“Meal Prep…”

 

Shared by Breanne Smedley

“Meal prep…”

On any given Sunday, during our family’s busy seasons of life (volleyball/football season), our kitchen looks like a tornado went through it.

All four burners on the stovetop cooking something different.

Food in the Instant Pot and Crock-Pot.

Loads of vegetables chopped up, covering the counters.

Multiple kitchen gadgets ready to be used.

And, of course, dishes piling up and over the sink.

They’re the sights and sounds of meal prep day.

Goal: Make two weeks of meals that we can freeze, then just take out and reheat on weeknights.

We originally saw this as the solution to our attempts to eat healthy and quickly during the week when we have limited time.

We both get home late during our sports seasons, and we don’t want to spend that short amount of time before bed cooking and cleaning pots and pans from dinner.

But we also didn’t want to eat out.

So, we decided to make every other Sunday a meal prep day to make two weeks of meals for us to easily enjoy.

Our first Sunday trying this out took us 8 hours of prepping, cooking, and cleaning to make 10 meals.

Now, if I do the math, that ends up being 48 minutes a meal.

And a Sunday spent doing nothing else but cooking.

The next Sunday, we decided that instead of making 10 different meals, we would make 5 and double each recipe so that we had the same 5 meals two weeks in a row.

This brought our time down to 6 hours of prepping, cooking, and cleaning to make 10 meals.

36 minutes a meal. Better.

Soon, I became obsessed with how I could bring this number even lower.

The next Sunday, instead of making one meal at a time, we made a master list of all the veggies that needed to be chopped, protein that needed to be cooked, and starches that needed to be prepped.

If three recipes called for a bell pepper, then we would chop all three at once. If two recipes called for ground turkey, we would cook both at once.

Before we assembled the meals, we had all the spices out and ingredients out, and the veggies chopped, cooked, and ready to go.

While I assembled, Brett did dishes.

This brought our time down to 5 hours for 10 meals. 30 minutes a meal.

Not bad.

But, I think we can do even better.

On our last Sunday of meal prep, before our seasons ended, we had hit our record time.

4 hours and 15 minutes to make 10 meals.

25 minutes a meal.

Achieved through increased chopping efficiency, batch cooking, and creating meals that used similar ingredients.

As true competitors, we know that when the next busy season rolls around, we will be set on beating that time.

And as competitors, we know that this comes through practice, evaluation, and attention to the details that will make us better.

Stay tuned, meal prep PRs coming up!

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