In case you missed it, I shared all about my meal planning strategy in my Instagram stories this weekend! I saved it in my story highlights as "Meal Plan" so that you can use it as a reference. I've been meaning to type up a blog post about this for many months, but this will have to suffice for now! I also brought you along in my kitchen to show you how I made all of this week's food (20 meals total, 10 each for me and my husband, plus 5 no-cook meals for each of us) in two hours!! Hint: it includes multi-tasking and LOTS of dishes.
Here are a few key strategies that I use to cook a lot of food in a short period of time:
-I keep my recipes simple. Nothing that can't stand a few extra minutes on a burner or in the oven, because I'm not that precise when I'm batch cooking.
-I'm almost always using my Instant Pot, both racks of my oven, and multiple burners on my stove at the same time.
-If I can make it a one-pot meal, I do! For example, when I made stir-fry for my husband this week, the chicken, rice, and veggies all got mixed together.
-When I'm done cooking, I portion the food right into single serving dishes so that I don't have to do it later.
Here's what's on the meal plan this week:
Breakfast: Simple Chicken Soup // You can find the recipe in this post, but this time I pulled the chicken out of the IP and just put the veggies right in. I cooked on high for 10 minutes, then added the chicken back in and it was done!
Lunch: No-Cook // True Story deli turkey, a soft boiled Vital Farms egg, a handful of Nourishing Nutz, an apple, and a bottle of Zupa Noma! ("wholedailylife" for 15%)
Dinner: Meatballs + Veggies // I used my Basic Meatball recipe (and added in about 1/2 cup mashed cooked sweet potato to keep them tender) and served them with some roasted zucchini (350 degrees x 25 minutes), steamed haricot vert, and some Melted Sweet Potatoes that have been lingering in my freezer!
ALSO. I almost always have something else when I get home. It totally depends on what I'm feeling like, but it might be a bar, a shake, some eggs, some leftovers, etc. These things don't usually make it into the meal prep picture, but I realized this was misleading because it looked like all I was eating in a day was what was in the photo! If I'm hungry, I eat. My focus is on nourishing my body, not depriving it.
Have a great week!
-Tracey