7 // How to meal prep for the week in under 15 minutes?
How to meal prep for the week in under 15 minutes?
Reclaim your weekend with this hack to get food ready when you don’t want to spend a bunch of time meal planning or meal prepping before Monday
Oh hey there, mom who loathes meal prepping on the weekend and doesn't want to feel guilty about spending nap time on Sunday doing something else. Boy, does Ashley have a dietitian mom hack for you here.
In this episode, Ashley shares her go-to solution for moms who don't plan on nor want to do a bunch of meal prep on the weekend, but who do need easy dinner ideas that are doable day after day. This system works without requiring a bunch of extra ingredients or energy (because who wants to make a last minute run to the store for something they forgot...NO MOM DOES!). Instead, this episode walks you through how to go about gathering all the goods so that when you are ready to cook (or assemble) dinner, you have everything ready in one simple, straight-forward swoop.
Learn how you too can decrease food waste, use up random ingredients you otherwise might not know what to do with, and make your family's dinner meal ideas that much more straight-forward and simple come 6:00 pm (or whenever you do dinner).
Listen to this episode of The Veggies & Virtue Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription
Please note this a raw transcription. If something doesn’t read correctly, toggle to that timestamp in the show so that you can listen in on what was actually being said!
[00:00:00] Hey, and welcome back. If you've been around for any amount of time, you know, that there was once a day, I did a decent amount of meal prep, and I got to admit on Instagram, it was very popular. People loved the visual of all the food, all the dinners. That I got ready in advance and I spent easily an hour closer to, to meal prepping every weekend when my girls would nap.
[00:00:21] And that was what worked for me because oftentimes I knew I was going to have a baby in the ergo, or honestly, as someone who exclusively pumped, I might be like pumping while I'm cooking and the least amount of potential for burning myself or while baby wearing my. During dinner the better. So I really liked having meals prepped in advance.
[00:00:45] If I could, you know, get chicken already ready and grilled on the weekend, or you know, sauces made really, whatever I could do in advance really helped me in that season. And I really valued having that little window to keep myself accountable [00:01:00] to Sundays after church, when the girls were napping to get some meals ahead.
[00:01:05] And that worked quite honestly. The idea of that, even now, it sounds awful. Like it is just not the season I'm in. And I share that because I think there's this misconception that like everyone loves meal prep or those of us who share meal prep must enjoy it. And that is not the reality. And is that my reality demanded me to meal prep, some food in order for me to feed my family the way that I wanted to during the hustle and bustle of the week with babies at home, a breast pump on all the things that make making.
[00:01:39] A big challenge. So that's why tonight, I want to share with you not by strategies for meal, prepping ahead. That will be a different episode. Will rain check for the future, but rather the system that's working for me in this season, because if you are someone who is either not in the season of needing to maybe do as much prep on the weekend, or you're someone who liked me, it [00:02:00] just does not sound like how you want to spend your weekends right now.
[00:02:03] If that's not something that you're wanting to do or feeling the need to do the system, I'm going to share with you today, maybe a system that you find you can be more successful with and use as a more sustainable way to getting ready for this. And all the chaos that comes with the weekend. So without we'll dive in,
[00:02:27] Hey mama, I'm Ashley, and welcome to the veggies and virtue podcast. In this podcast, you will find simple menu ideas, kitchen, organizational systems, spelled out for mom life and feeding tips and tricks that are both evidence-based and great. I believe that you can find flexibility when it comes to feeding your family so that you can feel calm, capable, and connected in the kitchen as a registered dietician and Christian mom of three myself, and want you to break free from the mealtime battles and to feel equipped while feeding your kids all day long, pull up a stool at my kitchen counter.
[00:02:56] And let me pour you a cup of coffee and say a quick prayer for you. It's time to chat [00:03:00] about the mealtime messes moments, administry ministry of motherhood.
