General Discussion Triathlon Talk » more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep? Rss Feed  
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2015-04-25 12:17 PM

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Subject: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
Ok, I'm back with more questions... Sorry guys, but I'm still learning!

So, I constantly get sucked back into busy/hectic life that my dinners usually go in forms of hot dogs, pizza, sushi, burritos, or InN Out burgers...

It's terrible. I want to start dedicating my Sunday mornings to preparing weekly container meals like a cross fit friend of mine... But! I don't do cross fit, I do triathlon. So I'm assuming my meals should look different.

Do any of you do this? How do you like it? What are some of your meals?

Example: handful of roasted potatoes, handful of roasted broccoli, handful of chicken breast??

Any advice and variety is greatly appreciated! I'm excited to give this a shot. Thanks!


2015-04-25 12:30 PM
in reply to: rizztalah

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Madison, Wisconsin
Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
I prep once per weekend, usually gets me through Thursday. Below is what I prep usually

Eggs (Scrambled with kale mixed in)
Wild and Brown Rice
Chicken Breasts 2-4
Beef 2-3 lbs w/ seasoning
Pasta w/pesto sauce
Tuna and or salmon

Black Beans
Corn
Squash
Zucchini
Almonds mixed w/ Chocolate chips
Cherry Tomatoes

I rotate other stuff in each week as well, but this gives me a good based on foundation to build for each meal. I also have 2 jars of PB on the ready in my fridge and snack on them with bananas all week. I also have lots of fruits ready to go. My pantry has lots of dry stuff in bulk to add to these meals: slivered almonds, chia seeds, flaxseed, etc. Takes about 1-2 hours of prep and everything is set to go for the week.


2015-04-25 1:08 PM
in reply to: bcagle25

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Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?

I'm not training or anything but I understand needing quick healthy meals!

Chicken breasts in the crock pot get me through a lot of week night meals. Just chicken breasts, water, onion, carrot, celery a bay leaf, salt and pepper. I use bone in chicken. When cooked through shred the chicken to use for whatever you want during the week - add to salads, lettuce wraps, tacos, bbq chicken sandwiches etc. Then I put the bones back in the crock pot and continue cooking for some really rich chicken stock. I use the stock to add flavor to rice, use it for soup or sauces.

I make our own granola which is really tasty and full of good stuff like walnuts, sunflower seeds, flax. I'd be happy to post the recipe if you are interested. It gets me through a lot of snacking situations and I don't feel so bad about eating it like diving into a bag of chips or going through the drive thru.

Wraps or burritos are easy to prep and you can freeze them.

Mini pizzas on flatbreads also prep really easy and can be frozen.

 

 

2015-04-25 2:25 PM
in reply to: 0

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Scottsdale, AZ
Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
I hear ya - between training, volunteering at school and the kids schedules, I feel I don't have as much time to cook as I'd like.
I keep things around that in a pinch I can make something out of and always have my favorite bars in case I can't eat something healthy.

Check out the website: theclothesmakethegirl.com

She's paleo but talks a lot about weekly cook up...where she prepares a lot of what she will eat during the week on Sunday. I've used a lot of her recipes and they are wonderful. I follow the Paleo diet, but you could always add pasta, rice or other carbs to the mix if they work for you.

Typical meals during the week are:

salad with grilled chicken, salmon cakes etc
tacos (you can precook the meat and freeze)
stir fry with lots of veges and chicken
Tuna sandwiches

pretty simple since my kids are super picky!
Niman Ranch makes a great heat and serve pulled pork that my family loves.
Lately I've been addicted to pesto sauce - which is so easy to make. So I make a big batch and put it on just about everything.

My crockpot broke a couple weeks back ;(, but they are SO helpful when you are short on time!




Edited by runspingirl 2015-04-25 2:29 PM
2015-05-01 9:09 PM
in reply to: rizztalah

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Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
I usually plan what I'm going to eat the night before and wake up ten minutes earlier to prep them in the morning. (It's not that much prep because I'm fourteen and I eat at school, but I'll usually make a turkey sandwich with nuts, pretzels etc.)
2015-05-01 11:49 PM
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Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
Don't get me wrong, this is a full-time job. Consider that vegetables (non-starchy) should comprise the foundation of your diet with whole grains and lean proteins thrown in. So, proteins. I usually bulk cook a pot of beans or lentils on a weekend, and then sometime during the week. A crock-pot comes in very handy here, but I prefer a pressure cooker. Soaked overnight, a pot of black beans can be had in under 20 minutes. Lentils take less than 45 minutes to cook on a stovetop from scratch. For backup if I run out of time to cook, I have tofu, eggs, and canned sardines.

