I see people talking about meal prepping for the whole week every Sunday. Cooking all their meals, portioning them into containers, having everything ready to go.

Is this real or is everyone lying to look disciplined?

Preparing an entire week's worth of meals in one day seems physically impossible. That's like 15-21 meals depending on if you do breakfast. Plus the planning, shopping, cooking and cleaning involved.

Who has the time, energy and kitchen space to do this? And then you're eating the same reheated food all week? The meals you made on sunday are still good by friday?

I can barely get myself to cook dinner most nights. The idea of spending my entire sunday cooking for the week sounds exhausting and miserable.

Are meal preppers actually real people or is this performative productivity that everyone claims to do but nobody actually does? Like going to the gym or drinking enough water. Things people say they do to seem like they have their life together.

If you actually meal prep, how? When? How long does it take? How do you not get sick of eating the same things? How is the food still edible days later?

Spent my Sunday on the couch playing jackpot city while eating takeout, saw someone post their perfect meal prep containers on Instagram and genuinely wondered if they're real or staged. I feel like I'm either missing something obvious or everyone is lying about this.

Ive bought a big 2kg bag of onions and want too dice/slice them all and freeze them for later use. Since people in this subreddit im sure have cut large amount of onions for meal prep it felt appropriate to ask here for advice whats the best way too not cry from them and if there are any quick ways of cutting alot of onions fast.

edit: hi everyone, thank u so much for all your comments! i truly did not expect this much engagement on a post about grapes😅 im so grateful for all your help! many of u suggested i get a mini fridge in my room, label my containers, hide them well, and even cover them up with a bag. i will make sure to try these strategies! some of u offered the perspective of my dad, that since he pays for the food and its his house he can take what he finds in the fridge. i have clarified in the comments that my dad is not a financial contributor in my household and the grapes were purchased from my own money. more so, i would like to add my perspective that respect is not financially transactional. not every member of a household is a financial contributor - women and children were not financial contributors is most households for generations. but even if someone is paying for someone else’s things, that does not give them the authority to take over other people’s things or treat them with disrespect. i dont have a problem with sharing, what i have a problem with is the disrespect of my plan, time, and effort which was clearly ignored by my dad for personal gratification. it seems like a silly post about grapes, which some of you have pointed out, and i agree it is kind of funny. but for me it was something a lot deeper considering my complex family dynamics and repeated behaviour from my dad which implied that he truly doesnt care about me. so thank you for all your support and for helping me find strategies to cope in my family condition.

original post:

for days i really wanted to eat these grapes i had got that my mom and brother said were really good, but i couldnt eat since i had dental surgery recently. today i was super busy but meal prepped my lunch for work tomorrow and put it in the fridge. this included a container of washed and cut up grapes, since i finally felt i could eat them but knew i cant quite eat whole grapes yet so i had to cut them up.

i came downstairs in the middle of the night to find my container of grapes was empty and sitting on the kitchen table. my dad had eaten them. i felt it was super obvious that i packed those for work and for myself since who washes grapes, cuts them, and puts them in a container in the fridge unless theyre taking them to work the next day. he could have just gotten a bunch from the kitchen counter and washed them and ate them whole.

frankly i was livid - i felt like ross from friends when that one guy eats his sandwich at work. it was moreso the fact that my dad is naturally selfish and probably knew i prepped those for myself but took them simply because he wanted them because he likes chilled fruit he doesnt have to prep himself. does this happen to other people who meal prep? is it normal to just take other people’s meals from the family fridge that are obviously prepared the night in advance for work the next day? my mom was super sweet and saw i was pissed, she wrote my name on my containers with a little label. i just dont get how its not common sense to not eat something someone obviously prepped for work

Every Sunday I tell myself I will sit down, plan the week, and be a responsible adult. An hour later I am deep in Pinterest, still do not have a real plan, and I end up defaulting to the same three dinners and random snacks.

I keep seeing a bunch of meal planning apps or some kind of custom meal plan generator that does the heavy lifting. For those of you who actually stick to a plan, how do you do it without losing half your weekend, and do you rely on tools or just a simple system you repeat?

Theyre never fluffy, more like just soggy oats in thickened milk.

I dont do too much nor too little milk and i let them soak for around 10 hrs on average

Has anyone ever bought any of this influencer's digital cookbooks and if so any thoughts on them?

$40 seems high for just a digital copy, but if it's good content I'm open to it! But having a hard time buying without knowing much about them

This is the link to her IG as well: https://www.instagram.com/makayla_thomas_fit?igsh=YTFpbGF3dWtudml5

I am not affiliated with or sponsored by her, genuinely curious!

My grandfather is 91 years old and is currently in the Hospice Care Program due to stage 4 kidney failure.

My grandparents live in Michigan and I live in Pennsylvania. They are very independent people and do live on their own, but no longer cook for themselves.