[00:03:06] Okay. So as I mentioned in the. I rarely do much meal prep on the weekends anymore. I'm now I kind of focus more on like breakfast meal prep. Like I may make some muffins or get some like easy snack options that fit like all the criteria of what the kids can and can't have at school and things. I may focus on prepping that kind of stuff.
[00:03:24] Cause that. Stuff that I have time to do in the morning as I'm getting the kids ready to go to school or to preschool. But otherwise I don't really cook a lot in advance on the weekends, but what I do do and what a lot of you have probably seen me share, and I've had lots and lots of questions about which is why I wanted to focus a whole episode on this is my DIY dinner bins.
[00:03:44] And this was something that, again, I just, these systems come to me as the seasons of life change and the demands for my day. Evolves. And these DIY dinner bins have been a solution for me to really help me manage the [00:04:00] dinnertime hustle. And that's because the pace of dinner is really quick around here.
[00:04:05] And most of the time I'm spending time with my kids after school, or I'm taking them to and from activities or helping them with homework or getting them to, you know, do their chores or all the different things. But our afternoons are a lot busier than they used to be. But normally when I'm actually cooking.
[00:04:20] As I mentioned before, I was in a season of having a toddler on my ankle breast pump on babywearing didn't want to burn a baby's foot, all those things. So cooking itself was a very hard act. Now the season has switched a little. The cooking is not as much of a challenge. My kids are older, they can safely help me do a lot of things in the kitchen, but we are like running in and out of the kitchen.
[00:04:42] You hear that? I just snapped that might've sounded really awkward on here, but I couldn't help myself. Just the pace that I think that things operate up for dinner. And I know that our family is not alone. So what I want to jump into is helping you see how we use these dinner bins to help make making dinner a little easier.
[00:04:58] Even if you're someone [00:05:00] who is not meal prepping person. On a weekend. And so if you've ever been someone who's used one of the meal delivery systems, there's a whole bunch out there. I don't want to name, drop anyone specifically, but you know, those ones that deliver all the meals that can already have the portion ingredients, and they give you all the things they need.
[00:05:16] I know a lot of people like those for me personally, it's just not a good fit. I think it's great. If it works for family. For me, it's just not my jam. So even though I've tried a few, it's just not really my preference, but I do kind of like making my own because I want to know that I have all the ingredients.
[00:05:32] I live a far distance from a grocery store. So there is no way I'm going to make a last minute run to a grocery store up until 2022. I did not have Instacart. And even though I do, I'm still not going to Instacart a last-minute ingredient. So the reality is, is I need to have things ready. I go to the store once, maybe tops twice a week, because we live so far from the store.
[00:05:55] And so I'm planning ahead, but even more. So I just want to have all the things [00:06:00] there. So when it comes to dinner time, my mental Headspace that's preoccupied with a million other things. Is it really having to think about one, what to make, or to do we have the things that I need to make, whatever I'm gonna make.
[00:06:13] I just don't wanna think about that. So these DIY dinner bins have really helped me with that. Food waste. By using what I already have on hand, they're helping me to streamline my grocery shopping with the way in which I use them to help me make my grocery list. They're helping me to simplify my meal prep so that when I am ready to cook, I have, all I have to do is pull the bed out and begin prepping the ingredients that are already there and guide.
[00:06:39] And I just have to make less trips back and forth to the fridge and to the pantry and all the places. It's also helping me find new ways to add variety, because I think otherwise it was really easy for me to get in a rut and just kind of make the same menu items on repeat where this way with the DIY dinner bins, I really start to use up random remnants of [00:07:00] leftovers or ingredients that are kind of on their way out.
[00:07:02] And I might honestly just kind of push to the back of the fridge. This forces me to clear out my fridge for enough room for the bins, but in doing so, it also helps me make sure that I'm working our way through the ingredients that we already have in there. So this is just a system that's worked really well for me.
