese x2 meals, lasagna x2 meals, cottage pie x1 meal DH doesn't care for it much so I only give him it once and chillie x2 meals. This gives 7 dinners to be eaten within the month. Chillie mince gets taken out of vat early in the cooking process and put in second pot.

Stew - I always make 3 dinners at one time, it always tastes even better on the second day and the 3rd portions get frozen.

To be honest I don't often set out to batch cook but I do over cook for the freezer. Even my vat of bolognese I cook for dinner but start early as it does take a bit longer, that way I don't feel I've spent a day tied to the kitchen.

My tips - label and date and then use don't leave it to die in the freezer. Buy some containers the right size that are easy to stack in the freezer, this can help with portion control too. I got some lock and locks which were the twice the size of Chinese takeaway pots therefore are 2 portions of anything they look small but are spot on as I don't freeze the rice/spaghetti

I make a huge load of spa bols, bulked out with veg, then I split the left overs into two, one lot of spa bols for freezer and the other lot is topped up with kidney beans and chilli sauce mix to make a chilli con care. Usually sufficient chilli once it's bulked out with various beans for two meals.

Just seen someone else does this and uses it for lasagna as well!