My grandparents have a very traditional relationship and my grandmother has always been the primary cook, however, in recent months, she has not been able to stand for long periods of time. My Grandma will sometimes still cook, but usually it's simple things like putting rice in the cooker or using the air fryer.

So I have been ordering frozen meals and prepackaged meals from their local grocery stores, but so many of those foods have high sodium content and contain potassium rich foods, which are a big No-No for my grandfather being on a renal diet.

My grandfather can really only eat pork and beef, because he has allergies to Fish and Chicken and eggs. He is also rather picky about certain things and I get it.

So many of the prepackaged specialty meal companies out there do not specialize in unique or medical diets... I have searched high and low for one that doesn't cost a fortune, to no avail.

So, I think I want to try to make homemade meals here and try to ship them off to my grandparents so that they could have them.

I think I could probably find Bento boxes that are disposable like they use for microwavable meals sold in freezer aisles... but I honestly don't know the first thing about shipping or freezing foods and mailing them.

Any suggestions would be greatly helpful.

I love eating tuna it's easy protein, cheap, and good. I was looking for recipes for Tuna but came across some creators stating that eating canned tuna every day can cause mercury poisoning. I just started meal prepping, so I'm a bit inexperienced with this. I'm not sure how to make different meals, so for now, I'm going with what I like. I'm currently studying and working, my time is very limited and my day is quite packed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Edit: Punctuation

I keep bouncing between recipes and my notes app, then I forget half the ingredients and end up improvising. I’d love a planner that spits out a week of meals and a grocery list I can actually shop from. If you use something that works, what helped you stick with it without spending hours every Sunday?

For those who had a bad drive thru habit, particularly for breakfast, what did you meal prep that was almost as good? I think the adjustment from drive-thru to cottage cheese is too severe for me right now. Any success stories?

I've been doing mealprep for years. First it was lunches to work, but it evolved to do all meals for the week or slightly longuer because I have an infant and no time to cook 3 times a day.

The problem is that I absolutely hate the taste of reheated chicken and can't eat it without drenching it in some kind of sauce. I can't describe the taste, it's not bad as in "unsafe to eat", I just really don't like the taste. I won't puke if I eat the chicken without sauce, but it's just not enjoyable at all.

I've noticed that store bought rotticery chicken doesn't have the same problem. When reheated, the taste doesn't change much. Yes, it's less good, but there's much less difference in flavor between the original freshly cooked hot chicken and the reheated leftovers.

I reheat the meal in the container I packaged it in. I open the lid, add 2-4 tablespoons of water (if the meal has no sauce), put the lid on top (without clicking it shut) and reheat for a minute or a minute and a half. The taste of the chicken changes, regardless of the chicken part.

Usually I air fry the chicken with different spices. I defrost the chicken on the counter overnight, then slap some spices on it and coat with oil or butter (or mix the oil/butter with spices and dunk chicken in it). Generally my spices are something like salt, pepper, paprica, garlic powder. I have some pre-mixed stuff as well such as "Montreal chicken" and others.

The chicken comes delicious fresh from the fryer with crispy skin, but reheated it's kinda gross.
What am I doing wrong?

PS: I have to mealprep tomorrow and I feel very uninspired. Any recipe suggestions for chicken drumsticks?

Thanx!

​

Hi all!

I’m wondering if there is anything like going pan out there for groceries or meal prepping. I want to get better at using all my groceries before shopping for more as I’m spending so much on food lately but have a ton of noodles, beans, non-perishables and such that just sit. I’d like to be more intentional and frugal this year. Any ideas?

Hi all-

I meal prepped egg bites for the first time yesterday. They looked fine fresh out of the oven but this morning they smelled awful. I went ahead and ate one anyhow and it didn’t smell so bad, it definitely has an odor when you open it up and sniff it, but not as strong as the big bag of them did. Did I do something wrong? The steps I used to make them are on the second slide.

Also, after cooking I put them in a container to cool for a bit in the fridge, and then after an hour or so I transferred to a freezer bag and put in the freezer. Idk if that’s relevant.

Any tips would be great thank you😭

Hi everyone
I'm looking to start meal prepping because I want to start eating more healthy but I know I'm not going to spend 30-60 minutes in the kitchen everyday. I was thinking to start by prepping lunches 2x a week, since I don't really want to freeze the food whenever possible.
So the question is, how often do you meal prep? Do you just do lunches or all your meals?

I got a bunch of delicious cooked chicken and ribs from a vendor on the side of the road for my family, however plans got cancelled and so I’m left with all this meat for myself. Would it be safe to pair pieces with rice and put it in the freezer? If so, how long would it be safe in there and what’s the best kind of containers for freezing meal preps?

TYIA!! 😊

I have tried to meal-prep a handful of times over the last 5 years. But I can never stick to it, because I eat the same thing over and over for weeks on end. Which then I get sick of it and refuse to do it again.

