My Experiment with Meal Prepping

The reason why I even thought about doing this is because meal prepping is so popular these days, I hear moms talk about it, see it on social media and many people have attested to the fact that it helps them with weight control. However, I have also heard meal prepping be thought of as a thing for "people who have time for it", meaning if you're busy or working all the time then you simply can't have time to meal prep.

Personally I never really could comment that much about meal prepping because I hadn't tried it before. Even in college when I was rarely home till 7 or 8 at night, I never meal prepped. Just came home and cooked what was in the fridge. That habit has continued well after college, into my marriage and recent pregnancy. For me, recipes were never that hard to find and I could make things on the spot just from my cook books or simply putting things together from the fridge.

However, I thought it would be good to actually experiment with meal prepping, rate it's difficulty, and make a conclusion as to if I personally would make it into a habit or not.

Meal Prep 2: GF Kale & Hemp Pasta

This lasted a few days! It was our dinner the night that I made it and then our lunches for the next two-three days. Gotta say, this was so good and so healthy. The hemp hearts actually made the pasta creamy. I used Trader Joe's rice and lentil GF pasta.

Meal Prep 3: Pumpkin Chocolate Bread Pudding

This recipe was supposed to be actual pumpkin bread but it was way tastier as bread pudding. The problem with this recipe was that it was supposed to be a breakfast bowl. However, it tasted like desert that my husband ended up eating half of it after dinner. In all fairness... it tasted like desert more than breakfast so I only ended up having two bowls for brekkie the next day.

Meal Prep 4: Chia Seed and Raspberry Jam

This was a win! It was easy, fast and fresh! I knew this was gonna last a while. So good on toast and I still have some left in the fridge.

Meal Prep 5: Basil Cumin Sirloin GF Tacos

This was a last minute creativity meal because I was at Trader Joe's and saw the sirloin, thought we could try that instead of shredded beef. Ate it with GF Tortillas. It was great for dinner that night and we still had some leftovers for lunches the next day. The prep was quick and easy (turned the crock-pot on within 15 mins).

Meal Prep 6: Vegetable & Potato Medley

This was helpful for my work schedule, because I prepped it the day before, put it in the fridge and just microwaved rice as it baked the next day after coming home. I used a vegetable bag from Publix and the only chopping I did was the potatoes and onions.

Meal Prep 7: Greek Yogurt Protein Breakfast Bowl

I had already made this for quick breakfasts a few times but I had never actually prepped them before. Because I didn't have sleep in my eyes when prepping this, I was more aware of what I was throwing in the bowls.

Reflection

I'm reflecting on this meal prep about a year and a half later. Life, is rather different now. I have baby, I'm a stay at home mom and meal prepping has come a long way for me. I think I would consider myself a meal planner than a prepper, making these meals was great but it also meant you end up eating more food than what you normally do. I would say that I still love freezer meal prep and I do that from time to time. In addition, things that are no brainer meal preps are yogurt, breakfast muffins, etc. But actually making giant meals and eating from them throughout the week? Nope, not for us. I do attempt to make enough for leftover because I hate making lunch. I do believe meal prep is good if you are out of the house a lot or you struggle with making good food choices.