[00:07:17] And I just wanted to talk and walk you through it a little bit more. So it might help you. So as we walk into the DIY dinner bin, The most basically I can say it is, it's a bin I put in my fridge and I put all the ingredients for dinner in it. So where's your starting place. If this is something that you want to try first and foremost, do not get hung up on the bed.
[00:07:39] The number one question I'm asked each week when I share about these bins is where did I get my bins? I got some seven inch wide ones that are clear at target. I'll link them in the. I love them. They fit my fridge for across, so I can plan Monday through Thursday, which for our life right now is typically how I meal plan.
[00:07:54] I meal plan on Sundays for the week and I need to get us through Thursdays and that [00:08:00] tends to be what works. And so I like that I can fit four bins across. I know everyone does not have the same for Disney though. So you do not have to use this bin. You honestly, just for proof of concept as you get the hands.
[00:08:12] Go find a shoe box that fits go find a plastic bin that you used to store your kids Magna-Tiles in or puppet fingers or whatever the heck you might have a little tub container for that. It can honestly even be a Tupperware, a larger type of wear that you could just set some ingredients that you do not need to stop taking action.
[00:08:32] Because you're waiting to get the right, then don't do that because this will evolve. And if you look at pictures of my fridge over time, you will see that there was a long time. I did not have these bins. I had random organizers in the random closet where I kept all the random bins and I just use those.
[00:08:46] And that is really where I want you to get started. Just find some sort of a container that you can use if you have the space in the fridge and you have the mental band. To do more than one night ahead. Go with [00:09:00] it. If you want to just try this out and see how it works for you, do one dinner, literally prep one DIY dinner bin the day before.
[00:09:09] You don't have to do four for Monday through Thursday on Sunday night. The way I do, because again, this is now a habit for me. So that is not an overwhelming action item for me to do, but if you're starting out and you just kind of want to see, like, how does this work for me? Does it lessen my stress? If you're feeling.
[00:09:26] I'm just stressed, even thinking about it at scale back. Don't need to jump in that far. Just grab your bin, whatever bin or box that is cut up an Amazon box. If you have to, and where I want you to start thinking is where can you put this in your fridge? If your fridge is a hot mess and you have nowhere to put this shoe box size container, number one is I'm going to challenge you to clean out your.
[00:09:47] That is a big ask. I get it. I actually love doing it for people. So if you're my neighbor, I would happily come wipe down your fridge for you. But seeing that that's not going to happen. What I want you to do is just go create a space. Again, this may be more realistic for you to [00:10:00] do with a single box, versus like, if you've seen in my fridge where I have an entire shelf in the fridge that I keep all the DIY dinner bins in, but either way, however, you know, Messy or discombobulated your fridges?
[00:10:12] A lot of times, my fridge, if I, you know, hit Friday, Friday through Sunday, we don't have the DIY dinner bins in there, usually. So other things go on that shelf and it gets a little bit of a mess, but the thing that's helpful with these what I have the bins. I wiped them down. I cleaned them out at the end of the week.
[00:10:27] If they got anything spilled or, you know, liquid in them or whatever, get them fresh, ready for the week. But it also forces me to take the things out of the fridge and begin looking through, okay, what are we even starting with? And I've shared a different, a few different posts on kind of where the starting place at the DIY dinner.
[00:10:45] Is, but I think it's important for you to see that there's different starting places and that's okay. And that's why I want you to just kind of get in the habit of practicing with this and seeing how it works for you. There are some weeks where if. Go to the grocery store. And I've been meal planning in [00:11:00] advance for the week on say Friday, that when I come home from the grocery store, I'm going to be unloading my groceries Dell directly in to these DIY dinner bins, because then I can automatically compartmentalize what goes with which meal.
[00:11:13] And that's awesome when I can do it that way. A lot of times, like I said on Sunday, I'm kind of looking at the fridge and I might not be doing my grocery shopping until like Sunday night. We're doing it on Monday or something. And that's where I'm just clearing out the fridge. I'm getting out all the leftovers and kind of like those Mackow items that are otherwise going to spoil or, you know, get tossed out if we don't eat them.
