I have three dinners in the fridge that I really donāt feel like eatingā¦I just want my Sweet Green harvest bowl dupe. It just hits man.
Anyone else have a problem w wasting food bc all that sounds good is your current hyperfixation food?
I keep wasting my meal preps in favor of my hyperfixation meal š
General Question/DiscussionTo be honest I had this same problem which is why I had to stop meal prepping all together. If I'm not in the mood to eat something then I won't.
Yep. Meal prepping is just a no go for me. Itās really hard for me to eat something more than 2x a week unless itās my hyperfixation meal-which is usually incredibly unhealthy.
I do a loose plan for each week, but get a good amount of frozen items so I can be flexible. Also, meal delivery service gets me variety but is cheaper/healthier than eating out.
Same. I am just a picky cat shaped like a human.
I think I read a meme yesterday, something about: With mealprep, you'll always have something half done, old and that you don't want to eat in your fridge.
Lmao sometimes it be like that š
Thatās fair. Usually I donāt have a problem, but recently itās been a struggle.
Yeah that's why I don't meal prep. That and I hate leftovers that are more than a day old š¤¢
I can only prep and freeze casseroles. They have to be ones that arenāt part of our regular meals as well so it entices us to eat them. We wonāt thaw out chicken and rice for instance, but will eat chicken and dumplings or some type of potato cheese casserole.
I just throw things in the freezer if I know theyāll go bad before I eat them. I always forget about them too so itās nice to have a surprise when looking for food. I recently found some frozen thanksgiving ham š
Lol thatās awesome š itās like hidden treasure
I'm preparing to move so we're trying to eat up all the containers in my freezer right now. It is a bit like opening present each night -- its not always a great surprise but just the mystery of it is funĀ
I give my husband these surprise freezer meals for his lunch. I'm like here ya go.... looks like... something with pasta. Let me know.
š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£ I love this so much.
I also saved leftover thanksgiving ham that we didn't want in November, and frankly still don't want now. š
... but can we get the recipe for the sweetgreen dupe?!?!?!
Ha, I've been sweet greening with out knowing it for years lol all my salads look like this .
I hate making salads. So many ingredients and more work then other foods. I always want to eat them, buy ingredients but then motivation to actually make it dies.
I pre-prep, coz I get the same, Ill make it then don't want it, but if you get a airtight jars / tupperware and put all your salad stuff in with wet stuff (like tomatoes and feta ) at the bottom then it will keep for almost a week in the fridge, then when your ready for it turn the jar out and boom salad lol.
I'm assuming this only works with things like kale and such because regular lettuce turns gross in my fridge in like a day or two? I'm always like "hmmm salad/healthy meal I've prepared ooooor eat 5 candy bars and a soda?" such a hard choice. Lol Luckily I'm pretty healthy in general but the struggle.
I've done it with rocket, baby leaf spinach, little gems ect. Iceberg isn't as good.
I rip my lettuce, not slice/dice, slice is OK if you gonna eat immediately but not if you preping in advance as it breaks the cells in an unnatural way so more liquids will escape where as if you gently hand rip it the cells tear along natural walls keeping them intact therefore they don't leak as bad.
Also check your fridge temp, it should be 5 - 8 Ā°c , (put a bottle of water in there and use a thermometer to check it) lettuce hates if its too cold and will wilt very quickley.
I think my fridge is too cold. Things in the back will occasionally freeze partly. I'll have to check. Thanks for the tip!
This looks amazing. Thanks for sharing!!
Yeah I donāt do anything special tbh I donāt even get as fancy as the recipes out there do š
going to be my deep dive tonight - ha! thanks so much
Right?! š¤£
Itās just precooked wild rice (it comes in microwaveable pouches), roasted sweet potatoes, chicken, kale, goat cheese, chopped apples, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and any sort of raspberry vinaigrette. Itās really not a dupe, just heavily inspired by Sweetgreen lol š
yum - thank you!
Ok hear me out.
Borosilicate glass.
It goes in the freezer, it goes in the microwave, it goes in the oven, no defrost needed. It can been heated and cooled with a massive differential without shattering.