I don't really like potatoes as a carbohydrate source (too little fiber) so you will find a ton of whole grains in my pantry. I have "fast-cooking" grains like quinoa, millet, and bulgur alongside "medium" (brown rice, sticky brown rice, etc.) and "slow" cooking grains (barley, wheat berries, kamut, whole oat groats). Pasta if I have time. I always try to mix it up; if I feel in the mood I will make a lasagna, but make an entire pan and freeze half of it. Getting used to eating leftovers is part of this lifestyle.

Non-starchy vegetables are easy. You can either go the frozen vegetable route, which is usually what I end up doing for lunch. If you prefer cooked, you can either saute or steam. I caramelize a whole pan of onions and mushrooms, freeze it in portions and use that as my vegetable base. I chop greens, toss them into the pan until they wilt, and then I'm done. Kale, bok choy, cabbage, arugula, spinach, collard greens, mustard greens, etc. - leafy greens are the most nutrient dense foods in the food system by a long shot. Salads...get old pretty quick, in my opinion. But a kale salad can be had in under 10 minutes. Kale, apples, avocado, walnuts. Toss the kale into a mixing bowl, dice apples/avocado, throw in walnuts, douse in olive oil and a good balsamic vinegar, toss, and then serve.

Snacks I have dried/fresh fruit, nuts, or muesli (unsweetened, obviously). At times in a pinch I have used that as post-workout recovery snack/meal.

Edited by sentient.couch 2015-05-02 12:00 AM


2015-05-02 9:05 PM
in reply to: 0


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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
I, much like everyone else that responded, do a Sunday prep. So on Saturday night I will throw some chicken in the crock pot and on Sunday I will shred it up. I will either make some buffalo/bbq chicken and have some wraps to make those. I will cook some rice and asparagus and fry up some broccoli/peppers/etc and fill up five containers and keep them in the fridge. That gets me through the week. When I get back from my post-work workout I just toss the container in the microwave and have a full dinner in 5 minutes.

The crockpot does its thing overnight and when I wake up I can make the veggies and rice at the same time and takes me 45 minutes on Sunday to create a full week worth of meals. I will have things like peanut butter and some whole wheat bread to make sandwiches for lunch with yogurt and some fruit which is easy for me to make the night prior for lunches.

This week I think I am going to do a salad week with some veggies and some chicken thrown into it and other times I will just make some eggs with toast for a change of pace while still keeping it not terrible ala fast food.

I have also made a big batch of vegetable soup that I can food saver in individual portions for a week. I like working with chicken because with difference spices and flavors you can really keep changing it up with different flavors. Everyone is different, but that has worked of me so far. Nothing is worse than coming home from a workout and having to cook. ha ha.

Hope that helps!

Edited by wei5209 2015-05-02 9:07 PM
2015-05-03 7:16 AM
in reply to: rizztalah

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Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
Here are the basic principles of nutrition while training for endurance sports.
Eat a variety of foods to make sure you get the minerals, vitamins, fats, proteins and carbohydrates that you body is going to need.
Increase your carbohydrates as your body has an easier time turning that into your glycogen stores. Glycogen is where you get your energy when you have burned up your readily available stores.
Keep it light on processed foods, salty foods and fatty foods. Processed foods have less nutrients and more salt and fat. Salt is a dehydrator. Fat can add weight.
Don't overeat. Every pound or kilogram you have on you is a pound or kilogram that you have to carry around with you while biking and running. Lighter is better.
Finally, drink to thirst. There are dangers in dehydration and hyponatremia.