[00:11:36] And I'm starting to place them in dinner bins based off kind of what I think we might make. And this is. Kind of more, a free spirit approach to meal planning. There's not a lot of like linear thinking with this, but if food waste is a problem for you, you might find this to be really helpful because all of a sudden, I'll see, oh, we have half a jar of this spaghetti sauce or, oh, we have you know, this broccoli that I bought last week and we ended up not using.
[00:11:59] And so [00:12:00] it's probably on its way out. I probably need. Put this here and oh, I thought this ground beef, but we ended up not making burgers this weekend. So I need to cook that up. You know, it's just those random ingredients that are in your fridge that you need to use that, and you need to think about, but when we just look in our fridge and see like celery, that's starting to kind of go and some ground beef, we look at it and we.
[00:12:20] Like what am I going to do with this? But as soon as we put it in a dinner bin and we start to consolidate it as a package deal, as I'm going to find a way to use this, it either provokes inspiration of, oh, you know what? I haven't. XYZ in awhile. I might do it this way, or we might you know, be inspired that maybe that's a night that I'm going to look up a new recipe.
[00:12:43] I don't encourage you to do a new recipe every night, personally, for me as a mom, I think that's extremely overwhelming. I do not want to like make a new recipe. I've never made before every night of the week. I may do it one tops two nights out of the week. If I feel like I have the capacity and I have some random ingredients I want to use up, [00:13:00] I will Google this plus this.
[00:13:02] See what shows up, see what I have on hand. But when I have the DIY dinner bin, I can begin to use up those random ingredients that I have, that I don't want to go to waste, put them in a bin. And then I begin to identify the gaps. So that's where I'm looking at. You know, do I have some sort of a protein in here?
[00:13:20] Do I have, you know, maybe a protein in the freezer that I can thought and use to pair with this broccoli that's going to go or in the case of like the ground beef and the celery. Okay. If I'm going to put them in here. You know, what side am I going to put with this? What other ingredients are in the recipe that I'm going to make that uses up these ingredients?
[00:13:38] And I begin to kind of fill in the gaps with what I have all the while I'm making it on my grocery list, which I've referenced in other episodes, but I have a. Tear off grocery lists that you can just highlight or circle or make notes on. I have a free copy on my website or else you can also order one between me and beacon Hills design that you can just make, you can just, as you're making your [00:14:00] DUI dinner, Ben, to start to highlight the added items that you need.
[00:14:03] To complete that DIY dinner bid. So then you go from kind of having this hodgepodge, you use up random things to this very clear, direct dinner idea, because it's all in the bin and you know, both what you have, but also you're making a list of what you need. And with that, sometimes I will include the starches in it, like the rice or the container, or like give a little bag of, you know, pasta noodles or whatever it might be.
[00:14:27] And that's not so much because those items need to be put in the refrigerator. Again, it is just consolidation. It is. So I can think through the process of checking the box, do I have the noodles or the rice or whatever else I need that may otherwise be stored in the pantry? Do I have that to help carry out this meal to completion?
[00:14:45] It also might be. So, you know, if there's something random that I need in the pantry that otherwise may get eaten up by someone, I can put it, like, especially for doing like a tomato grilled cheese night, right? Like that's really simple. I don't necessarily need it in a DIA. Dinner Ben, but I may [00:15:00] want to put the cheese slices and the little bread that I'm expecting us to use in that DOI dinner bin, with whatever elements I'm doing for the soup or something.
[00:15:08] So that I know it's not getting eaten up. I'll do this. Sometimes if I know there's a certain fruit I want to offer or something like that, just for those ingredients that otherwise my family you know, may just be kind of eating and not know I had a plan for, and I'm not going to make a plan to go to the store and get more of before we have that dinner.
