I’m a Prepper!
Well, not that kind of Prepper, although, you should check out my Zombie Attack board on Pinterest!
This weekend I did some meal prep. When I was younger, I did a lot of advance meal making, and recently you’ve heard me talk about my love of freezer and crock pot meals; however, since I became vegetarian and have made an effort to minimize the processed food I eat, I haven’t figured out the meal prep just yet – but that changed this weekend!
My friend Melissa introduced me to a raw broccoli salad that Mr. T and I both just love (which is rare, he’s not near as happy with me being a vegetarian as I am!) but I try and keep a bowl of that in the fridge every other week for some easy meals.
I cut up a mini watermelon.
I discovered I have expired eggs in my fridge. Don’t judge.
As I was chopping up the broccoli for the salad, I knew I was going to have baked potatoes for a few meals… but my mom was making potato soup… so, I got soup going, diced the broccoli stems and a couple carrots and threw them in with the potatoes and onions. Once it was cooked and cooled, I portioned those suckers up and today for lunch I grabbed a container and 2 minutes and 22 seconds later my lunch was ready! (Is anyone else so lazy that they will just punch in the same number instead of moving their finger? No? It’s just me?)
I made a 2nd batch of homemade Lara bars. Now, I’ve never had a real Lara bar, so I don’t know how they compare, but it is so easy! I’ve included the YouTube from Colin at Hip to Save as you must watch this and then go make these. They are my favorite snack. They are my favorite breakfast. They are my favorite!
Lastly, I am in love with the Sargento’s Balanced Breaks…
but I already had almonds, raisins and string cheese on hand… so I made my own! Those are the little things you see in the cheese drawer. I grabbed one of those for my morning snack, and it was perfect.
All together, I spent less than an hour in the kitchen and have breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks all ready to go at a moments notice! Yes, there is some repetition in the meals, but with broccoli salad, baked potato with steamed broccoli on top and then potato soup, I am not eating the same thing 2 days in a row; and with my fruits and veggies cut up, it has made eating so much easier on me this week!
Yes, I hear you crying out to the computer, “but what about Mr. T? What will he eat?”. 3 days a week he goes from school, to cheer, to work, and he gets a free meal at work, so he’s being feed at school and work. On game days, I’ve paid and he gets food delivered at school. So that leaves one night a week I have to worry about feeding him, and well, my mom took care of that. When she does her meal prep, she will portion out an individual serving for Mr. T! My fridge and freezer both have meals she’s sent home for him!
What about you? Are you a prepper?
Did That Just Happen Blog 
I was interested to see that picture of the refrigerator. It looks quite amazingly organized, but I couldn’t help but note an alarming lack of chocolate, though. Where does it go?
LOL!!! such a good question!! And now that you point out the missing component, I have to go make some chocolate!
Good! I was getting a bit worried there for a moment. 🙂
That’s so impressive Kate, I am not a prepper but I aspire to be one, it would certainly make life easier /meal and snack times especially! My mum is the worlds ultimate prepper her fridge and freezer looks like yours , everything is in portions ready to just grab. I always feel that it would take so long to chop up and prepare everything but you said it was not really more than an hour – I can do that!!
It didn’t take me long at all! I thought about my meal plan, what would take the longest and then I just got started… I am always amazed that it goes by so much faster than I expect! 🙂
I will definitely give it a try when we get back from Italy – I have been using up what we have and avoiding shopping as much as I can at the moment .
I love broccoli and it’s one of the healthiest veggies. Yay!
I didn’t know you were a veggie. Is that legal in Texas?
LOL, it’s barely legal here in Texas – but they’d rather you be a vegetarian than to just not eat red meat (which is what I did for years!) They look at me with the “bless your heart” look, but at least they have food I can eat! 😀
I must admit, I used to be!! Does that count …. 😉
That totally counts Val!
Although I like these blogs, Kate. I just can’t seem to move past my diet mantra of “can’t we all just live on Diet Cokes and protein bars”? My diet is one thing I hope my stepkids do not try to model- ever.
I love my diet coke, I’ve had to work hard and learning how to limit those so that I get the appropriate amount of water in me! I am very glad that I never got the hang of protein bars, cause I’d have the same attitude!
Wow! That is really awesome, Kate. Mr. Enthusiasm is on food duty in our house, and he’s not a prepper. He prefers to buy and prepare things on the daily, if he can. His dream is too live walking distance to a farmer’s market so he can buy fresh stuff every day. Since that hasn’t happened yet, he has to settle for getting in the car and driving to the grocery store to see what ‘speaks to him’ that day. 🙂
I need to check out those Larabars. thanks!
I have an older friend who did that – she got divorced late in life – and it was fun to her to stop by the store every day after work and see what she wanted for dinner. And I can tell you with 100% certainty, I am not at the point in my life that that is appealing at all!!
I prep all my lunches but fall apart for dinners. I really need to work on that. Part of that is due to the lack of space in my refrigerator- roommates. I need to figure something out though. It’s my dinners that send me off the paleo line. I’ve never seen those snack packs before! I want them!
I love those snack packs!! They are back with the other cheeses, and they are pretty affordable, and so easy to grab! I liked making my own, but it was just one of those rare times I happened to have all the ingredients on hand!
