Food

Meal Prep Ideas

Save time and headaches when it comes to preparing your child’s meals. Check out these meal prep ideas:

It seems like meal prepping is the newest craze in healthy eating. Many people have found it a helpful way to stay on track with their diet and reduce the amount of time spent each day preparing meals. Why not try it with your child’s food as well?

Breakfast
  • Make a weeks’ worth of pancakes or waffles ahead of time and stick them in the freezer in a single layer so they don’t stick, then once frozen stick them in a Ziploc bag with the date on it. Take them out and stick them in the microwave for about a minute and you have a breakfast favorite in under a minute every morning.  It’s just like the kind you buy in the freezer section, but healthier.
  • Overnight oats are delicious and easy to grab in the morning. Simply pour ½ cup oats into a mason jar, next add one cup milk and ¼ cup yogurt. You can add to this whatever topping you like such as fruit or cinnamon. Let the mixture soak in the fridge overnight, and it’s ready in the morning.
  • Breakfast sandwiches or wraps are also easy to make a bunch of and freeze to have throughout the week. Just prepare fully cooked and freeze individually. Wrap them in a damp towel to restore moisture when you microwave and they’re ready to go.
Lunch
  • Did you know you could freeze PB&J’s? You sure can, just make them as usual and toss in the freezer. They thaw out just in time for lunch. If you want to be a little fancy, you can cut the crust off using a glass and pinch the sides together like the frozen sandwiches you find at the grocery store. Not only does this have way less sugar, it’s much cheaper.
  • Make it easier for your child to grab their own lunch by having everything they need in a specific place in your refrigerator. Fill one box with their entrée, whether it’s a sandwich or a slice of pizza, then fill another box with the side such as a bag of salad with dressing on the side or broccoli (you know what your kid likes). And lastly, fill another box with their deserts like a serving of graham crackers or fruit up.
Dinner
  • This is probably the most fun meal of the day. You can get super creative with your dinners. Play around with different favorite meals, and you’ll find that some freeze just fine cooked and others need to be prepared and then cooked on the day you intend to eat it. With a little planning, you can find all sorts of ways to make this meal work for you. Maybe cook several more servings than you need for leftovers a couple of days later, or spend one whole day assembling meals for the week. To avoid meals becoming too repetitive, switch up your sides or get creative with your menu. If you had baked chicken and salad on Monday, throw a little taco seasoning on your chicken, cook some fajita veggies and add tortillas for tacos on Tuesday.
Snacks
  • Get yourself two bins. One for foods that need to be in the refrigerator and one for the pantry. Fill both up with a snack size serving of your kid’s favorite foods. Some great options are pre-sliced fruit, carrots and celery sticks, yogurt, pretzels, trail mix, hummus, etc.
  • Smoothies are something you can quickly throw in the blender. Make this snack even faster by prepping all your ingredients in a Ziplock bag and putting it in the freezer. When you’re ready, throw the contents of the bag into the blender along with your milk, water or juice then blend!

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