[00:15:27] Lastly on this. I just want to mention some of the flexibility as, as you practice making DIY dinner bins and, you know, putting all the ingredients in a bin. So you kind of have your own DIY meal kit ready to grab and prepare when it's time for dinner that you also see the flexibility with this. Because as I've mentioned in episode on meal planning, There is a place I think for putting certain menu items on certain night of the weeks, if that serves you well, it does not always for [00:16:00] my family.
[00:16:00] So although we have tacos every week, we don't always have them on Tuesday. So what I like about having four unlabeled DIY dinner bins, rather than ones that are labeled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is as. Happens. And as my meal plan is forced to pivot because life happens and because there's changes of plans, I don't want to be enslaved to my meal plan or what I have on the menu for dinner, because some nights it's a beautiful night or cut outside and we're playing with neighbors some nights we're stuck in extra traffic.
[00:16:30] And I realized we have to go pick up a prescription and we'd get home late from, you know, ballet or whatever. There's just these dynamics that all of us face. And what I want is to see. There is a DIY dinner bin there, and there's varying degrees of effort required in them. Some of them are much more just kind of like throw together assemble type meals.
[00:16:50] Some of them are more like this requires a recipe and cries a little bit more time and effort, but I can pivot as life changes each week by just changing the order. I [00:17:00] do it. I do prioritize those that I know will spoil quickest, especially if I have like something fresh or like a fresh seafood or something I'll prioritize.
[00:17:08] And then I said, I know I can make them before they spoil, but otherwise I love as you get to a point of having more than one DIY dinner bin in your fridge to begin to see how they help support you with the ebb and flow of life so that your meal plan can pivot. You can rearrange them as needed to grab a different night than maybe you expected for that night and that you can still get meals on the table.
[00:17:33] Based off your meal plan, but without putting it on a particular night. So I want to see you go find your box and begin practicing this either. When you come home from the store, if you already know that you have an item that or you already have ingredients for a certain. Just practice, putting it all in one spot in the fridge, rather than veggies in the veggie drawer and proteins up for the protein goes and all of that just start consolidating it.
[00:17:57] So when it comes to dinner time, you can see how this [00:18:00] simple step begins to simplify and make things easier at dinner time. Or if you haven't gone to the grocery store. Go to your fridge with your little container or your box, and just begin to look at the ingredients that must go and the things that you want to use up first and use that to help shape what's going to be on the menu.
[00:18:18] And I'm included in that DIY dinner bin. So as always reach out to me, let me know how this goes, tag me on Instagram, and I'd love to see how you find the system working for. So, if you can hang tight for a second, we're going to say grace and then sign off. Jesus. Thank you so much for life. Thank you for the fullness that comes with motherhood.
[00:18:43] Thank you. That in each and every season, God, we are called to minister and serve our families in sweet, sweet ways. That kind, I also pray for these moms that are listening, who may feel a little stretched thin, and a little swamped with the responsibilities of the. Paired with the [00:19:00] chaos of dinner time.
[00:19:00] And I pray that God, however, the DIY dinner bin may serve them that Lord, you just encourage their heart to try a new system that may simplify things and create some space for the sweeter things. And Lord, I pray that you may lift their stress through this method and that you will bless their family table with the meal that they made.
[00:19:22] In Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:19:27] It has been a joy having you on podcast today. And if you've enjoyed it as well, I have a quick favor to ask. Do you mind hopping over to apple podcasts and leaving me a written review? This will only take you a hot second, but it truly blesses me every time I get to read one of you right over there. And it allows me to bless others through this podcast and the episodes to cap.
[00:19:47] The other thing that you can do is to take a screenshot of this episode and tag me over on Instagram. The Jews in virtue, I would love to see what action steps that you're taking from this episode, and also to support your family in the journey moving forward [00:20:00] until next time. Thanks for coming over to chat at my kitchen counter.
[00:20:03] Remember that you will always have a seat and a snack waiting for you here.
