all posts post new thread

Nutrition Meal prep for the week ahead

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

Abdul-Rasheed

Level 6 Valued Member
Any one here prepares well planned meal for the next week? I would like to know tips, ideas and your thoughts. I am thinking of looking into this approach. This way one can target to hit the calories one is planning for either cutting or bulking. In my case I am trying to lose body fat.
 
I'm something of a gourmand. I don't think I'm picky, but I prefer to cook so that I have no leftovers and I get to have a choice on my foods about every day. So I don't really cook a lot beforehand. There are some exceptions, and for example I like cooking a couple of pounds of chicken breast fillets in the oven or something similar, to have easy and tasty protein snacks for a day or two.
 
Stew-like foods are great. We have lately become big fans of harira, which we learned about a food traditionally eaten in Morocco to break the fast during Ramadan. It's my understanding that it's also popular in other parts of the Middle East.

We love the seasonings and have found it very flexible, e.g., we've made it vegetarian for guests but generally with ground beef for ourselves, we've put rice in it or kept it without rice and served it over bread, pasta, or rice. A wonderful dish that's a keeper in our house. We have a slow cooker and usually make it overnight. Our recipe calls for fresh parsley and cilantro, and we often add more of that, freshly chopped, at serving time. And when we want something meatier, we can add other cooked meat, e.g., sausage or ham, at serving time. Our recipe is roughly 1/3 lentils, 1/3 chickpeas, and 1/3 ground beef, if memory serves, plus broth and seasonings, and of course typical stew vegetables like carrots and celery.

-S-
 
@Antti I had to google 'gourmand'. :) Agreed, not prepping meals ahead of time gives you such choices. In my case most of the time I eat from the same small choices of food. My number one goal is to reduce my body fat. So I am rying to tighten the grip on that diet.

@Steve Freides I had to google hariri too, as never heard the term. Most cultures have similar such special dishes for Ramadan. In South Asian continent we call it haleem. Its so delicious. As for slow cooking I have not looked into it much.
 
I do most of the cooking, so all the dinners are planned in advance, with the meals requiring the longest prep time on the nights when the kids have no activities. We have a meal plan for the week when doing the shopping, so no surprises there.

The only thing I deliberately cook in advance is the loaf of bread for my breakfasts.
 
Slow cookers are brilliant, and absolutely the friend of the person with little time to cook. Many things can be made overnight and, in the case of harira, we typically just turn off the slow cooker in the morning and let it sit on the counter all day - it doesn't seem to go bad, and then we put it in more or more airtight containers.

This is the one we have

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EZI26GO

A slow cooker and a dedicated rice cooker are two wonderful things to have in the kitchen - both "set it and forget it" things.

The slow cooker used to be known as a crock pot - perhaps it was a brand name. If you look for crock pot recipes or slow cooker recipes, you'll find plenty of them. They're also handy for more traditional, meat fare, e.g., making pulled pork, or cooking a brisket.

-S-
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom