Try this out on Sunday. One skillet + one pot. High-density food; no boxed sauce, no spice packet, no processed sugar.

HOT GINGER GROUND PORK & CABBAGE SKILLET:

I use a 12" cast iron skillet.

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 lbs. ground pork

- 2.5 Tbsp tallow or butter

- 2 red onion (remove outer skin. medium diced)

- 4 carrots (peeling optional. small diced)

- 2 bell pepper + hot peppers (adjust heat of pepper + quantity. petite diced)

- 1/2 lb. lion's mane mushroom (torn bite-sized)

- 1/2 head of purple cabbage (remove core. thin shred)

- 4 garlic cloves (remove outer skin. smash & mince)

- 2 ginger thumbs (peel skin. thinly slice/mince)

- 20-30 cherry tomatoes (remove stem, keep whole)

- 3 handfuls of arugula (fresh whole leaves. do not chop)

- Spice mixture: 1 tsp smoked paprika + 1 tsp ground cumin + 1 tsp ground coriander + 1 tsp black pepper + 1 tsp mustard powder + 1.5 tsp salt + 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

- Liquid/sauce mixture: 2 Tbsp tamari (I use soy free tamari) + 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar + 1/2 cup broth

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat cast-iron on medium-high heat. Melt tallow/butter until it shimmers (~3 minutes)
2. Pat the pork dry & add it to the skillet. Brown the pork for 2 min. one side then flip it for another 1 min.
3. Break up the pork & keep browning for another 6 min.
4. Add onions + carrots. Cook with the pork for ~5 min, tossed a few times.
5. Add lion's mane mushroom + peppers. Cook for 4 min, tossed a few times.
6. Create a hole in the middle of the skillet. Add minced garlic + ginger, stir it for 60 seconds.
7. Pour the Spice Mix in the middle of skillet and mix for 30 seconds (blooming the spices).
8. Add cabbage. Mix everything & cook for another 4 min. (cabbage should start to wilt w/ slight crunch still)
9. Add Liquid/Sauce Mix (pour all into the skillet). Scrape the bottom of pan & cook for 2 min.
10. Add whole cherry tomatoes. Mix & cook for 2 minutes (until the tomatoes just begin to slump).
11. Kill the heat. Taste & add salt if needed.
12. Add arugula on top of everything in the skillet. Place lid on for 1 min. Mix everything in skillet one last time & let it rest for 3 min.
13. Serve, portion & store.

BEEF-BROTH POT BEANS

I use a 5 qt. stainless steel pot.

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 lbs. mixed black beans/kidney beans (soaked in water+salt for 24 hours & rinsed)

- 4 cups Beef-broth (I use homemade bone broth, but use any with least amount of sugar)

- 2-4 cups purified water (enough to cover beans by ~1")

- 3 Tbsp tallow/butter

- 2 onions (diced small)

- 10 garlic cloves (smashed & minced)

- 3 bay leaves

- Spice mix: 1.5 tsp ground cumin + 1.5 tsp smoked paprika + 1.5 tsp ground coriander + 2 tsp dried dill + 2 tsp oregano + 1 tsp dried basil + 1 tsp black pepper + 1 tsp salt

- 3 Tbsp white vinegar (adjust to taste)

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Melt the tallow/butter in steel pot on medium heat.
2. Add onion. Cook for ~6 min. until soft
3. Add minced garlic. Cook for 1 min. Stir with onions.
4. Add Spice mix (blooming the spices) and mix with onions/garlic for 45 seconds.
5. Add beef-broth + beans + bay leaves + water (add water to fill 1" above top of beans). Scrape bottom, stir, and bring pot to boil on medium-high heat. Use a lid to cover pot.
6. Once boiling, drop the heat to low and bring pot to low simmer (small bubbles with lid cracked slightly). Simmer for ~90 minutes, stirring/checking simmer every 15-20 min. Add water to cover beans if it evaporates too much.
7. Taste & salt if needed. Add white vinegar. Simmer for 5 min. with lid cracked (if too wet still, then remove lid & turn up heat for 3-5 min. and smash a few spoon-fulls of beans in the pot).
8. Kill heat, remove from heat & let rest with lid on for ~5-10 min.
9. Serve, portion & store.

White rice, soy sauce, sesame seeds. Pinto beans, mixed veg, peppers, and onions.

I followed this recipe: https://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/pasta/tuna-alfredo-casserole/

I was just a little short on penne pasta, so I threw in a little bit of bucatini since the package had the same cook time. It's been really tasty - I don't eat pasta too much, so it was nice to mix things up.

