Easy Meal Prep Ideas We Use To Inspire Healthy Living : The Grocery Game Challenge 2017 #3 Oct 16-22

THE BEST MEAL PREP TIPS COME FROM THOSE ON A FOOD JOURNEY

 

The hardest task for any kitchen warrior is to make everyone in the house is happy when it comes to meal-time. If you want to learn about meal prep don’t go to someone who has never done it before, consult the professionals and I don’t mean those with a University degree either.

Joining Facebook or other community groups which consist of people on the same food journey as you and successful is a bullet-proof way to keep focused and learn. They are always willing to share tips with you so you too can get a kick-start with your meal prep ideas.

You may question whether meal prep is worth it but only you can answer that. Consider your lifestyle and ask yourself what you’d rather be doing after working all day? Cooking, Relaxing, Playing with the kids, Working Out, Cleaning etc. If you’re eating out at work every day possibly the only change you need to make is prepping delicious healthy meals to take along with you.

Oh, and telling your colleagues that you’ve brought your lunch and can’t join them at the restaurant. You could however ask if sitting in the park for lunch is an option and tag along for the ride. You don’t need to be excluded from the lunch/dinner conversation if your buddies are willing to compromise. It typically falls between spending less but more effort vs. spending more money for convenience.

Related: Eating out vs. Eating in

Who has money to blow eating out all the time anyways?

Meal prep ideas are simple foods that you can prep ahead of time to make your meal planning easier throughout the week. There’s nothing fancy about it although we do know that when food is readily available whether we are away from home or busy around the house eating out tends to dwindle.

It’s after you realize that eating requires pots, pans and lots of clean-up that eating out sounds like an alternative but not always the best one.

Eating out costs a fortune no matter where you go. You can always make food at home for less. You may not be able to create Michelin star quality meals but you won’t go hungry.

 

Meal Prep Ideas

 

You may have noticed over the past two years that our Sunday recipe posts have transformed to low-carb, gluten-free and keto-friendly.

This change in eating came with much planning and meal prep was and still is critical.

The easiest meal prep ideas begin with foods that you already know how to prepare and know that you will eat.

After Mrs. CBB had our son she we started a low-carb, keto diet  to help her lose weight, eat healthier and cut the sugar from her diet.

This has since become a foodie lifestyle for my wife  and I with noticeable results but most of all no more migraines. (knock on wood, right?)

Part of idea was to make sure that she was somewhat ahead of the grocery game in terms of meal prep ideas. These meal prep ideas included plenty of recipe testing but was fun and encouraged the both of us to work together in the kitchen as a couple.

Although my wife is a stay at home mom it’s important for her to have meals prepped up to a certain extent so she can focus her energy on our son, taking care of her health, general house work and paying the bills. I will never, ever say a thing to my wife when I come home and things aren’t done or organized because I understand just how much work it takes to be a stay at home parent.

You play many roles and when you have health issues like she does it just adds to the stress of making it through the day.

 

One Week Meal Plan Prep For Weight Loss

 

What started as weight-loss has changed to lifestyle but that first week of meal planning has not only kept us both on track it helped us to weed out the stuff we no longer need in our pantry. I’m more than ever reading labels and surprised at the amount of sodium, sugar and carbohydrates in products.

A plan to get back on track that started with my wife had now spilled over to me and to a small degree our son. We struggle to get him to eat much but we offer him a variety of foods daily and do our best to stay away from pre-made foods.

I will be the first to say that it’s not always possible to cook everything homemade when parents are working or in our case struggling with medical problems. Peanut butter, cookies and jam may be purchased instead of homemade or even stockpiled.

I’ve also realized that I don’t understand half the ingredients on product labels which started to worry me. Growing up in my wife’s family included hunting, fishing and gardening. Her mother would be in the kitchen prepping food for the day, week, month and baking sweets for desserts even though she worked full-time. We still don’t know how she did it. Maybe we’re too spoiled these days. There wasn’t much in the way of grocery shopping apart from every day essentials spices, oils, condiments etc.

 

Healthy Meal Prep

 

The easiest way to meal prep when you are in a relationship is together if both of you eat the same type of diet. If yes, this can simplify the cooking and shopping process.

Related: The Ultimate Keto Grocery Shopping List Guide

Grocery shopping for two lifestyle eating habits may be time-consuming in and out of the kitchen which is why meal prep is so important.

Great meal prep ideas start with a plan which includes;

• Determination
• Grocery Budget
• Great recipes
• Passion
• Meal Plan

A diet rich in butter, bacon, nut flours and so on with a low-carb keto diet can drive food expenses up however if you’re no longer buying foods that you used to then you may find you can balance the grocery budget easier. The problem I see people run into is when one partner eats a regular diet and the other starts something different such as Keto, Vegan, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free etc.

