Family Food Prep – Week 2

Here’s how food prep for your family works:

1. Step 1: Pick out 2 types of protein you want to cook, 1 grain and at least 3 veggies to make. Optional: pick how you want to spice them up each night (use this week’s meal ideas as a guide).
2. Step 2: Make a list of the ingredients you need to prepare each one. Keep in mind the number of people you feed will dictate the quantities of what you make. We do ours for a family of 4 but 2 adults and 2 young kids so what we prep differs from someone with 2 adults and 2 teenagers.
3. Step 3: Go to the grocery store or schedule your groceries to be delivered to save time/energy.
4. Step 4: Begin cooking. Set a timer so you actually see how long it takes you. We clocked ourselves and it took 1 hour 30 minutes this week. You will get quicker over time.
5. Step 5: Add everything to your tupperware or food storage of choice and store in the fridge until meal time.

This week’s family food prep line up:

• Protein 1: Roasted chicken thighs or breasts. We roast these on a baking pan with the potatoes, desired spices and olive oil drizzle at 425 for about 25-30 minutes. You can also use this chicken method too.
• Protein 2:  Ground turkey (or use another ground meat you’d like like beef, pork, lamb)
• Grain 1: Gluten-free pasta of choice or any pasta you’d like.
• Veggie 1: Frozen peas – I microwave these with some water for about 5 minutes (follow directions on bag!)
• Veggie 2: Sautéed peppers and onions in garlic and olive oil and a splash of cooking broth
• Veggie 3: Roasted potatoes – we use baby potatoes and roasted them cut in half with the chicken
• Veggie 4: We went wild this week and added a 4th – sautéed Maitake mushrooms in some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Four meal ideas to make with these items:

Meal idea 1: Roasted chicken with vegetables

For this first idea – we are keeping things basic. Just add some potatoes, any of the veggies you’d like with a crispy chicken thigh!

Meal idea 2: Roasted chicken and vegetable pasta

This is a delicious simple pasta. Garlic, olive oil, some chicken, peas in the pasta and some parmesan cheese on top.

Meal idea 3: Ground meat in red sauce with vegetables

I loved this combo so much – mushrooms, potatoes and added the ground turkey in some red sauce I had leftover in the fridge.

Meal idea 4: Tacos with turkey meat, veggies, any toppings you’d like+ guacamole to serve

This was my favorite night. I used some tortillas we had on hand, ground turkey, peppers and onions with hot sauce and some grated cheese.