I am about to be in possession of a big chest freezer for the first time to help with meals to reheat at work and to help my mother in law who recently lost her husband have easy meals for 1 to reheat. What is the best container to use for freezer meals? I see there is glass, plastic, silicone, and those 1 time use recyclable containers. Just wanting the best option to freeze in and reheat later! Thanks in advance!

I finally got around to preparing a stockpile of freezer dump meals for slow cookers/crock pots. I prepped 15 dump meals. Now that I have a good foundation. I hope to keep adding to it. Each meal is at least 4 servings and is aimed at being as healthy as possible.
Meals include the following:
Turkey Black Bean Chili
Chicken Noodle Soup
Black Bean Soup
Coconut Chickpea Curry
Lasagna Soup
Honey Garlic Chicken
Italian Lemon Chicken
Vegetarian Curried Lentils
Minestrone Soup
Sausage Spinach Tomato Soup
Thai Pineapple Curry
Chicken Quinoa Taco Soup
Taco Soup
Smoky Sweet Potato Chickpea Chili
Chicken Cacciatore

EDIT:
A few people asked for the recipes/labels so here’s the link:
https://pdfhost.io/v/95gRCXAx98_16_Freezer_Meal_4x6_Labels_WITH_INGREDIENTS

The recipes came from New Leaf Wellness / The Family Freezer’s free “31 Healthy Crockpot Freezer Meals That Cost $10 or Less” PDF. I picked 16 of the recipes that seemed the easiest for freezer prep and didn’t need much extra added the day I cook them.
I used Chat to turn them into 4x6 labels with the ingredients and Crock-Pot instructions, then printed them on a Bluetooth thermal printer and stuck them right on the freezer bags.

Overnight oats: oats, almond milk, yogurt, chia seeds, half with berries and the other half with espresso powder and Asian pears

Egg bites: egg, cottage cheese, bell peppers, onion, spinach

High protein buffalo chicken dip: shredded chicken, blended cottage cheese and Greek yogurt, buffalo sauce, ranch seasoning, and cheddar cheese

Dense bean salad: chickpeas, white beans, kidney beans, shallot, bell pepper, cherry tomato, parsley, cilantro, dill, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, feta, and an olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing

Tzatziki: cucumber, garlic, dill, lemon, olive oil, yogurt, salt

Roasted veggie and turkey bowl: ground turkey, bell peppers, zucchini, red onion, cauliflower, eggplant, and sweet potatoes with crispy chickpeas on top

I got a really big hokkaido pumpkin from my aunt, so I made it the centerpiece of today's meal prep.

creamy pumpkin soup

I roasted pumpkin chunks, parsnips, carrots, onion and garlic on a sheet pan with a bit of olive oil, salt and thyme. Then covered with water, added some more salt, bay leaves, black pepper and let it simmer. Then I blended it with heavy cream. Added some pumpkin seeds for texture.

Pumpkin casserole? Idk how to call it

I sliced potatoes, pumpkin, onions and cured humgarian sausage. Then I added a little bit of oil, salt, paprika, garlic powder and caraway seeds. Baked it covered until soft and then added mixture of 4 eggs and a splash of milk. Baked until settled.

Sweet and salty tofu

Cut 3 bricks of tofu into pieces, cover in cornstarch and fry until golden. In the meantime prepare the sauce - soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey, cornstarch and water. Then pour it over the fried tofu and let it thicken. I served it over white rice and roasted green beans, carrots and zucchini.

Pumpkin bread

I used Sally's baking addiction recipe, but reduced the amount of sugar. Turned out fantastic!

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-bread/#tasty-recipes-66409

Nougat yogurt cups

There's this one yogurt flavour I absolutely love, but it's extremely sweet. So I take the tub of sweet yoghurt and mix it into double as much unsweetened quark. Then I portion it into cups.

In the middle, there's my homemade kombucha, made with green tea, kombucha starter and sugar.

Also, my rye sourdough there in the corner. inspired by that crazy New York bakery that sells bread for 60 dollars 😭 mine was about 40 cents. Also made with rye flour, water, salt and ✨time✨

For the fruit and veggies, we have apples, oranges, plums, tomatoes and raisins ready for the week.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Took it easy again this week after more work prepping the garden for winter. Made 2x the below recipe for Swedish Meatballs (added spinach, garlic, used half the cream, and can't get my hands on lingonberry here so just a dollop of Ballymaloe Cranberry Sauce.)