Wouldn’t I like to be a Prepper, too? Be a Prepper…
I go in bouts of preptasticness…but your preppy-prepperness has me wanting to jump back on the bandwagon! I’m a huge fan of make-ahead-meals and freezer to sc meals (thanks to you) and always feel better about meal planning, but as with you I have many palates to please and it is sometimes a struggle. I pledge to prep to prep this week!
Oh, and in addition to the 2:22, 1:11, :11 I am a minute plus kinda gal.
Thank you for the tip about the pencil sharpener. I will put that in my purse next to my safety matches, cotton balls, and corkscrew/bottle opener.
Wouldn’t you like to be a Prepper, too?
I thought of that commercial, too!!! I should have known that you would pick up on it!! I’ve been very fortunate, you’ve seen that Grandpa moved in with mom and dad and so she’s been doing a lot of freezer meals, and she keeps Mr. T in mind and has made him several – that comes in handy since right now our schedules are not in sync!!
I wish I’d be a prepper!!! I often think about it but rarely stick to my plan…
LOL, it’s not always easy, but it was even harder to get off work, pick Mr. T up from daycare and get home and get him fed in a quick manner so that it could be bath, reading, homework and bed! I think I started out of that necessity, and as our life has morphed, I’ve gone back to it time and time again!
I need to be a prepper for sure. Thanks for the ideas, especially the homemade Larabars. I love those, but I know that not everyone does, so if I make them I will let you know how they compare 😀
Please do!! I made a second batch the other day and have had with my breakfast every day this week! 🙂 but yeah, I have really enjoyed having the snacks prepped and easy to grab, that helped more than I expected!
You had me at “…less than an hour in the kitchen.”
It came together really fast, even with adding the potato soup!
What’s prep? Is that the one day a week I think about making dinner before 4 pm? Cause if that’s it- I’m in.
hahahahahaha! Yes, that’s totally it! You are 100% right because there is no way I’m the one dashing your visions! 🙂
I freaking love you! Firstly, you had me at “zombie”… I followed that shit so fast! Secondly… I ready 2:22 and thought nothing of it until you explained be lazy and now I’m wondering why I didn’t figure it out first! I hate the microwave… I have not patience for it’s tricky button witchery! Also… if you would be so kind as to share the recipe of this broccoli salad you got a man-boy to eat, I would be forever in your debt. My husband will only eat green peas. If they are room temperature.
LOL!!!
And apparently everyone in the world but me knew about this recipe…
I make half a bag of spiral pasta (boil, drain, cool a bit… I actually have this going while I’m chopping up everything else).
chop up a head of broccoli (cut off the stems and make the tree portion bite sized)
do the same with cauliflower (optional, Mr. T doesn’t like so I eliminate it)
dice a cucumber
dice an onion
open and drain a can of olives (I like small cause you get more in the can!)
big handful of feta
big handful of parm
pour Italian dressing over it… I think I do about a 1/2 cup, I do two big circles.
I make this in my largest bowl, stir it all together and then cover it with press and seal, put it in the fridge and then we just eat off it all week long. You make a massive bowl full and it’s 300 calories. And the pasta and cheese isn’t “raw”, but it’s close enough for me to count it since all of the veggies are and it gets a good portion of vegetables into Mr. T!
Some times I add celery, and I do red or white onion, just depends on what is on hand. 🙂 Let me know if you do it!
OMG how awesome! So I do something similar with just pasta, tomatoes and olives and Italian dressing but this sounds 50x better. I’m so trying it, thanks!
I try! My goal would be to make 3 good meals on the weekend to use for 1 dinner and left over lunch each. Cleaning and cutting fruits and veggies to have handy for lunches. Mid-week I would cook 1 or 2 more meals after dinner to be ok for the rest of the week. It’s not as awesome as made lovely from scratch daily dinner but it fits our crazy schedules and we all get to eat food we love and know exactly what we are eating as opposed to fast food…
I think that’s great! My goal was always to have a home cooked meal on a school night, but it can be very hard! I am a big fan of making our lives easier and if it means I reheat a meal, I’m totally okay with that!!
Nice! I am not a prepper really but was thinking the other day that I should use more of my Sundays to do a bit of prepping for the week. You have inspired me to get onto that!
Yay! I’m so glad!! I actually have benefited from the snacks more than I expected. I grabbed a bag of sliced cucumbers and a wedge of cheese and the next day I grabbed a baggie that had my string cheese, raisins and nuts. It really helped me keep on track with my eating properly!
Her homemade Lara Bars look yummy!
I try to keep the fridge, freezer, and pantry stocked with “whole foods” ~ some cooked and ready to reheat (soups & casseroles), some ready to eat (hummus and raw veggies, or whole grain crackers with peanut butter).
When I cook, I make enough for leftovers. Sometimes we just eat them the next time. Other times, I toss portions into the freezer.
It’s easier, healthier, and less expensive than going out to eat on nights when we don’t want to cook.
It’s been an adjustment from cooking for the 2 of us all of the time, to just cooking for me and the occasional appearance of Mr .T, and my next goal is to make extra to create a freezer meal out of… because I do love my freezer being full!
Next week I’m making hummus for my snack time!! Yummy!
Homemade hummus is one of my favorite healthy snacks.
Another is Black Bean Salsa ~ just drained and rinsed Black Beans mixed with a can of drained RoTel tomatoes and peppers (I save the RoTel liquid for tabbouli, hummus, soups, whatever would benefit from spicy tomato juice). Great on quesadillas and in wraps or salads.