Meal Prep - Week 2

After meal prep week one went mostly okay we definitely wanted to keep going and see if we could keep it up/make any improvements. We made another menu full of 7 entirely different dishes and tried to do a nice mixture of regular favourites and things we don't have very often as well. We already had a head start this week as the dishes were already clean and dry ready to be used so we could just crack on with cooking and grab them as required.

Pasta and Meatballs - This was an easy-maker as pasta literally takes two minutes, the meatballs could be thrown in the oven until done and the sauce isn't difficult to make either. One thing I would say about this is that we used Swedish meatballs and it threw me a little as we usually have them ikea style with mash and veg but it was fine in the end.  This reheated really well and made quite a good dinner or tea dish.

Taco mince and Tortilla Chips - I think this one must have been Kals idea because I'm not actually keen on Mexican food. If you prefer your chips crunchy I would definitely add them when you're about to eat as they did go a little softer after being heated up but that didn't phase me. I didn't enjoy my first portion of this but the second time I added plenty of cheese and sour cream dip and enjoyed it much more. Kal however loved it!

Cottage Pie - Another all round favourite, we knew what we were getting with this one. This is something we have frozen and reheated in the past so knew would be fine and it didn't disappoint. I would say this was more of a tea time meal but depends how you're feeling I guess. This is something that can be adjusted too, for example sometimes we add a bit of mint sauce into it for a bit extra flavour - you can also add whatever veggies you want and choose between beef,lamb or turkey mince!

Chinese Chicken Curry and Rice - One of our household favourites - I don't actually like an Indian curry but love a Chinese one but you could mix it up to your preference. This froze and reheated just fine but I did find it was one of those I had to fancy to want to eat it. This was another that felt like a tea time meal but would work either way.

Sausage, Mash, Veg and Onion Gravy - A nice way to get some veggies in for the day and nice and straight forward. We did learn from this that the gravy didn't heat up amazingly as it went quite thick and jelly-like but it wasn't inedible by any means. Everything else reheated perfectly fine and it made a nice Sunday dinner without actually cooking on the day! (Also, bonus as the sweetcorn and peas can go in the dish cold as they get cooked when you 'reheat' before eating).

Jacket Potato with Beans - Can't usually go wrong with a jacket potato - this is another nice versitile one as you can season the skin as preferred and pop in whatever toppings you like! Something to note about this one is that the skins don't stay crispy when reheated so if that's a deal breaker for you probably not the best but it wasn't the end of the world for us. I also added some cheese to mine before eating!

Homemade Chicken Burgers - This was Kals forte as I'm not very adventurous when it comes to cooking but he basically butterflied chicken breasts, made a coating for them and popped them in the oven and they came out fab! We lightly toasted the brioche buns and just reheated them as a whole and they worked fine (very much like a 'rustlers' burger for reference). When we had reheated we just flipped them upside down for a minute or so as the bottom does go soggy initially but dries out well if you do this.

 

So, week two was another success. I don't think there was any that Kal didn't like and I liked them all but was having a bit of a fussy week as I was poorly. We actually went away this week unexpectedly to a lodge and it was so nice not having to worry about doing a food shop or cooking while we were there! We said even if we stopped meal prepping one day we would still probably do it for a lodge holiday just because of how convenient it was!

Once again, let me know what do you think about meal prep? Do you have any recipes in mind that we could try?

Disclaimer: This blog post is in no way sponsored and all opinions and photographs are my own.