Spend a few extra minutes this weekend to Meal Prep. It will save so much time throughout the week and you’ll appreciate being able to spend less time in the kitchen.
I’ve mentioned my weekly meal prep several times on the blog, but I realized that I’ve never actually shown you what I do during these cooking sessions. I managed to get some pictures in while I was halfway through the process, so I figured I’d give you a peek into what my weekly meal prepping sessions look like.
It does take some effort, and spending a Sunday afternoon working in the kitchen is sometimes a chore. But when I weigh the effort against the benefits, it’s worth it for me. My grocery bill and time spent in the kitchen throughout the week decrease when I do my weekly meal prep. So lately I’ve made more of an effort to do it, well, weekly.
🗒️ Planning the Week’s Meals
Here’s the to-do list for this week’s meal prep session:
- Refried Beans
- White Rice
- Brown Rice
- Burritos
- Baked Eggs
- Breakfast Sandwiches
- Shredded Cheese (Parmesan, Mozzarella)
🧑🍳 Prepping the Ingredients
When the meal prep is finished I’ll have three types of meals completed: burritos, breakfast bowls, and breakfast sandwiches. I say “types” because each meal creates enough to last at least a week, or in the case of the burritos, several weeks.
Some items on my meal prepping to-do list aren’t complete meals, but are done in advanced in order to speed up cooking throughout the week. This list looks different from week to week, and this week only consisted of shredding cheese.
Each meal on my to-do list consists of some homemade ingredients, so my first step is to prepare those ingredients before I can move on to creating the actual meals. Refried beans, white rice and brown rice were the items I had to tackle first.
I cooked two pots of rice at once – one brown, one white. While the rice cooked, I shredded a block of mozzarella cheese in the food processor. Then used the same method to grate and shred a block of parmesan cheese.
Next, while the rice was still cooking, I drained and rinsed the dried beans that were cooked in the crockpot overnight. I prepared them refried bean style in the food processor along with a few other ingredients.
🍽️ Meal Prep Assembly
Now the real work begins: making the burritos. I like to work assembly line style for the sake of efficiency. This week I made 40 burritos for my husband’s lunches just so I don’t have to make them again for a while.
They were a huge pain in my butt this week because I experimented with wrapping in saran wrap, rather than the foil that I typically use. Cutting 40 pieces of saran wrap takes much longer than cutting 40 pieces of aluminum foil since mine didn’t come with a handy slide cutter. Once the burritos were rolled and wrapped, I placed them all in a basket to slide into the freezer for easy grab-and-go storage. Burrito basket for the win.
Next up: I wrote a post on making freezer breakfast sandwiches, so pop over to read about it. I use some of the leftover eggs from this in my breakfast bowls.
🌯 Completed Meal Prep
And finally… here’s everything. Breakfast sandwiches, lunch burritos, brown rice & eggs (for my breakfast bowls) and shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It doesn’t look like much, but breakfasts are handled for the next week and lunches are prepared for several weeks.
Of course, my meal prep looks different every week since we don’t eat the same meals week after week. I often include other items on my to-do list that will speed up cooking for dinner throughout the week, but this is just what my most recent cooking session looked like.
What do you include in your weekly meal prep?
I’m still working on this myself, but I love the inspiration of your post, thank you!
We usually hard-boil a few eggs for snacks, and I make homemade hummus and crudite to have on hand. Breakfast burritos with scrambled egg, black beans, potatoes and salsa are a huge hit around here, as well.
I’m going to have to try the breakfast sandwiches!
Yum! Those all sound like great items to place on the meal prep list. I haven’t tried making homemade hummus yet but you just reminded me. It may end up on next week’s list now.
I’d love the recipe for your breakfast burritos. Sounds like something my family would love!
This is such a good idea, I bet by doing this you this you save a ton of time!
Thanks, Stephanie! It definitely saves time throughout the week. 🙂
This was really interesting. Please keep doing these!!!
Thanks, Angela! Glad to hear you enjoyed the post. 🙂
Usually when I do prep I do dinner meals for the week.I’ve never tried breakfast sandwiches or burritos, those are good ideas. I just wish there was some way to keep them rather than using plastic wrap, I just hate the waste of it.
