How We utilized our Sunday Meal Prep

The idea of meal prep can be daunting, annoying or overwhelming. So I wanted to share with you how my family used our work this past Sunday to create meals for the week.

We spent approximately 3 hours as a family completing all the prep work. If you are saying “3 Hours, No Thanks”, Keep in mind that 3 hours was based on the "additional help" that I had in the kitchen from my 3 little assistants. The upside in this prep work means we had about 5 - 10 minutes to assemble each meal at night.

How we made this work:

1. We picked 2 proteins (2 meat and 2 vegetarians for me) that I could prep into several meals. The vegetarian options I pick work interchangeably with the meat options we have.

   1. Chicken & Ground Beef

   2. Tofu and Eggplant

2. We picked recipes we could make with those proteins.

---

Dinner:

• Sunday - Chicken Pot Pie Ring

• Monday - Pasta & Meatballs with Salad

• Tuesday - Chix / Bean or Veggie / Bean Burritos with Salsa & Rice

• Wednesday - Chicken Parmesan or Eggplant Parm Quesadilla

• Thursday - Mock Sushi Bowls

• Friday - Order or Leftovers

Adult Lunches:

(Based on Dinners)

• Farro Bowls with Kale & Feta cheese with shrimp, chicken, or tofu

• Mexican Bowls with Chicken or Tofu (with Rice and Stir Fry Veggies)

• Asian Bowls (with Rice and Tofu or Shrimp)

Kid Lunches:

(Based on Dinners)

• Meatball Subs – (from Monday's dinner)

• Chicken and Bean Burritos – (from Tuesday's dinner)

• Quesadillas – (from Wednesday's dinner)

• Sun butter Sandwiches – (Nut free spread, great substitute for peanut butter)

• Snacks

  • Energy Bites

  • Fruit & Veggie of choice

  • Snack from the pantry (chips, crackers, cheese dip or whatever else I bought that week)

---

3. Then We prepped :

Energy Bites	Crockpot chicken to shredded chicken	Salsa
Ground Beef into Meatballs (3 lbs = 60 balls)		Eggplant into "Meat"balls Recipe in my Blog
​Air fried Tofu nuggets (Recipe on Greek Goddess Bowl Blog)	Cooked Veggies (Kale & Pepper, Onion & Mushroom Mix)	Cooked Grains (4 services of Farro & Jasmine Rice)

4. Now The How We Did it:

For meal prep day, I always pick the things that would take us the longest during the week. To Help you understand the process, below is what we prepped and a schedule of what order we worked in to best utilize our time.

1. Energy Bites

   1. The kids measured it and mixed it themselves so that took them 1 hour depending on their attention spans, so we let this sit out for a bit.

2. Add chicken to Crockpot.

   1. Sits for 3 – 4 hours

3. Heat Oven to 365

4. Start Farro on stove

5. Eggplant “Meatballs” PART 1

   1. Chop eggplant & Cook chopped veggies

6. Ground Beef into Meatballs – PART 1

   1. Mix and Roll - prep while eggplant part 1 is cooking.

7. Salsa

   1. Mix and Store

8. Ground Beef into Meatballs – PART 2

   1. Add to over when part 1 eggplant comes out.

9. Eggplant into "Meat"balls – PART 2

   1. Mix and Roll while meatballs are cooking

10. Start Rice on stove

    1. Transfer Farro to container to store and use the same pot for rice

11. Eggplant into "Meat"balls – PART 3

    1. Add to oven after meatballs are done cooking.

12. Air fried Tofu nuggets

    1. Prep nuggets while eggplant meatballs are in oven

    2. Add to oven after eggplant meatballs come out.

13. Cook Kale & Stir Fry Veggies (peppers, onions and mushrooms)

    1. Chop Veggies & Prep on stove while nuggets are in the oven

---

Physical Prep: 70+/- minutes

Total Time:

70 – 90 minutes stovetop ,

2.75 Hours Oven time

Assembly Each Night:

5 – 10 minutes

No planning

No last-minute runs to the store

No processed foods

No fast food.

Enjoy!