I use that for meal prep, and I freeze most things right away. Then just reheat and go. Otherwise, literally everything goes bad in the fridge.
Bought like 24 of em by now from Amazon, in single serve size containers with snap lids. Lots of variety on my freezer.
(Yes, more than half the time I still want something else entirely, but at least the meal prep is frozen...)
Not gonna lie for the first half, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be eating it š
š¤£šš
This is the way.
Do you have a link? I got plastic ones but they have been starting to breath down and I've been thinking of replacing them so I can make individual things and freeze.
Ive never heard of that! Iāll look into it. Unfortunately I have a tiny freezer and I canāt really store my meal preps in it but if I have like one serving left that I donāt want I could probably stuff it in there š
I prep ingredients instead of doing the whole cooked meal prep. I only get enough for 6 meals at a time, 3 different recipes. My brain is weird about leftovers and I need variety so it's helped me a lot with food waste. I can decide if I'm actually up for the meal or save the ingredients for tomorrow. Realistically, I can make 3 recipes before the ingredients go bad--even if I skip cooking a night or two.
I've already removed the hard part of the prep but I'm still getting something "freshly cooked". I just have to dump everything on a sheet pan and bake. If I cook my prepped ingredients, I'll have enough leftovers to take for lunch tomorrow. I won't if I make an air fryer quesadilla. The pressure to save money is real right now so having that outside motivation is helpful for me lol.
If I manage to make the prepped meal but I still really want my hyperfixation meal...I give myself a pass and make a guilt-free quesadilla. I usually opt for the prepped meal once it's cooked but every now and then it happens. Sometimes you gotta appease the monster.
This is great! Prepping just the ingredients would make it a hell of a lot easier to make what I want when it's unplanned. If that makes sense.
Yes! I need options but I also need structure so I've found this is a good balance for me.
I would totally do this if I didnāt work evenings and needed a complete, precooked meal š¬ Canāt cook at work sadly. Iāve also seen YouTube videos where the person cooks a bunch of ingredients that can be combined in different ways to make different meals. I love that idea too but I know thatās too much mental work for me š¤£
Can you freeze what you prepped?
No room in my freezer š
My psychiatrist said to me once 'honestly I don't care what you eat as long as you EAT. If that's a bowl of nachos everyday then just have that for now'.
It was a good time.
I can't force myself if I don't want it, if its up to me to make something, and so I feel good as long as I have something. I am trying to be better and my boyfriend is making me some different foods to try that are healthier.
This is the point Iām at. I keep losing weight and Iām already pretty underweight. I look anorexic without even trying to restrict my food. Itās been helping a bit to remember eating something not-ideal is better than eating nothing.
Freaking stouffers spinach soufflĆ©. I actually made it to try to stop buying it and itās just rotting in the fridge along with other things I thought I wanted, so that I can continue to buy and eat stouffers.
Oh my god, can you share the recipe pls?
Lmao this was too relatable š
Yep. I now try and just lean into my current fixation meals and I venture out with my experimentation foods when Iām starting to āmehā at my current meal. Sometimes the new meals still sit in the fridge untouched until they make it into the bin but sometimes Iāll jackpot and find my new fixation meal. Iād say freeze your meal preps if you can, to minimize waste and see if it sounds good later, but Iād be lying if I said I do that with mine.
Iām gonna start doing that. I kinda force myself to change my meal prep every week even if I donāt feel like it bc I try to get a variety of nutrients, but if it ends in me eating nothing it defeats the purpose š
Put the prepped meals in the freezer until you feel like eating it so it won't go bad. Then you don't need to worry about that one thing anyway.
