OPINION |
My most hated aspect of the school year is meal prep. I spend every Sunday prepping food for the week to ensure my family eats as healthy as possible. I don’t do this in summer, but school is back in session and so is chaos.
My daughter is in nine dance classes, and I know many parents face a similar situation with sports. You run around and end up eating a lot more junk food than you want. Our family has plenty of room for improvement, but here are some of my tips to minimize your fast food stops and eat a little healthier this school year.
Building good prep habits
First, plan a weekly menu and start serving freshness first. We start our week eating fruits and vegetables that spoil quickly, like raspberries, strawberries or avocado and end the week with greens, oranges, apples, grapes and carrots. Frozen and canned vegetables make an appearance later in the week.
If you have a watermelon, cut half on Sunday and carve up the other half on Wednesday to help it last longer. Sliced watermelon is great to keep around.
In planning the menu, think about what you can cook simultaneously and ways to repurpose leftovers.
While I am making something on the stovetop, I always have a crockpot going, often two. I try to utilize two burners at the same time as long as one is low-maintenance. I can sauté meat on one burner and boil water on another for pasta or potatoes. Don’t just go in the kitchen and start cooking, have a game plan before you begin. It will save you time.
If four meals require onions, chop them all at once and divide them.
Frontloading the week’s cooking
My goal is to have four days of meals prepared — breakfast, lunch and dinner — by the end of the day on Sunday, so I don’t have to cook again through Thursday.
Another useful idea: I keep a sheet of paper on the fridge with a list of everything we have to eat and everything we still need to cook. As food is consumed, it gets crossed off. If we have leftovers, they get added. This helps us waste less, and if my kid sees that there’s leftover chicken in a container, she’s more likely to grab it than reach in the pantry for an unhealthy snack. Leftovers can easily get buried, and those make perfect quick meals. When putting leftovers away, I try to package them as a meal, so rice, meat and vegetables all in one serving container. If they don’t eat it, I have it for lunch.
Slice fruit for snacks and label it so your kiddos can see what is available. I find that extra step is necessary for them to eat it.
If I am making tacos, I’ll double the meat and then use leftovers for breakfast burritos later in the week. Or if I have to bake chicken tenders, I make another pan with different seasonings and use it for another recipe. For example, I sprinkle oregano, garlic salt and basil and slice those up for chicken Caesar salad later in the week. We constantly have grilled or baked chicken tenders that we can grab.
When you make something freezer-friendly, double the recipe and freeze it. You will thank yourself in three weeks when you pull it out of the freezer. Investing in a vacuum sealer will save you money and time in the long run.
Cooking easy meals with whole foods
Make sandwiches but with higher-quality ingredients. Go to the farmers market and buy sourdough or order from a local cottage bakery. Aldi’s has great prices on cheese. Just keep in mind fresh bread does not have preservatives so you should eat sandwiches early in the week. Local sourdough makes great avocado toast for breakfast. Because avocados are finicky, I buy those 100-calorie avocado packs for the toast. My teen loves them.
If your family likes boiled eggs, keep those on hand.
A salad bar is a fun, healthy dinner. On Sunday, slice cucumbers and lettuce and store them separately. This is something kids can easily do. I buy precut carrots and cherry tomatoes so we don’t have to slice those. I boil a bag of new potatoes, a couple eggs, and make a bag of frozen peas or drain beets. Put out some olives, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, croutons and several salad dressings and there are enough options for everyone. If you prep the salad bar on Sunday, set it up on Monday.
Slow Cooker Easy Asian Chicken
- 1 bag tri-colored coleslaw mix
- 2 tablespoons water
- 4 chicken thighs
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1 zucchini, chopped or shredded
- ¼ cup smooth peanut butter
- 2/3 of a (21-ounce) bottle of Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki original sauce (available at Walmart, Hy-Vee, Target)
- 1 bag frozen edamame or peas (optional)
Place ingredients in the order they are listed in the slow cooker. Cook for 4-6 hours and then shred. Serve over rice. If you want to add edamame or peas, add them in the last hour.
My family loves this high-protein dish. The downfall is that it’s very high in sodium, so serve it with a high potassium side dish like watermelon or edamame.
Leftover ideas: Make fusion burritos. Wrap in a low-carb tortilla with lettuce, cilantro and chopped cucumbers on top. You can also serve leftover meat on baked potatoes.
Bags of mini potatoes are handy. Boil a bag on prep day and refrigerate it for later in the week. For a side dish: smash the potatoes, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and sear the potatoes in oil, sprinkled with rosemary, garlic salt and pepper. For breakfast: sauté turkey kielbasa with potatoes. You can make this on Sunday, and if you want fresh eggs, warm it with a skillet and scramble eggs into it.
