I know what it’s like, being so busy you don’t have time to prepare healthy meals and snacks at home. Things get crazy-busy sometimes, and there does not seem like enough time to do all that we have to do.
But there are things that will help to make meal prep easy during the busier times life will throw at you, and I want to share with you what tactics I use to create quick, easy meals when life is too hectic.
Spend an afternoon preparing
If you have a few hours, it’s a good idea to prepare some things in advance. Here are a few things I do, depending on the time of year:
- Make tortilla wraps and place them in the refrigerator between sheets of parchment paper. I find a recipe online for Paleo wraps, and use that.
- Wash and cut up vegetables. Store in containers in the refrigerator. Use ends and greens when making stock.
- Place fruit in bowls to grab when you want a snack or are in a hurry.
- Prepare lunches for work or school so you can easily grab them before leaving.
- Make a vegetable stock and store it in the refrigerator for use during the week. Any extra can go into the freezer. Use ends and greens, as well as any leftover vegetables that won’t get eaten fresh.
- Roast a chicken, then cut it up into serving sizes and refrigerate. Freeze what you wont use in the next four days.
- Make chocolate sauce and store in canning jars in the refrigerator. Use this with fresh fruit if you are wanting a dessert-type item.
- Make energy balls and store three to a small container.
Buy frozen seafood
I like to check out the frozen seafood section to see what I might be able to use for meals during the week. Scallops and shrimp are easy to prepare, and can be used in many food combinations.
This week I found bags of raw, peeled, deveined, tail-on shrimp for $5.00, so I picked one up. I’ll keep it in the freezer, and take some out whenever I want to make a dish.
What will I use the shrimp for? Any number of things, including:
Make a soup
Soups are a wonderful way to add vegetables to your menu. Just throw the ingredients in a pot on the stove – or in a crock – and cook at the beginning of the week. This could be done on a prep day.
My best friend will cook up a huge pot all at once, and I just love my chicken and vegetable soup and my sausage and pineapple one.
I put servings of soup in small canning jars after they’ve cooled some, and place those in the refrigerator. They are easy to warm when you are short on time, and taste great.
Know what fruits can be stored near each other
A few medium size mixing or fruit bowls will hold a lot of fruit. Place citrus vegetables in one, apples and pears in another, and bananas and grapes in the third. One can be used as a centerpiece at the table, and the other two can be placed at either end of the counter.
School and work lunches
I usually put these together during a prep day, because I’m already doing related tasks. All I’m really doing is packing things up a little differently than in spend an afternoon preparing above.
I have a shelf specifically for work meal items, and organize the containers and other items in a way that makes things easy to grab. I work 5 shifts in four days, and will bring everything I put together on the first day.
While cutting up vegetables, I’ll have five containers reserved for work. Into each of those, I’ll put a few servings of vegetables, a few cut up berries or some grapes, and a serving of meat, unless the meat will be in soup form. In that case, the soups are already packaged as individual servings.
If I will be having wraps, I’ll also store the wraps separately.
Much of the time, to make things easy, I’ll have the same foods for all five meals, switching out different fruits or snacks. Having packets of dark chocolate covered blueberries and cherries helps with this, as does having some energy balls on hand.
Easy meal combo’s utilizing raw vegetables include:
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced strawberries, sugar snap peas in pods, broccoli, carrots, celery, and a small amount of nut butter
- rice, seasoned ground beef, diced tomato, corn, grapes
- turkey slices, roasted sweet potato, mashed squash, peas, cranberries
- veggie wraps, shrimp scampi on the side (to be added to the wrap later), strawberry slices
- sausage and pineapple soup, carrot sticks, celery with nut butter, cherries
Quick breakfast ideas
While a box of cereal is the ultimate in quickness during our busy mornings, those types of boxed, processed things are not exactly the healthiest of choices. I like to make my own cereal, and it takes less time than making pancakes. Here are a few of may favorites:
Another ideas is to make a batch of Paleo granola to use as cereal during busy mornings. Add half a cup to a bowl, top with fruit and organic, unsweetened coconut, and add nut milk.
Quick snack ideas
Parfaits are an easy snack, and can be refrigerated overnight. Make a couple up during prep day for a quick, easy snack later and the next day. A few options include:
Trail mixes are another great snack option, and can be made up in advance and used throughout the coming week or so. Stored little canning jars, they will be easy to grab.
Quick lunches and dinners
If you have the components from spend and afternoon preparing above, you probably already have the components for a few meals. Buy frozen seafood and make a soup offer other ideas. Here are some more that can be made ahead and warmed later, or made quickly the day you want them:
- leftover turkey and peas
- veggie lettuce wraps
- sausage and apple one-pan meal
- turkey and squash one-pan meal
- tomato soup ideas: one, two, and three
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With practice, meal prep days will go more quickly and you might choose to make more options on that day.
What do you do to keep it healthy during the busiest of times?
Shannon
frugalrecipes.wordpress.com 