Each Sunday I share the family meal prep I have completed on the weekend to the Planning With Kids Facebook Page. Some lovely readers join in and share what they have been making, others come for inspiration for what to cook for the week and others tell me they would love to do some meal prep for the family but just can’t seem to get into it.
If you find you are the same way, my number one tip is to start small. When I first started doing some form of food prep for the week ahead, I made two things:
- Something sweet for the kids’ lunch boxes
- Something savoury for the kids’ lunch boxes
Below I am collating a number of my family meal prep sessions with links to the relevant recipes where available to provides some inspiration for what you can do. If you are new to family meal prep, then start by trying to make just a couple of things – make things that will have the biggest impact on your daily week. The aim of family meal prep is to make your week easier!
I have taken a screenshot of the photos I have uploaded to Facebook of my weekly meal prep. Simply click on the image if you want to see the Facebook original post.
Family meal prep ideas
Meal prep notes:
I made the homemade pasties on Sunday evening and made a double batch so there would be plenty of left overs to work as lunches (and breakfasts!) for the kids.
I make up the glass jars of cut veggies for myself and the kids to have as snacks. The eldest works four evenings a week and will take a couple of jars with him to work each time as well as some other food to have at work. These only last a few days in our house and I make up new jars across the week.
The roasted sweet potato is for me and I will add some eggs and some of the Mexican salad to it to make a lunch or dinner for myself. The satay and brown rice will be for lunches for me and for my daughter who also likes it.
Meal prep recipe links:
- Kombucha
- Mexican salad
- Pasties
- Lentil and veggie satay
- Almond butter
- Cut up veggies
- Brown rice
- Roasted sweet potato
- Bliss balls
Meal prep notes:
I have a smoothie for breakfast pretty much every day and the kids will have smoothies throughout the day either as a meal or snack – which means we go through lots of frozen banana! A couple of times a week I will flash freeze banana so we have enough on hand.
I really love my air fryer! It gets used multiple times a week, mainly to make roast sweet potatoes and white potatoes, but I do make other things in it too! Like a homemade choc rice puffs cereal. This also works as a great snack with almond milk or yogurt for the kids. The air fryer definitely saves me time in the kitchen and makes my life easier.
When I want to grate up veggies in advance, I use my food processor. I find it lasts much longer this way. The key is not to press the veggies too hard down the chute. If you press too hard it squeezes out too much liquid and the veggies go off quicker.
I use grated veggies as a way to get more veggies into me! I will add some to my dish of sweet potatoes some days, heat it up in the microwave, then add some protein and salsa and I have a tasty and colourful meal. I also add raw grated veggies to my breakfast smoothies. Having the veggies prepared in advance means I eat significantly more veggies across the week than if I didn’t do any meal prep.
This smoothie is a super large serve as I have it when I have come in from my morning run. You might like to reduce the quantities if you are used to having smaller servings 🙂
- 1 scoop True Protein Whey Protein Isolate (Vanilla)
- 250 grams frozen banana
- 60 grams grated carrot
- 60 grams grated zucchini
- 40 grams grated broccoli stems
Simply blitz it all together and stir through a hand full of peanuts for extra crunch!
Meal prep recipe links:
- Flash-freezing banana for smoothies
- Rice puffs
- Scrolls
- Weet bix slice
- Mexican rice
- Salsa
- Roast sweet potatoes
- Veggie jars
- Prepped veggies for evening meal
- Grated zucchini, carrot and broccoli stems
Meal prep notes:
The key to creating maximum output in the kitchen for minimum time commitment is being smart in what you cook, when you cook it and in what quantities. In this example I made a double batch of homemade taco meat, kept half plain and turned the other half into Mexibake. The eldest is taco meat obsessed at the moment so will have tacos / quesadillas for breakfast or lunch. He also makes them for the 14 year old often as well!
Making the double batch of taco meat as part of the family meal prep, doesn’t take me double the time but it gives me twice as much food to feed the growing and protein keen boys in the house. So when I am planning out our weekly meal plan, I will ensure there is at least one meal on the weekend that I can cook in large quantities (sometimes triple!).
When planning out the family meal prep session I will look at what meals we have coming next week and make any condiments or extras where I can. In this example I made dukkah as we were having dukkah encrusted salmon as one of our meals.
Meal prep recipe links:
- Peanut butter choc chip biscuits – based off this recipe but swapped out raspberries for peanut butter and white choc chips for milk choc chips
- Almond and chilli dukkah
- Mexibake
- Homemade taco seasoning
- Salsa
- Pasties
- Grated veggies, veggie jars, prepped veggies for meals
Let me know if you have found this post helpful and I will collate some more of my family meal prep sessions in posts for you!
If you would like step-by-step instructions and detailed plans to help you start creating the habit of weekly meal prep, then my short e-course Meal Prep Primer is for you!
- Imagine being able to simply pick and pack from your pre-made items to make the kids’ lunch boxes.
- Imagine being able to make a meal in minutes when you come in late after work or an after school activity using the food you prepped on the weekend.
- Imagine eating a nutritious homemade lunch each day that you can simply reheat in a flash.
This can be a reality for you and it doesn’t have to take up all of your weekend.
In the course I will teach you the process I have developed over these years. The course will:
- save you time
- save you money
- save you stress through the week days
- ensure your family eats well
- allow you to enjoy meal time more with the family