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Meal Prep

Discussion in 'Indian Diet & Nutrition' started by Kaput, Aug 21, 2018.

  1. Kaput

    Kaput Gold IL'ite

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    Folks. I am finding it difficult to cook healthy. Every one says the answer is to plan meals and prep over the weekend.

    But I am not motivated enough on Saturday/Sunday. Previous attempts only resulted in wasted food, either due to bad planning or getting busy during the week and not cooking enough.

    Can we use this as an inspiration thread to post meal plans and food prep pics over the weekend?
    Experienced or not, meal planners, please post!
     
    Amica, SinghManisha, Rihana and 3 others like this.
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  2. Kaput

    Kaput Gold IL'ite

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    We mostly eat South Indian food. Yesterday's prep:

    Chopped ridge gourd, boiled jackfruit seeds, chopped carrot, cauliflower+broccoli stems, golden beets. I need to buy some more pyrex containers.
    1.jpg

    Chopped cabbage, bell peppers, green beans.

    2.jpg

    Not in pics - frozen boiled toor dal, boiled split Bengal gram.
     
  3. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi @Kaput
    If you cannot prepare meals over the weekend, can you atleast have a menu plan based on the vegetables you have?
    This alone will save you a lot of time.

    Then start with prepping veggies the evening before for one day. If you have time and energy then for the next day.

    Let me provide you with my meal plans

    Monday:
    For breakfast I had idli and vegetable chutney (instant pot). Lunch ash gourd sambar and okra side dish. Dinner rava pongal.
    So I wrote down what all I needed:
    Idli batter was ready in the fridge.
    For chutney i needed, tomatoes, ridge gourd, eggplant, and small potato, green chillies - needed to trim and cut the ridge gourd only. Brinjal and potato could be cut just before cooking.

    Lunch - okra side dish - need okra, onion, tomato
    Washed the okra, and let them dry out on a paper towel. Peeled a few onions while Ivwas at it ( did not chop them) and kept in fridge.
    Sambhar - pressure cooked dhal, and lemon sized tamarind in separate containers. I had extracted the tamarind juice and kept it in a glass bottle.
    Cut the ash gourd into pieces, kept it in the veggie bin.

    Then looked at Tuesday's menu
    B - Dosai with coconut chutney.
    L - Clusterbean paruppu usili
    Ennai katthirikkai kuzhambu
    D - blackeye peas curry , rotis. (4 rotis)
    I washed, trimmed and cut the cluster beans and kept it in a container in the veggie bin.
    ********
    Monday am
    • I first placed the idli in the steamer in the back burner.
    • Cut the brinjal, half potato, and tomatoes - got them going in Instapot.
    • Trimmed and Chopped the dry okra
    • Sauteed the okra , while it was cooking , chopped the onions and tomatoes.
    • Started on the sambar, and while it was cooking, completed the okra curry.
    • Meanwhile the chutney mix was done. Placed the contents out to cool.
    • Added the dhal and tamarind to the sambar and let it boil.
    • Turned down the idli steamer to "sim" to keep it hot.
    • Ground the chutney.
    • Used a single seasoning pan and added the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, for the sambar,,chutney, and buttermilk all in one go.
    Cooking done.
    Evening while making coffee, i placed the moong dhal in the pressure cooker.(instapot).
    Made rava pongal which takes less than 10 minutes.

    Monday night --- soaked dhal for usili
    Soaked blackeye peas.
    Am very tired to do any more so will worry about Wednesdays menu tomorrow.
    Also will post my cooking tommorrow.

    Let me know if this is helpful, so far..
     
  4. msm

    msm Gold IL'ite

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    am sailing in the same boat.
     
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  5. msm

    msm Gold IL'ite

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    very inspiring plan, will watch and try to adapt as much as possible
     
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  6. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    I prepped and cooked over the weekend for the kids all of last year. Attaching some meal plans. Since you have a little tot my younger kid’s meal plan may benefit you.

    Like @kkrish mentioned, I made the plan and then assembled all required items going from Mon/Friday. In my case, I had to make s grocery list and send DH to do the groceries and make sure I assemble all the items needed. Afterwards, I just cooked on a Sunday to make sure kids are fed all week long. I assembled lunches for me from their vegetarian items and paid no special attention to what I ate. I did put it all together in Dabbas(used plastic and then switched to glass) and refrigerated. I have a second full sized fridge so it was easy for me to keep scores of boxes in the fridge.

    I stopped cooking ahead of time this year but I still plan and write meal plans and buy grocery accordingly. I still marinate, clean garlic/onion/ginger, grind idly/dosa batter, make Dahi etc over the weekend.

    I had a ton of prep pics but can’t find any on my phone. Meal plans I found attached.

    54A0C7B3-A6EA-4A1F-94C2-E426022F416C.jpeg

    E040B967-A935-4891-AF34-552B00107D79.jpeg

    A34FDDDF-A9ED-4115-A233-1DD783DD3510.jpeg


    40B9FDBD-EAAD-4C1F-8A78-97F56DC81FCA.jpeg
     

    Attached Files:

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  7. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @kkrish - I love the detailed step by step instructions of your morning kitchen routine. Please keep it coming while I go hunting for the photos and recipes that I had assembled for starting a meal prep thread but never found the time.
     
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  8. SpritualSoul

    SpritualSoul Gold IL'ite

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    Wow.. Such an informative thread .. Ladies please keep posting.. Im sure many silent readers like me will be benifited...

    I currently staying with my parents with 4 month baby and 2.5 year toddler ... will be back to my home in another 2 months.. I started mentally preparing myself how to handle cooking and kids..

    I realy wish God bless you all for your time and patience in detail explanation...thanks a lot :worship2::worship2:
     
    Divyadk, Rihana, Kaput and 1 other person like this.
  9. dhivyacc

    dhivyacc Silver IL'ite

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    Following this thread for planning
     
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  10. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you all for your warm welcome and happy reception of my plans.
    It is my husband, my mom, and me only in my household - so the meals are simple. Once you start with simple meal prep slowly you can build other non-traditional meals such as Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.

    Here is the sample menu I had posted in the Time Management Thread on April 29, 2012.

    [​IMG]

    While preparing the menu these are some guidelines I keep in mind.

    1. The combination of taste. One food should be spicy and the other bland.
    example -
    • yesterday - sambar and okra curry - the sambhar is bland(er) due to additon of dhal. So the okra is spicy.
    • today - ennai katthirikkai kuzhambu is spicier and goes well with the blander clusterbean paruppu usili.
    • tomorrow - tomato rice with olan - rice - spicier and olan-bland.
    2. protein - there will be some protein in the day's meal. I incorporate beans (channa, blackeye peas..etc.) either as part of the meal or as sundal for evening snack.
    • yesterday - sambar has dhal, rava pongal had moong.
    • today - paruppu usili has dhal, and blackeye peas for the night.
    • tomorrow - b'fast is adai - which is dhal, olan has some blackeye peas, and dinner will be mor kali (yogurt has milk protein)
    I had written this week's menu in Tamil. Will rewrite in English and post.

    3. recycling
    I also see if I can recycle leftovers.

    If I have some sambhar, kuzhambu, and veggies leftover I make :
    • either a quick "sambar saadam" add just freshly ground powder, or
    • reduce them to a paste and add wheat flour, knead to make a masala chapathi (blend it to a smooth paste without lumps) or
    • reduce them to a paste, add some boiled chickpeas/rajma/blackeys peas (all are some) make them into patties and freeze them. Can use these patties as veggie burger, or crumble them up to make katti rolls.
    Your imagination is the limit.
     

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