I was doing the same and just couldn't afford it, my solution was to only pre prep meals I can freeze, that way if I have a fixation meal (at the moment it's cheese stuff, cheese on toast, grilled cheese salad, cheese and crackers, cheesy chips/fries ) I don't have to worry about it going off but then if I have a day where I have no function to cook I have some meals in I can oven/microwave and eat. I do things like spaghetti bolagnaise with pasta - yes cooked pasta freezes but you have to heat it from frozen, Spanish omelettes again heat from frozen, curry's with cauliflower rice, paprika chicken and vegetable rice, They can all go in the microwave or oven to reheat. Cooking is one of my things, I can hyper focus on really easily. I used to bake a lot, but I'm overweight, so I've turned it (not without huge efforts) to make food that are as low fat and carb while being as tasty as possible.
This is why we had to stop getting hello fresh deliveries, I just never wanted to eat them once they were here. Its been hard to reconcile our grocery budget being high because we shop on whims but tbh its better in the long run than wasting food and buying twice.
Yes. I stopped meal prepping anything but freezer meals because I was constantly throwing it out. š
When I still had a fridge yes. Sometimes. But I also only meal prepped things that were tried and true can and will always eat.
Yep!
This post speaks to my soul. I have a really hard time not gagging at even thinking of eating leftovers. But itās not realistic with how expensive groceries are in our area (like, since when is it reasonable for a family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 small toddlers who donāt eat much - to cost over $1000 a month in groceries???).
Maybe you can freeze them?
Yes and it is a huge problem where we live right now. I used to have a huge pantry, two freezers, I could whip up whatever. The way I cooked and ate prior to marriage is not working in our newlywed nest. I have eaten chicken fingers for 15 days, while my poor befuddled husband keeps going grocery shopping and trying to get me to eat something different.
I have started throwing the food I'm not going to eat in the freezer and I microwave it later.
Meal prep and freeze it! Then if you get home and your starving there's emergency cooked meal in the freezer for you.Ā
Meal prep raw that goes in the freezer! Thereās a bunch of freezer to instant pot meals that you grab, put into your instant pot, (add a bit of water if you forgot to let it thaw) and youāre good!
I only do meal prep with frozen meals, more bulk batching I suppose. I bought a load of those foil disposable trays in single serving size so meals can go straight from freezer to oven. I try to only have 2-3 days worth of fresh meals planned / purchased so that I can change my mind without things going bad. Freezer meals are my back up for when Iām too fried to plan / cook.
I meal prep but freeze it until Iām in the mood. Chop carrots and broccoli and just cook from frozen. If I didnāt, Iād waste so much food (still do, tbh).
my meal prep is my hyperfixation meal. done
This is why I only make a meal that only has like 2-4 servings depending on who will eat it. I rarely want the food I've cooked or planned.
Can you freeze your other dinners? We want what we want.
I had to forgo meal prepping, I was just wasting food
Yes I do. Iāll prep a bunch of meals and eat a few like twice and hate the rest. Iāve discovered freezer paper. It comes in rolls like tin foil. You must use masking tape to secure it. Itās right next to the rolls in the store. Regular tape doesnāt stick in the freezer. Anytime Iām going to waste something I wrap in freezer paper, label and date it. Iāve found most items work well when defrosted. With the exception of lettuce.
All meats, veggies, casseroles, gains work well with this method. Iāve had items taste good after a year.
I gave up meal prepping. I always have a hyper fixation meal and thatās all I want at that time so I just usually eat it lol
100% this is why we stopped buying meal kits. They seem like such a good idea until it just doesn't sound good. Not even because something else sounded better. The waste was awful. :(
This is what freezers are for.
This is so relatable. I can't even do a weekly grocery shop because I end up not wanting to eat any of the food I bought. I have to go to the supermarket every 2 or 3 days and just buy enough food for a couple of days.Ā
I generally āingredient prepā rather than āmeal prepā.
So eg if I have 5 onions getting a bit too old, I might chop all of them, spend 20 minutes doing the āslow & lowā heat to caramelise - then freeze in portions.
It means that the next few times I want to make a meal where the first step is ācut & caramelise an onionā I can grab a portion from the freezer & save myself 25 mins + the washing up.
Same thing with garlic, celery, carrots, courgette, etc.
That way I can follow my dopamine cravings re what specific meal I want - but Iāve used up things that would otherwise need to be thrown out & saved Future Me time for those meals.
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