 

Meal Prep Ideas We Use To Help Chop Time and Save Money

 

1. Wash, Chop, Rice or Spiralize all vegetables when we get home from the grocery store and refrigerate for the week.
2. Pre-cook our protein, marinate or skewer so they are ready to use, We’ve prepped beef, chicken, turkey and lamb mince in advance for salads, sandwiches or hot meals.
3. Make large portions of dishes such as pasta sauce or soups so we can portion what we need for the week and freeze the rest.
4. Hard Boil a Dozen or two of eggs for easy snacks and to use as a recipe ingredient
5. Assemble salads for the week in Jars or containers
6. Saute spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, kale so it’s ready to go in our chosen recipes for the week
7. Prepare and bake anything that complements our meals such as breads, muffins, cakes etc.

 

Meal prep ideas and recipes we’ve created for our family

 

Eggnotta Crustless Quiche is perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner and can be made in advance served with a salad or on its own. Easy

Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf is easy to prep, bake and serve in portions for lunch and dinner.

Cream of Asparagus Soup with Asiago Cheese

Oopsie Bread 

A dozen or two of Oopsie bread or other low-carb breads and muffins help to make toast or sandwiches on the fly.

Pasta Sauce and Meatballs

Everyone loves pasta but when you are cutting carbs sauce is a life-saver for meals that include spaghetti and meatballs, spaghetti squash, spiral zucchini or eggplant lasagna in our house.

Chia Seed Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Everyone likes a bit of sweetness on their toast or desserts especially once you go sugar-free. Having a few jars of berry jam in the freezer makes for a delicious topping. You’ll save money too as it’s pricey to buy sugar-free jam.

Lemon Pound Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Every once in a while we crave a cake , cookies and ice-cream which is why we pick one treat for the week and that is what we add to our menu. If we get bored we create new recipes.

 

Watch how fast you’ll be happy you did the prep work in advance!

 

All of our recipes above are low-carb, gluten-free and sugar-free and just a few of the meals we prep on the weekend for the week. Sometimes we do our meal prep on a Monday but it depends on your family schedule. There are no rules to say meal prep has to be on Sunday so don’t use that as an excuse for not doing it.

Discussion Question: What foods do you meal prep and how do you plan your  meal prep menu?

 

October Grocery Game Challenge

 

Join in the 2017 Grocery Game Challenge (GGC) fun and post your grocery shop in the comment section of each GGC blog post. Here are The Grocery Game Challenge rules to get you started and where you’ll also find a link for the 2017 GGC schedule. Please feel free to download, save and even print the schedule.

Post your shop and you can be next. Two numbers left in the draw….one is $10 the other is $50~

New monthly prize: See the Grocery Game Rules

• The Ultimate Guide For Buying Real Food
• 12 Inexpensive Childhood Recipes

 

 

2017 Grocery Shop Results

 

Yearly grocery budget for two + 1 Toddler 2017: $3180 or $265/month (The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $300/year or $25/month.Points Overview (add any other sections you need to show us your savings)

• Total Grocery Budget for this Month: $265
  
• Total Grocery Budget with any carry-overs $265
  
• Total Gift Cards used to date: $0
• Total Rewards Points redeemed this week: $0
• Total Rewards Points used to date: $0
• PC Points Plus Earned to date: 646,000
  
• Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP) to date $0
• Shoppers Optimum: 983,000 O.M.G

Coupon Apps (add any other apps you use to save money)

• Zweet to cash out : $18.25… no idea where the money went but it seems we have $0.
  
• Checkout51 to cash out : $24.50 we cashed out so we’re back at O.
  

 

Our Grocery Shop This Week

 

Food Basics

• 2 x cooking pumpkins $2.10 and $2.25
• 3 bananas $0.47
• 2 4L milk $4.27 each
• Raspberries $1.88
• Oatmeal Cookies $0.99
• Eggs large $1.88
• Bag of 5 avocado $1.99
• Ricotta $1.99
• Popcorn $1.50 3pk

Total Out-of-pocket $23.59

Costco

• Salerno Mozzarella $20.99
• Bananas $1.57
• Blackberries $4.99
• Renee’s Caesar Dressing $5.79
• 3 pk Dumpsters Whole Wheat Bread $5.99
• Bag of apples $5.99
• Mushrooms 1lb $4.99
• Parmesan Whisps $11.99
• Brie $10.99
• 6 x 10% Lactancia cream $1.95
• 2 pk Extra large Eggs $5.99
• 3pk seedless cucumbers $2.97
• 3 pack German Salami $11.99

Total Out-of-pocket $105.94

Note: All totals below already have tax factored into them.

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