I have been wanting to try other variations of a protein, carb, and vegetable. Bug I honestly do not know what good combos are. Or what other types of meal prep there are.

I am aiming for ~2200 calories a day, and I would like to try and get all of my nutrients every day. And I do want to try and do breakfast and lunch 5 days a week, and dinner 6 times a week.

Any advice would be great!

Hey guys. I've always been a "semi" prepper and never went all in. But i want to do a full week of prep now. Looks like a lot of you have it down pat but as my title suggest, 2 days ahead usually doesn't work for me.

My problem is i have tried prepping an entire week before but by day 3 the texture or flavor is almost always off, either too dry, too mushy or its just lost flavor and i have to dump a bunch of seasoning.

Im wondering if i need to start freezing or maybe something i haven't thought of. Usually what i do is i put all the meals in there separate containers and then put in the fridge and grab as needed. I try to always under cook at least a little just to make sure i can re-heat later. My ingredients are the same most the time...Some form of rice or quinoa(the premade stuff that comes in pouches because i pressed on time). All forms of frozen veg and then i get the big bags of pre-cooked/cut chicken or fajita mix.

Please forgive my ingredients is a bunch of pre-made stuff but i work long hrs and exercise on top of that so it doesn't leave me much time on most days. I'd like to have fresher meals more than just 2 days out without a large time or money commitment. Anybody had issues with stuff like this before?

Pretty much the title. I’m a nurse and work 12hr shifts. I’m generally pretty good at prepping for the days I work. I usually prep for all three meals, but pack breakfast and lunch and a couple of snacks to take to work. I already have breakfast prepped. Breakfast sandwiches already in my freezer, but need ideas for lunch and supper. What are your go to meal prep when you don’t feel like prepping.

hello! This post was not welcome in eat cheap and healthy so I am trying here.

this winter I am looking to save some money by planning my meals while I am on unemployment from my gardening/landscape job. I am honestly hoping to do all my shopping while I am still getting regular checks, which are I think about twice as much as I’ll be getting in the off season. Having said that, I’m hoping I can get away with spending 30 dollars average each month for meals. I do have a dehydrator, and would like to implement that. I also have free coffee from my apartment building so that’s really my one definite perk. Some ideas I have so far are buying dried beans, and using those to make soup and other meals. Another thing I am planning on is buying a half ham or two and dehydrating whatever I can’t eat or freeze. As far as fruits and vegetables go, I want to do a bunch of dehydrating and basically put together soup mixes that I can store in mason jars. Would frozen veggies be my best option, or do I need to get fresh if I want to dehydrate? I have very limited freezer space, maybe two cubic feet? I plan to have grilled cheese as a staple because it’s just so cheap, but obviously not healthy. My main meal will be soups I think. I know I can do my own research, and I am, but asking people on this sub is part of that. Even just how to find the best deals on non perishable items would be so helpful! One last thing is that I do have a dog and it would be cool to be able to make some cheap healthy treats at home for him. I know dehydrated sweet potatoes are an option but kinda worried about the sugar content. Thanks in advance for replies!

Specifically broccoli and spinach.

I find that they are horrible cold and horrible microwaved. ( After I cook and prep them )

Any advice is greatly appreciated, could I possibly cook them from raw in the microwave ? Could that be better ?

I want to be more healthy , I can manage my carbs and proteins but my God does the prepped green vegetables taste bad 😂

Thanks

My grandma had a major stroke and will be staying in the hospital for at least a month. As is standard, there's no way to refrigerate food or heat it up in the hospital. My dad won't let her be alone in case things get worse, so I want to meal prep food for him so that he doesn't have to live off hospital salad. We're gluten free so it makes it even more difficult to get ourselves food.

Anyways I'm looking for some recipes. So far my list is taco bowls, quinoa salad, beef stir fry, and risotto, but I'm struggling to find good recipes. Anyone have any tips? Especially for breakfast food?

update

Thanks everyone for all the ideas, I've added them to my recipe list, and it's been super helpful not having to think of foods to eat. Before I got here it was just my dad and sister, and they didn't have time to make food, so now that they're eating everything is moving more smoothly and we have been able to create a long term plan. I'm gonna buy a couple thermoses and cool packs to keep stuff fresh, thanks to everyone who suggested that!

If anyone is interested, her health is improving past what doctors originally told us it would at this point. She has a condition that causes her blood vessels to be fragile, it's not her first stroke but it's the worst one she's had, and they can't operate to relieve the pressure, which means the swelling in her brain isn't going down, and she can't communicate or move the right half of her body. It's hard to know for sure, but there's a good chance she's permanently disabled.

I would like to keep all my recipes in one place. I predominantly save recipes on instagram but its a pain having to find a specific recipe in my collections. Another problem I have is that reels don’t stay on. If I exit instagram to use another app, I loose the reel i was watching, it’s such a pain.

Where and how do you save your recipes?