I usually use aluminum foil instead of plastic wrap. It’s much faster and I’m sure you can reuse the pieces if you’d like to. 🙂
You can line them on a baking sheet and flash freeze them, then put them all in a container or freezer bag.
Great idea! I love flash freezing to prevent them from freezing together.
🙂 Me too! It’s the little things in life, right??
I wrap burritos in waxed paper then put 10-12 of them in freezer bags for storage. I do both bean burritos and breakfast burritos. They both turn out well this way.
You can always use zip-lock and wash them and reuse them, Or if you search online a little bit you can find instructions on fusing plastic bags together, and sewing them to fabric to make your own washable sandwich baggies!
I hate saran wrap, we’ve never got along! I usually prep breakfast burritos, eggs, and potatoes. Then whatever we have for dinner that week, I prep whatever I can. 🙂
When you make breakfast burritos with eggs, how well do those freeze and then reheat? Love these ideas!
Just wondering on the reheat of frozen egg items – I’ve tried burritos and breakfast sandwiches – both of which got really soggy. I ended up disassembling the sandwiches and reheating the egg separate from the muffin. Any suggestions?
I am wondering the same thing. I have tried reheating McD’s (GASP) mcmuffins and we didn’t like them. The bread was chewy and the egg was wet making for a soggy finish.
I have some breakfast burritos in the freezer I need to pull out and try as well as some simple beans and cheese lunch style. I either freeze mine on a sheet and bag or wrap them in parchment or wax paper to nuke.
Thank you so much!!! I’ve been searching for something like this and with a growing family this is going to help me alot!! You are such a blessing! Thanks again for all your hard work!
Thanks for your kind words, Holly! I hope this post helps you … I’ll be sure to write more content like this in the future!
Your meal prep looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I especially love the roast chicken idea! You have some great tips on how to save money, I love that. Meal prep has changed my life so much! I actually just made a little free guide– if you’re interested, although it looks like you’ve got it covered 🙂
http://bethleahnutrition.com/why-you-cant-lose-weight/
Thanks for the great ideas. Here is a quick tip if you ever want to go the Saran wrap way…my grandmother taught me this. If you keep your saran wrap in the freezer it pulls off so easily and doesn’t get all stuck on itself. By the time you wrap it around an item, it’s back to normal stickiness. :-0
Wrap sandwiches & burritos in waxed paper then in a plaplastic bag–like the tortilla bag.
This is so insane that I found you, being I’m trying to do this for the first time! When I get tired of bfast sandwiches, I’ll try breakfast burritos. This is so helpful, I hope you make more blogs like this one with different types of food!
Fantastic post!! Can you do one on healthy man lunches that don’t need microwave or refrigeration? Thank you
Great ideas! Instead of your normal “Saran Wrap”, you can use Food Service film. It comes in rolls of thousands of feet and is so much easier to use. If you have a local Sams or Costco you can find it there. I have been using the same roll for years!
i would love to have read your blog, but the ads kept making the script jump around too much.
just a hint as you were having issues with the saran wrap… try freezer paper it is easy to roll and no freezer burn and goes from freezer to microwave.
Ooh thanks for the tip!
Love these ideas… my husband returned to school to continue his perusing his degree and I’m always looking for snacks for him. His days usual start early so the breakfast sandwich are great. Thinking of a western scramble egg omelet on a some type of roll (hoagie maybe) or even a bagel. Any snacks/lunch ideas the will hold nicely in a cooler would be great. his days are long and really doesn’t have a place where he can heat his snacks/lunches. The bowl is great also a salad with dressing on the side could be good for a couple of days.. Don’t know
These are great make-ahead meals. I have tried something similar but it didn’t come out quite right. I’ll have to give it another try because I like the idea of being able to just grab something already made for breakfast or lunch for the kids or myself. Thanks for the great ideas.
Ok how do you heat the food after it has been it the frezzer??
Can i use premade biscuits instead of the English muffins for the breakfast sandwiches?
Totally!