Meal Prep - Week #1

We finished up our trial run and it went better than expected.  The girls and I were pretty impress, not only by the fact that we enjoyed a lot of great meals, but that it didn't take a huge amount of time to get it all prepped.  I'd say it was a success and we all agreed to keep it going. This is what we did.

Friday evening I took meat out of the freezer to thaw.  A four pound pork roast, two large chicken breast halves and a pound of turkey breakfast sausage.

Saturday morning we shopped.  Our list was based on two main things.  Items we needed to round out what we already had at home to complete the menu and select items on sale to stock up on.  We meal prepped on both Saturday and Sunday to break it up.  For us this seems to work best as there are other things we need and want to do over the weekend.

Into the slow cooker for six hours

Removing the fat and getting ready to shred the roast

First thing in the morning, before we left to shop, I put the pork roast in my largest slow cooker on high to stew up in its own juices.  I added nothing to the pot at this point.  After six hours my oldest took the roast out, removed the fat and shredded the entire thing.  Half of the roast went back into the slow cooker.

Half of the pork with green chile sauce and onion

The other half of the shredded roast

Adding BBQ sauce for pulled pork sandwiches

Finished pork verde ready for the freezer

I added half a large can of green chile enchilada sauce to the slow cooker and an onion cut into chunks.  We let that cook to make pork verde.  Three hours later we put the pork into a freezer container and labeled it.  It is waiting in the freezer for a future meal.  In the meantime my daughter mixed the rest of the shredded pork with barbeque sauce.  Then it went into a bowl, was labeled and placed in the refrigerator for pulled pork sandwiches.

Mixing up the eggs for quiche

Sausage, mushrooms & cheese in the bottom of the crust

Ready for the freezer

While the pork verde was cooking my oldest made two whole wheat pie crusts.  I cooked up a pound of turkey breakfast sausage with some sliced mushrooms, whipped up a dozen eggs with some flour, milk and salt & pepper to taste.  The cooled sausage was placed in the bottom of each pie crust.  I divided a 6oz. package of grated swiss cheese between the two and then topped each one equally with the egg mixture.  Into the freezer they went.  Once frozen I put each one into a freezer bag and labeled them.  One quiche for the week and one for the future.

Sliced chicken, garlic and soy sauce

Ready to marinate in the freezer

I sliced up the chicken, put it in a bowl with a spoonful of minced garlic and some soy sauce.  Then I put it in a cool whip container, labeled it and put it in the freezer.

Meatloaf - ground beef, ground pork, oatmeal, egg, grated zucchini,
chopped onion, ketchup, horseradish, garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper

Sunday afternoon the youngest and I finished up the prep.  We put together a meat loaf, scrubbed up potatoes and carrots, and because I had some portabello mushrooms I'd bought on markdown, we made some filling and stuffed those too.

Meat loaf, smashed potatoes & carrots

Green beans, stuffed portabello mushrooms

Sunday dinner

Sunday - Baked meatloaf and mushrooms in oven, cooked potatoes & carrots on stove, smashed them and added milk, butter and salt & pepper to taste.  I also had a bit of leftover sour cream so I threw that into the potatoes as well.  Canned green beans were heated in the microwave.

Dinner was ready to serve by the time the fries came out of the oven

Pulled pork sandwich, fries & salad

Monday - Baked frozen french fries in the oven.  Heated pulled pork up on stove, added a little bit of water and some more BBQ sauce.  Made a quick salad.

Tuesday - Dinner with friends at their home.

Wednesday - reheated Sunday dinner in microwave.  Delicious and easy!

Chicken marinated in garlic & soy sauce with rice

My youngest made this beautiful salad while I cooked the chicken

Thursday - Made up a big batch of rice in the morning, put in refrigerator.  Took out container of chicken to thaw.  That evening I quickly cooked up the chicken while the rice heated up in the microwave.  Served it with leftover salad.  Everything was ready in 15 minutes!

The youngest & I made pizzas 

One for the freezer

One for supper

Friday - Made a batch of pizza dough in the bread machine.  The youngest and I pulled out a bunch of odds and ends in the refrigerator and managed to put a couple of pizzas together in about 30 minutes.  We baked one and put a shower hat over the other one and froze it.  One for now and one for later.

Chicken fried rice from leftovers

Saturday - Leftover rice and garlic soy chicken became chicken fried rice for dinner.  Added three eggs, some red onion and a partial bag of frozen peas & carrots.

We had plenty of leftovers each day for lunches.  The pulled pork was used in two lunches in fact.  Everything flowed smoothly Saturday's dinner was a bonus meal we hadn't counted on so it was a wonderful surprise.  We had so much food that week we never made it to the quiche, but we have it for a later date or Sunday breakfast.  The only hiccup we had was when we went to make the coleslaw we found the cabbage had soured, but we punted and just made a quick salad instead.

Friday evening my oldest decided to up the ante - chocolate chip cookie dough

She made dough balls to freeze

And some to try!  Delicious!

Getting dinner on the table each night was super quick and easy, with minimal dishes and clean up.  Not to mention, stress free and I didn't feel like I was spending a ton of time in the kitchen over the weekend getting everything ready.  I'd say it was a success!