Follow these principles and pack the lunch that you like.
2015-05-03 6:48 PM
in reply to: #5110763

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Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
I also prep on Sunday. The best weeks my husband will cook a bunch of meat on the grill, and I'll prep mashed cauliflower and taters and veggies and then fix up some soup in the crockpot. That plus some fish days and sandwiches and a few meals out and we don't have to cook much during the week. It's nice!
2015-05-03 9:21 PM
in reply to: Quix

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Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?
I'm a mom, I work 40+ hours a week, I do 8-9 workouts per week and I hate to cook. So, I've pretty much got this thing down to a science to avoid cooking as much as possible.

I also do a sunday prep. But I do it while I'm making sunday dinner. So basically I've got 2 separate "cooking" projects simultaneously going on each sunday.

I'm a vegetarian so my specific recipes might not appeal to many of you. For a vegetarian I eat an embarrassingly low amount of fruits and vegetables because I hate cooking but I do eat a ton of legumes and whole grains and nonfat dairy.

Usually on sundays I make very large batches of meals that freeze well (soups, chili, curry, pasta). We have a deep freezer and I portion them out. There are usually always 3 choices of homemade meals in the deep freeze.

I also make a large batch of whatever our sunday dinner is and put the leftovers into several single serving tupperwares in the fridge. I'll eat the sunday dinner probably 2 or 3 more times during the week and then I'll usually pull 2 frozen dinners out of the deep freeze. this usually just leaves us with 1 or 2 dinners a week that we have to come up with. I can count on my husband for 1 of them and the other usually turns into a frozen pizza or taco bell or something.

I have a ton of the amy's organic frozen dinners on hand because they are relatively healthy for microwave meals. I eat these for lunch a lot.

Usually twice during the week I'll make a huge batch of protein smoothie and freeze a bunch of 8 oz portions in mason jars with lids. I thrown those in my lunch bag and it serves as my ice pack.

I always have storebought protein shakes and lowfat string cheese in the fridge as well as hard boiled eggs and 6 oz servings of nonfat greek yogurt. And I buy protein bars by the case. We always have apples and bananas and peanut butter on hand.

This system has me going to the grocery store 2x per week and cooking 1 or 2 times per week max. It's not the cheapest way to feed a family, and there is a lot of repetition in what we eat but it works for me.
2015-05-05 11:15 AM
in reply to: rizztalah

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Subject: RE: more nutrition questions - weekly meal prep?

Originally posted by rizztalah Ok, I'm back with more questions... Sorry guys, but I'm still learning! So, I constantly get sucked back into busy/hectic life that my dinners usually go in forms of hot dogs, pizza, sushi, burritos, or InN Out burgers... It's terrible. I want to start dedicating my Sunday mornings to preparing weekly container meals like a cross fit friend of mine... But! I don't do cross fit, I do triathlon. So I'm assuming my meals should look different. Do any of you do this? How do you like it? What are some of your meals? Example: handful of roasted potatoes, handful of roasted broccoli, handful of chicken breast?? Any advice and variety is greatly appreciated! I'm excited to give this a shot. Thanks!

 

Quix and I do this almost every Sunday ( minus race days)

We start out making our menu the week before. Last week looked like this.

chicken/ribs caulitaterslasagna
chicken/ribs caulitatersout
tuna sammich/saladbeanie weenies
lasagnafish tacos
fish burgerschicken/ribs caulitaters
protein powder wafflesout
small savage and salad or premade sammiches and saladsnacks (get snacks from the store)

Its my job on Sundays to grill up or cook all the meats needed for the meals along with prep.

When you see beanie weenies on the menu, that is uncured organic all beef franks + amys organic baked beans + green beans. Its easy very little prep time and keeps me a kid at heart.

Every week there is some sort of Chicken + something + cauliflower mash + veggies. In this weeks case it was 1/2 a grilled chicken breast + 1 rib + cauliflower mash and broccoli.

The lasagna was made from scratch and used zucchini instead of noodles on half and was full of onions, peppers and olives along with sausage and ground beef.

The last day there was a race day, so it was a splurge day.

Some weeks are for sure healthier than others but it makes sure we are eating better than fast food or even work provided food if we have OT that week.

 

We tend to make each dish turn into 5 or 6 servings and we freeze them Sunday night. After about 3 weeks of this we get 1 weekend off of cooking because of the build up of leftovers in the freezer. It has taken us a few years to get into the habit, but I really enjoy it now.

 



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