Do you struggle with Meal Prep? I realize this doesn’t seem like a library topic but I’m sure you struggle with this topic from time to time. I was chatting recently with a mom who is a school librarian. She was frustrated because she didn’t have the time for meal prep she used to have.
I was a working mom for over 20 years – working in a school setting all of those years. I’ve come up with a few tips over the years that may help if you are struggling with balancing work and meal prep.
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One of the biggest things I did to ease weeknights is to do my meal planning on the weekend. I’ve used a variety of methods. I tried the Once A Month Cooking method. It didnt’ work for, but it may work for you.
Favorite Meal List
One of the things I did do was create a list of all the meals my family enjoyed including an ingredient list and the recipe information. The list includes a variety of recipes from Soups and Stews to One-pot Meals or Sandwich-type meals.
Meal Planning
In order to help with grocery shopping I plan about 2 weeks in advance. On the weekend I take a look at the recipes for the next week and do all the possible prep ahead of time that I can. I also plan for the week after that and figure out my grocery list. Most weeks I would do a grocery pick up one day on my home from work.
Crock pots became my best friend. In fact there were meals where I had 2 crock pots going. Once easy meal was potatoes baking in one crockpot and chili cooking in the other. Come home from work, set the table, get the potato toppings out of the ‘frig and dinner is ready. When my kids were young, this was a once-a-week meal.
Weekend Meal Prep
On Friday evenings, get all the ingredients out of the freezer (I am a bulk buyer so I have many things stored in my freezer).
On Saturdays, I chop all the veggies I needed for the next week’s recipes and brown any meat that needed to be browned.You can also put together any casseroles. This is a great opportunity to get your kids involved and teach them kitchen skills. Kids and spouse can help with chopping veggies, browning meat and assembling the casseroles.
Weekday Meal Prep Work
Casseroles or browned meat that won’t be used on Monday go in the freezer. Take these items out the night before they are on the menu. In the morning, make sure your crock pot is started or that you have everything ready to throw together when you get home. I am not an Instapot owner but I am sure you could use an instapot to help cut down time with your evening meal prep.
Helpful Resources
My Health and Wellnes blog, It’s Mama Safe, has some of the recipes I have created/adapted that work with my food sensitivities. You will also find some cookbook reviews on the blog.
I have a couple of products that you may be interested in – A Soups and Stews Cookbook and a Food Inventory Planner.
Would you like a printable meal planner to help you keep track of your meals? There are several on Etsy that may be just what you need.
I have also found some things on Amazon that may help you as you start your journey with Meal Prep and making your evening meal prep less hectic.
Visit my Friday Finds posts to see some interesting products that may interest you as a school librarian.
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