Can I be honest with you? I do not enjoy meal prepping each week, but I do it anyways. This is something I have been off and on about for years. Now that our lives are busier than ever, it is so important that I do it each week. I have tried a lot of different methods and approaches over the years and this process is the longest I have stuck with meal prepping.
Do you want to know the secret? I have made it very simple. I don’t plan out my meals and look up recipes, I don’t make complicated recipes. I don’t make a lot of different things.
So, what does my meal prep routine look like?
I start by going to Aldi either Saturday or Sunday morning depending on my weekend, I prefer Saturday so I can have Sunday to relax. My rule is usually if Aldi doesn’t have it, I don’t need it (with the exception of a few things like salmon or cleaners). I buy whatever I think looks good and is on sale. I usually spend around $120 a week for the 4 of us and plan to eat out 1-2 night a week.
I start by cleaning and chopping all my vegetables and some fruit and storing them in glass containers. I marinate & grill chicken (click here for the link to my favorite marinade), beef and pork for the week. So that all we have to do at night is roast veggies or toss a protein on a salad. I will also toss some sweet potatoes in the oven and steam bags of veggies in the microwave for the kids to have.
We have sheet pan fajitas almost weekly (Recipe from 40 Aprons)
And I love the salads from Dinner at the Zoo
Next, I make our lunches. We eat the same thing all week. We use a bento box and have a protein, raw veggies with dip or salad and fruit.
Most of the time I eat on the go so our lunches never have to be warmed up. Tip: Use a chalk pen to label your containers
Some of our favorite lunches are buffalo chicken, pasta salad, chicken salad, California Chicken Salad.
Lastly, are the snacks. My daughter loves energy balls. She thinks they are cookies. So I make her chocolate peanut butter balls and make pecan balls for my husband.
We buy hummus, ranch and the individual cup of guacamole for dipping. I need snacks to be easy so I can make good choices otherwise I tearing into some gummies.