- I don’t know how to cook well. (Great! Neither do I!)
- I don’t have time. (Yes you do, stop lying.)
- I have multiple mouths to feed. (So do I, and I’m still a “bad” cook)
- Sundays are my “busy” days. (Great, do this on a Saturday then.)
- I hate shopping and preparing so far ahead of time. (Get over it.)
- My family doesn’t like the same healthy food that I like. (It’s time for that to change!)
Now, follow these general rules:
- Set aside 2 hours for complete process.
- Have at least 15 available Tupperware’s per person you are cooking for.
- Buy 5 varieties of vegetables, 2 varieties of protein and 2 carbohydrate sources for the week.
- Decide upon 3 varieties of snacks per week.
- Have your Zip-Lock baggies ready to pre-pack up all of your snacks for each day.
- Put on a good attitude, music / a podcast / a movie and have a cup of tea or glass of wine so that you can teach yourself that this prep time is an enjoyable part of your weekly routine.
- Once everything is cooked, label and stack in piles according to lunches / dinners and which days they should be eaten. Typically, on dinner meals, combine multiple servings together so that when you come home, all you need to do is dump on a larger serving plate, reheat and then serve to all.
Now, onto the preparation process!
- Clean your kitchen so that you are organized and ready to begin. Place all of your meats together, all of your snacks together, all of your vegetables together and all of your add-ins and spices together.
- Wash all of your vegetables at the same time.
- Make sure that all of your meat is defrosted at the same time.
- Baggie up all of your snack foods at the same time.
- Line up all of your Tupperware
- Once you get the protein started cooking, start making your salads for the week. I recommend a daily salad at lunch and then 3 larger salads to have at night throughout the week. Salads make for an easy dinner by adding shrimp and simple add-ins.
- Pre-plan your dinners for the week. Brandon and I typically have one to two dinners of left-overs from what is cooked on a Sunday and then we keep 3-4 frozen options to add into a salad for an easy dinner after long days of work. Our freezer typically holds the following options: more chicken breast, frozen shrimp, crab cakes, lean ground turkey, and ground chicken (which is amazingly delicious sautéed with roasted red pepper salsa and fresh pepper).
Now, enjoy a picture walk-through of my most recent “cook up”:
Our proteins for the week: (1). chicken thighs from Costco, approximately $10 worth (2). chicken tenders from Aldi, approximately $3.50 (3). frozen shrimp from Aldi, $2.99
Zucchini “balls” from local farmer’s market. Planned dinner for Sunday night / Monday leftovers. Cost: $1.50
Our spices, cooking supplies, etc.: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, fresh basil, balsamic vinaigrette, roasted red pepper salsa, fat free Italian dressing, Olive Oil pan spray, fresh ground pepper, Mrs. Dash salt-free seasonings.
Our carbs for the week: (1). Carrots, Black Eyed Peas (which I wash profusely to get the sodium off from being canned), Cowboy Caviar bean blend from Costco, tortilla wraps (for him): Total cost: $12
Veggies for the week: tomatoes, pepper blend, roasted red peppers, lettuce, fresh mozzarella (yes, I realize this is not a vegetable, but it snuck itself into the picture), mushrooms. Total cost= $15
Extra protein / meals / snacks: (1). Eggs (2). Low Fat Cottage Cheese (3). Pistachios (4) Walnuts (5). Lunch meat for emergency snacking. Total cost = $10
BREAKFASTS! Protein shakes using Complete Nutrition’s “TITAN” Chocolate or Vanilla Whey mixes OR UMP Cookies & Cream. (Cost per container, approximately $60, lasts us more than a month, so cost per week = $12); we mix these with water (for me) or unsweetened almond milk (him) using the Magic Bullet mixer and ice. Takes less than 60 seconds each morning.
Our Tupperware (bought at Costco) is washed and ready to go. Putting it out as you cook helps expedite the process of arranging meals for the week.
Make sure to wash all of your vegetables (and beans if you’re buying canned beans).
ROASTED PEPPER CHICKEN W/BASIL: Chicken tenders + fresh basil + roasted red pepper salsa. Just combine all ingredients (pre-defrosted chicken), throw in skillet (or bake in oven) and cook until chicken is fully cooked.
Daily meal add in: SALAD. We make 13 salads at one time. 5 lunch-sized ones for each of us during the day and then 3 larger salads for us to easily throw a protein source onto and make into a dinner on nights after long work days. We buy our lettuce at Costco, costing us a total of $5 for the entire week.
