Hey there, note-takers!
We just finished a college graduation season, and with it comes many more adults who are going to be living on their own. Whether you are a recent graduate about to live on your own or you are just trying to get more into meal prep, this post is for you.
Meal prepping is great because after a long day of work or class, the last thing that you want to do is put in much effort to make a super tasty dinner or make your lunch for the next day. There are various types of meal preps that we are going to go over.
Prep 1: The Ready-Mades
The ready-mades are the foods that after you make them, you just have to eat them. There is no additional work required. These are my favorites because sometimes you are in a rush to get out of the house in the morning, but “breakfast is the most important meal of the day that you should not skip.” So these are useful to just take out of your fridge and take off. A classic ready-made is a ham sandwich. One of the easiest things to make. Get quality sandwich bread and put ham in between it. If you are extra (like me), you can spread a honey butter mixture on the outside. Then, wrap it in some plastic wrap and it is ready to go. Another classic ready-made is a smoothie, just take your travel mug with your smoothie and go.
This is also many dessert foods: cookies, cake, pie, cheesecake, etc. All you have to do is take it (or your slice) and go. Ready-mades are the perfect meal prep food because once it is done, it is done. You can also make a lot in little time. It took me less than 5 minutes to make 4 sandwiches.
Prep 2: Microwavable
This is a more open category because to me, these are just leftovers. Food that you have already made to completion is perfect to be microwaved. This is the perfect lunch food. Just put your leftover foods in a microwavable safe container. Put it in the microwave and have it for lunch the following day. Let no food go to waste.
I made broccoli soup last night. What I did was put it in a tupperware and put it in the fridge. Super easy to heat up and eat up.
Prep 3: Hands-Off Cooking
This is the perfect dinner category. These sorts of foods are ones that you prepare for in advance. Then, all you have to do when you are ready to eat it is to put it in the oven or on a stove top to heat it up. The point of this food is that you can just put it on when you get home, and by the time you get settled down, the food will be ready to eat. This category requires a lot more work in advanced.
For lunch today, I am having baked orange chicken. The prep that is required is prepping the chicken and making the sauce. I had to coat the chicken in a beat eggs and then a flour-cornstarch mixture. Then, I air-fried and seasoned it. After that, I put it in airtight container and put it in the freezer. I had orange chicken sauce that I had got from the store. But if I did not, I had the ingredients to make it, and it would best to make and store it that night.
All I have to do for today is to heat the chicken in the oven and pout the sauce over it. (And because I love rice, to make rice in the rice cooker). It requires a total of 2 minutes when I decide to make it of active time, but it is mostly ready.
Another type of food that would fall into this category is slow cooker food. Just put everything in the slow cooker already prepared, and then, just sit back and relax. This is perfect for a lazy Sunday where you just want to relax, instead of running around the kitchen trying to make food for your friends and family. For example, I like to marinate chicken before putting it in the rice cooker. Then, all I have to do is pour the chicken in with marinade. I would also have already prepped the other ingredients to toss in the slow cooker at the appropriate time to lessen the amount of work that needs to be done.
I hope that this post was helpful to you. Please go to the ask alex page or contact me to leave any suggestions about posts that you would like to see in the future. Until next time.
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