Time Savers - Weekly Food Prep

To say that I don;t have a lot of free time, would be an understatement. Between working two jobs, hitting the gym a few times a week and spending time with my friends and boyfriend, there isn't time for much else. Which is exactly why I carve out a few hours once a week to prepare food for the entire coming week. 

I know what you're thinking, sounds intimidating. I'll admit, I was nervous the first time I did it too, but you can start out slow and work your way up as you go. Got a snack that you know you're going to eat everyday? Go ahead and portion out a bag/container of it for each day and ta-da! Now all you have to do is grab it and go. So simple! Below I'm going to share with you some of my tricks for cooking once and eating all week!

Chicken Breast!

Chicken, now here is a food I eat daily. It's so easy and versatile and let's not forget, it's good for you! Three nights a week I take a spinach salad with shredded chicken, tomatoes and any random veggie leftovers I have as my dinner. It's simple, filling, healthy and down-right easy to do! Here's my secret: On Sunday morning before my brunch shift (8am-2pm) I throw a package of chicken breasts and 1/2 cup of water into my crock pot and set it on low before heading to work. I come home to a wonderful smelling kitchen and perfectly cooked chicken. The only thing left to do is take two forks and shred the chicken to a consistency I'm happy with! Super simple! Now, this makes more than enough for three salads worth so I have some extra shredded chicken to get creative with! Last week I used it to make Jalapeno-Peach Shredded Chicken Salad! YUM! 

Chicken for today's wrap, two more salads and a tub of extra!

Cook Once, Eat All Week

Another big time-saver for me is making a meal that serves 6-8 and eating part of it each day. Yes, it can get a little boring. But then again, I make a different recipe each week and I try new things. I have yet to get halfway through eating a dish and think "Man, I'm tired of eating this". Even if that were to happen, I could just freeze what I have left and eat it the next week. This week I made a Skinny Shepherd's Pie, which I promise to blog about soon! As you can see, it made quite a bit of food! I'll be happily eating this all week!

 I also like to pick a veggie and make enough of it to eat all week. Living alone, I don't have the luxury of getting to eat different veggies every night, because my leftovers would go bad way to quickly. Wasting food is not cool. I frequently go with broccoli because I can chop up a head, add a little honey, roast it and the entire process takes 20 minutes. Not to mention the fact that once bunch of broccoli easily makes enough to accompany a few meals!

While these are not all of the ways I work ahead to prepare food, these are the few that I did yesterday and today. I'd love to hear what tips and tricks you try!

Thanks for reading!
Lauren