Like many aspects of my life, with the popular Prep Day, I waffle back and forth. Some weeks I do way more prep than others. It all depends on how my Sunday goes! If I have a full day of soccer or have been traveling, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will barely have had time to make a meal plan for the week. During the winter and summer when my Sundays are open, I do a lot more planning on the weekend.
It all comes down to this: unless I’m in a particularly good mood with nothing on my calendar, I don’t want to spend my Sunday in the kitchen. I’d much rather be playing outside with Mazen, going somewhere fun, or simply lounging on the couch. This realization has led me to admit that I will never be one of those people with a week’s worth of meals ready to go in tupperware. (There are some really impressive prep day divas out there!)
What I did decide, however, was that I could do a mini prep day. I’m talking 15 minutes in the kitchen, tops, just to take the edge off the week.
Here’s what I decided I could commit to that would help me have my healthiest week of eating:
- One salad
- One fish
- One soup
Keep it simple.
Salad
For salads, massaged kale salads are the obvious best choice. They take minutes to assemble and they hold up well in the fridge for many days. Other ideas could be a wheatberry or rice salad. Or simply a pre-tossed, undressed salad (although that might take the longest to make and be the first to wilt).
Here are some massaged kale salad ideas. (Pesto is the easiest and the sesame oil version is so delicious!)
You might have to click through to see these if you’re in an RSS reader!
Fish
Most weeks this will come in the form of canned fish! Tuna, salmon, and sardine salad is easy to make in 5 minutes flat. They are also sooooo good for you! And cheap!! But, a rotisserie chicken or any significant leftovers will do too. The only rules are that there should be no oven involved and the meal needs to be protein-centric. (Unless I have one of those magical cooking Sundays.)
Here are some of my favorite recipes!
Soup
And finally, soup. This is the hardest to fit into my 15 minute window, but my compromise is to make it either Sunday or Monday night for dinner and have the leftovers all week! The options are endless. Here are some ideas.
So, what do you guys think? Sounds do-able, right?!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
I love your recipes. Soup sounds lovely since the temperature is dropping crazily here in Hong Kong!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Kim says
I think what you’re getting at in this post is that you don’t really NEED to meal prep! As a fellow SAHM I don’t really need to either; I can usually just cook the night of. Love the salad idea!
KathEats says
Yes, you’re right that I don’t need to because I have flexible days, but I still want to be a little organized for my week to begin.
Pam says
I am also a stay at home mom and would not spend my time on Sundays meal prepping!! Do you typically have Monday mornings free? I normally use Monday morning while my daughter is at preschool to do some prep for the week. As I’m sure you know, just because you’re a SAHM doesn’t mean your afternoons/evenings aren’t busy!
KathEats says
I think Tuesday would be a better day because Mondays I want to hit the ground running with blog work! In fact, maybe Thursdays would be ideal because I have taken care a lot of my work for the week, but who wants to meal prep when the week is half over!? Haha. That’s why I think my mini prep is an ideal solution for me 🙂
Bonnie says
Can’t wait to try this-totally doable! Takes the pressure off when I can’t get my act together to prep for the week!
Thank you for this!
Linds says
I like the parameters you set for yourself – they’re realistic and a good work-life balance, so to speak :). Very well written and informative, I enjoyed reading!
Melissa | HerGreenLife says
Like you, I haven’t gotten into the “prep day” concept. I also rarely meal plan, instead I meal map. My dinners almost always yield enough leftovers for all of us to have another meal, and meal mapping helps me track leftovers so I can use them while they’re still good.
Soups are a great one for leftovers — I made a big pot of lentil soup for dinner last night, and I think we’ll get two more meals out of it 🙂
KathEats says
“Meal map” – I like that!
Linda @ the Fitty says
Soup, fish and salad sound really great! I eat those almost weekly.
Cheryl says
My idea of meal prepping is simply creating a menu for the week. We talk about our schedules, what we need to use in the fridge, and who is going to cook which meal. That also helps us know when we need to pull something out of the freezer or if is going to be a crockpot meal.
Brandy says
Great idea, but as a full time working mom, I just have to do my prep on the weekend whether or not I feel like it!
KathEats says
You gotta do what you gotta do!
Carmina says
Hi Kath, split pea soup is my favorite, so I’m always looking for new recipes. You say you use homemade chicken broth but I can’t find your recipe on your site, could you post a link? Love the simple salad ideas-such good go to’s!
KathEats says
Hmmm…Matt was into a kick of making homemade broth years ago so if I mentioned it in a recipe I was referring to that. I’m easy with a good organic boxed broth : )
Anna says
Love this! I live by myself and teach at home, but have no time for dinner prep as I teach lessons straight through to 8pm most nights. I do try to prep a meal or two one morning a week, usually a soup and salad and eat off it for the rest of the week.
Elyse @ Just Murrayed says
We do something similar – we make a fruit salad and a soup AND if we’re feeling wild maybe we will roast vegeables. Other than that, we are a wing-it family. I’ve tried to do the Sunday prep but I hate spending my entire day in the kitchen.
Kristin says
I made your crockpot chili last night and it was wonderful! New favorite chili recipe. My kids even loved it (sans the chunks of squash, which I happily ate for them!). The squash is such a unique addition, but really excellent in this soup. Thanks for sharing!
KathEats says
Yay!