An example from a Registered Dietitian showing you How To Food Prep – Step By Step. I share what I prepped in 2 hours for a healthy week and what order I did things in so that I could utilize my time most efficiently.
Hi friends!
A lot of you seem to like to watch me food prep over on Instagram Stories so I’ve been trying to be more intentional about showing you my step by step process so that you can see exactly what order I do things, and how I utilize my time to make the most of my food prep sessions. Here’s an example of a prep session I did a few weeks ago.
If this post is helpful to you, you’ll love my Mastering Food Prep course. I teach you the five steps to food prep, plus I talk about meal prep beyond dinner, give you tips for adding variety, talk about flexible meal prep and food safety and cover some of the most common roadblocks to food prep. I also have an ebook called Ultimate Guide to Food Prep.
So, typically we go to the grocery store on Saturday but on this particular weekend, we didn’t go until Sunday afternoon. I had some time in the morning so I used what I had on hand to get some prep out of the way before we even went to the store.
Sunday morning is the perfect time for me to bake with the kiddos. We started the day by making some Coconut Oil Banana Muffins. Once those were in the oven, I sent the kids off to play and I started some farro on the stovetop and chopped carrots, sweet potatoes and potatoes so they’d be ready to roast in the oven once the muffins were done. It only takes 5 min or so to chop them up and then it’s just a matter of sticking them in the oven and stirring once or twice. Very hands off.
After we made it to the grocery store, I started my second round of food prep. I roasted some green beans and broccoli first.
Earlier in the morning I ended up roasting the white potatoes and carrots in the oven together but ran out of time for the sweet potatoes so I just saved those for the afternoon session. While the broccoli and beans were roasting, I chopped some delicata squash and tomatillos to roast next, along with the sweet potatoes. I also chopped up our snacking veggies.
After the next round of veggies were in the oven, I put some rice in the Instant Pot to cook, prepped my kale, and made a batch of Pumpkin Yogurt Bars so they’d be ready to go in the oven.
After I put the bars into the oven, I put some chicken breasts in the instant pot, made a marinade for my pork tenderloin and used the tomatillos I roasted to make a Spicy Green Sauce.
So to recap, this is what I prepped during my morning session: roasted carrots and potatoes, Coconut Oil Banana Muffins and farro.
And then I spent about an hour and 15 minutes after grocery shopping making all of this: roasted sweet potatoes, green beans, squash and broccoli, snacking veggies, kale, spicy green sauce, rice, pumpkin yogurt bars, pork marinade and shredded chicken.
The last thing I did was make a batch of Carrot Oat Bars with the carrots I roasted in the morning, since they’re my daughter’s favorite snack.
Then I like to give a breakdown of what I prepped in different groups and share how I cook everything. I do my rice in the Instant pot and store in a stasher bag. I do my farro on the stove and my potatoes in the oven. These are all quick and easy carb sources that my Type 1 diabetic husband can measure easily for his meals.
I always roast a lot of veggies to make them easy to reheat in the microwave and add to the kids’ plates and ours, plus raw veggies for snacking and kale that my hubby uses for salads.
I love putting my Spicy Green Sauce on chicken and veggie bowls throughout the week and I use the shredded chicken to make all sorts of stuff for the kids. My hubby grills the pork tenderloin, or I pan sear it and roast in the oven. We usually do that on Monday or Tuesday night.
And finally, I always like to have baked goods on hands for snacks and breakfasts for the kids (and for mama!). I made my Coconut Oil Banana Muffins with avocado oil and added some hemp seeds.
I made the Carrot Oat Bars for my little one. I make them dairy-free with Bolthouse Farms pea milk and I always add hemp seeds.
And for the Pumpkin Yogurt Bars, I added hemp and flax and chocolate chips this time.
Here it is all together:
So there you go! Hope that was helpful!! If you’re looking for more info about how we use the food I prep during the week, check out this post:
A Week of Component Food Prep {and How To Use It} where I share my food prep and then exactly how we used it for meals during the week and how much we had leftover at the end of the week!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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Ok, so here is my totally newbie cook question – when do you eat all this, and how do you heat it up? It seems like so much food, which might go bad after a few days. Please advise!! I love you site, and thank you for what you do to help other mamas cook healthy food for their families.
check out this post for more info on how we use it during the week: https://www.theleangreenbean.com/week-of-component-food-prep/ we usually eat most of what i prep on sunday by thursday. most leftovers are fine for 3-4 days! and we reheat in the microwave.
Hey Lindsay this is awesome! Any way you could expand on how long you store food for and how you reheat so that it still tastes fresh?? I guess it depends on on the food, I just have a hard time making leftovers taste as good as fresh meals so I’m wondering if you have any
We reheat in the microwave. You could also use a skillet, panini press for sandwiches, add sauces like bbq sauce, salad dressing, cheese, guac, hummus etc so it doesn’t taste dry, try marinating the meat before cooking, etc! check out this post as well: https://www.theleangreenbean.com/week-of-component-food-prep/