Save time by washing and cutting up all of your veggies at one time. These are veggies that I would split between salads and cooking up to go alongside protein sources for each lunch.
STUFFED ZUCCHINI BALLS: Hallow zucchini, sprinkle in a touch of extra virgin olive oil, add in beans, add in chicken slices (pre-cooked), sprinkle with your choice of Ms. Dash seasoning, then a touch of olive oil on top with a sprinkling of light mozzarella cheese. Set oven at 400 degrees and bake until browned.
If you’re baking, don’t waste a good, hot oven. Throw in extra veggies onto a tin-foiled sheet and add into meals throughout the week.
GRILLED CHICKEN. 2 dinners and 6 lunches worth of grilled chicken. Basted with fat free balsamic, fat free italian or roasted red pepper salsa. If Brandon isn’t around to fire up the grill for me, I’ll cook this same amount of chicken in the oven with some cut up broccoli and sliced mushrooms added in.
SALADS: Finished state with peppers, tomatoes, mixed greens, mushrooms and a tiny bit of mozzarella.
MEAL: Shrimp + Roasted red peppers + bruchetta / pesto tortilla.
HERS vs. HIS. Shrimp meal options. HERS = black eyed peas + shrimp + basil + roasted red peppers. HIS = tortilla combination instead of black eyed peas.
HERS vs HIS Combo #2. Roasted red salsa sauteed chicken strips + black eyed peas and veggies (for her) or just extra chicken and veggies (for him).
3 identical meals for HIM / HER to be eaten on Monday / Wednesday / Friday to allow for variety in between.
TEN LUNCHES + pre-baggies SNACKS.
Finished look at Stuffed Zucchini Balls…delicious!
Fridge organization maters! HIS shelf, HER shelf, SALAD self, SNACK shelf. The week is ready!
HIS and HER lunch box. Quality lunch boxes are a MUST!
A little bit of preparation goes a LONG, LONG, LONG way.
Meals made in the above example:
(1). Sunday night dinner for two:
Stuffed chicken and black-eyed peas zucchini balls with salad on the side.
(2). Breakfasts for two, Monday-Friday.
Titan Whey Protein (bought at Complete Nutrition) + unsweetened almond milk with optional add-ins of blueberries or strawberries. Additional option to simply mix plain with water or to use UMP protein (also bought at Complete Nutrition).
Eggs, cooked up as two full eggs and one to two egg whites, eaten with beans on the side and/or salsa for flavor.
(3). Monday night dinner for two:
Salad and left-over (not already portioned) grilled chicken.
(4). Lunches for two, M/W/F:
Grilled chicken and salad with vegetables and / or black eyed peas or pepper pesto tortillas.
(5). Lunches for two, Tuesday
Shrimp, salad and peas and/or pepper pesto tortillas.
(6). Dinner for two, Tuesday
Salad, zucchini and left-over grilled chicken or shrimp or frozen crab cakes.
(7). Lunches for two, Thursday
Sauteed roasted pepper salsa chicken with extra baked zucchini, peppers and mushrooms on the side with a salad.
(8). Snacks for the week:
Bagged baby carrots, bagged unsalted almonds, bagged pistachios, low fat cottage cheese, bagged peppers, bagged walnuts.
Dinners on Wednesday and Thursday are made that night with whatever has been chosen to be pre-thawed, typically something easy that takes less than 15 minutes. We often select to have a weekly “date night” on Wednesday or Thursday since we are saving so much money and time everywhere else in the weekly eating. Weekend meals are cooked day-of, or are a date-meal out or meal with friends. Sundays are set aside for grocery shopping after church and then 90 -120 minutes of cooking for the week to come.
As you can add up, the approximate cost of these meals is $57. There are add-ins that we don’t have to buy on a weekly basis, making the weekly average cost about $75. Out of $75, we get 17-20 meals, making each meal cost approximately $3.75 per meal. Brandon and I used to spend $10-$15 per lunch, costing us $20-$30/day and thereby saving us about $112.50 per week. These totals depend upon what you choose to cook and what you spend right now, so let’s just call that a savings of $75!
Calorically, it is fair to estimate that you save 200-300 calories per meal that you prepare yourself versus eating out. If you just do a “cook-up” for lunches, you’ll save between 1000 and 1500 calories next week. Add breakfasts and/or dinners to that and your caloric savings can skyrocket upwards of 3,200 – 3,500 calories, or a full pound of fat.
There you go…
…no more excuses!
COOK ON!