For school lunch, Dollar Tree has 10-packs of mini containers that are perfect to each hold a few grapes, a couple nuts, some blueberries or two sliced strawberries. I put three or four in her lunch so she gets variety. They say for gut health, people should eat as much variety as possible. These are also wonderful for younger kids who eat small portions. Dollar Tree also has portable mini salad dressing containers, so you can make a big salad and bring the dressing.
Swaps to keep things healthy
Transition from beef to turkey. We eat turkey burgers, turkey sausage and make our tacos out of turkey. My husband has alpha-gal syndrome, so this wasn’t a choice, but I actually prefer turkey now. Butterball’s frozen sweet onion turkey burgers are the best burger we’ve found. Since I am on-the-go all the time, I make an extra for myself and eat just the patty for breakfast the next day. These are easy to make. From frozen, they are done in less than 20 minutes.
We don’t allow cereal in our house, so mornings mean whole foods. I make smoothies the night before and place them in the fridge. Strawberry smoothies are even better the next day. Shake before you serve it. Dragon fruit is trendy, which means my kids love it. I buy frozen bags of it at Walmart. It has little flavor but creates a gorgeous color so I add it to smoothies. I sneak in a tablespoon or two of oats and some chia seeds. Homemade breakfast burritos freeze well, and you control the sodium. I make hamburger pie with turkey and it’s good at any meal.
Banana Smoothie
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk or low-fat milk
- 1 large very ripe banana (ripe is key because you don’t add any other sweetener)
- 1 tablespoon quick oats
- ½ teaspoon chia seeds
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ice cubes
Blend until smooth. This is a great snack or breakfast accompaniment with protein on the side. I’ve made these a day in advance and stored in a mason jar so you can shake vigorously before serving.
Good quick snacks include premade yogurt parfaits (eat those within 24 hours), protein balls (I use bananas to sweeten mine), smoothies, or mini charcuterie boxes with cheese, carrots, hummus, grapes, strawberries, and some crackers. Little kids can help assemble charcuterie boards.
Rotisserie chicken is a stellar option once a week. Make rice in the rice cooker, make a salad, slice some melon, cook a bag of frozen vegetables, and then I will sauté zucchini or bake asparagus — any fresh vegetable.
Consider locally made premade meals. I use SC Fuel Meals when I know the week is going to be particularly hectic. It’s one of the more affordable options, and they offer meal bundles for about $8 a meal. It only needs 90 seconds in the microwave so my daughter can warm it up before dance if I am not home yet. The meals are high-protein and lower-calorie and have the nutrition information on the labels. They are located a few doors down from Chicken Salad Chick on Battlefield Road.
Avoiding fast food traps
When you do eat out, say no to fries and drinks. You are definitely going to end up going through a drive-thru, but just get the burger or chicken sandwich. Bring grapes, apple slices or berries as a side. Bring baked chips. In our family, if we do get fries, we only get one order and all share. Grilled chicken sandwiches are harder to find at fast food joints, but Whataburger and Chick-fil-A have good options. It’s a hard sell to get my family to order a grilled sandwich from Chick-fil-A, so we usually do Whataburger.
The web is your friend. You can ask AI for a quick nutritional count before you go somewhere. This website breaks down calories at popular food chains. I was shocked to see Five Guys fries have 953 calories compared to McDonald’s medium order at 320.
Choose the lesser of two evils. I buy “healthier” brands of frozen chicken strips and cook them in the air fryer instead of buying fried chicken. A quick dinner.
Ravioli is a quick dinner option and there are more fresh varieties in the refrigerator section. Again, these have preservatives and sodium but are likely better than fast food. I always buy protein pasta. It tastes the same and has more protein. We tried chickpea pasta and it went in the trash, so that does not taste the same.
An easy dinner is to put five chicken breasts in a slow cooker, top with a packet of taco seasoning and 1 1/2 cups salsa and cook it. Then shred the meat for chicken tacos. Leftover meat goes into a low-carb tortilla with cheese for a quick quesadilla. Or make a Baja bowl by using the meat on rice, add black beans, guacamole, some chopped tomato.
Making it fun
I have to admit, there are times I resent the fact that I spend my entire Sunday cooking. I am trying to get better about making it fun by playing my favorite music or listening to a podcast. Sometimes I put in earbuds and call a friend while I am doing something mindless like chopping. As moms, we don’t get enough girlfriend time. You can also ask a friend to come over and keep you company while you cook. If they meal prep, do it together. If you can get family members to help, that’s great. If not, make them clean the kitchen when you’re done because you will be exhausted. Good luck this year!