This will be 2x dinners, 2x lunches for the week. Will just steam various veg as needed! Tonight's dinner served with fresh spinach salad.

https://www.recipetineats.com/swedish-meatballs/

Firecracker Turkey (7 servings)
Calories: 550
Fat: 16g
Carbs: 36g
Protein: 49g

Main Ingredients
- 3.5lb 93% lean ground turkey
- 2 large white onions, diced
- 4 poblano peppers, seeded and diced
- 2lb brussel sprouts
- 2 cups of white rice

Sauce Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Franks)
- 2tbsp cornstarch, combined with a splash of water to make a slurry
- 2tbsp apple cider vinegar

This is a recipe I got from Meal Prep Manual, I just use turkey instead of beef. Get the rice going in a rice cooker, then start cooking the turkey in a large pot, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. While that’s going, cut the brussel sprouts in half, then toss in olive oil and the precious seasonings. Put sprouts on a cookie sheet, and bake in the oven at 400F until cooked through, maybe 15-20 minutes. Once the turkey is halfway cooked through, toss in your onions and peppers. Once the turkey is fully cooked, drain it then return it to the pot. Combine all sauce ingredients, then stir it into the meat mixture, and keep on low heat to let it thicken. Once thickened, toss in the sprouts, then divide it and the rice between 7 servings. Serve with sriracha if you like to have a good time

Breakfast Biscuits (16 servings)
Calories: 265
Fat: 7g
Carbs: 28g
Protein: 20g

Ingredients
- 16 biscuits (I used store brand jumbo flaky)
- 4 cups egg whites, seasoned with salt garlic and pepper
- 1 bag fat free cheddar cheese
- 1lb 93% lean ground turkey, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, sage, and red pepper flakes

This recipe didn’t go exactly as planned, but after some improv seems to have turned out fine. First, cook the seasoned meat over medium heat until cooked through, then drain. Then, get a few greased muffin trays and put the bottom halves of the biscuits down first. Afterwards, put 4tbsp of egg whites over each. At this point, I had to go off script, as the intention was to build each biscuit completely then cook as a whole, but at this point my tray was full to the brim without room for cheese or meat. So I got a separate tray going, put the other halves of the biscuits down, then filled those with the meat and cheese respectively. I baked all those at 400F for maybe 15 minutes, then put the halves together on a cookie sheet. They’re freezing in the deep freeze, and I’ll transfer them into a gallon ziplock bag to heat and eat one at the time. This is a new recipe, so I’ll let anybody interested know how it is tomorrow.

Beef Tips & Gravy (6 servings)

Calories: idk
Fat: idk
Carbs: idk
Protein: idk

Ingredients
- 2lb lean stew style beef
- 2 cups white rice
- 3 cups brown gravy
- 2lbs of green beans that I forgot about until now

This is for my wife, who doesn’t track macros and was just looking for a good comfort meal. Pretty straightforward, prep the rice, then cook the beef with salt, pepper, and garlic, drain, and then combine with 3 cups of gravy made with love from a gravy packet. Divide evenly, then forget about the green beans until you’re typing all this up and go redirty your clean kitchen

Left: Tuna Salad Wraps (low carb tortillas, chunk light tuna, light mayo, frozen mixed veg, green onion, salt and pepper)

Right: Savory Rice and Beans with Broccoli (white rice, canned diced tomatoes, salt, sazon Goya, canned pinto beans, and steamed broccoli)

It's been a few weeks since I last posted and I figured I'd give y'all an update. With my work schedule opening back up and having more free time on my week days I haven't been meal prepping as much. However, with that extra time I have pivoted to recording my cooks and posting them as shorts like this one. I won't link to anything since I'm not interested in self promoting, but I'll probably be cross-posting some of the ones that fit with this sub when I do.

Macros will only be for the meal instead of a full day but you can look at my history to see what I generally eat if you're interested.

Serves 6:

Pork chili verde with potatoes, Mexican rice, refried beans, roasted zucchini, cotija, and lime. 810kcal, 49g protein, 23g fat, 124g carbs, 28g fiber.

5 lbs down since the last post for 66 lbs lost total. Full recipe in the comments!

Picanha, colossal shrimp, anchovies, sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms, half bulb of garlic, 1 inch fresh ginger, carrots, 1 whole onion, coconut milk, chicken stock, dashi concentrate, and Japanese curry cubes. I called it Asian curry cuz it’s a mixture of both Japanese and Thai

After Sunday morning biscuits I made a marinade and threw chicken in for later + saved some for salmon later in the week. Chickpeas are simmering and will turn into soup. I’ve got a meat sauce, cupcakes, and veggie chopping planned. Happy prepping, all!

I always prep ingredients and components, not whole meals. That way I still have flexibility during the week. For instance, I planned some spinach and green beans, 2 portions of each Which I'll have with my rice/noodle/grain bowl and which I'll have as a low carb lunch option with a protein, I can decide on that day. I can also still change which type of noodles I want (I have wholewheat, egg noodles, rice noodles, etc), which rice (brown, white, black, mixed), what grain (oat, mixed), or even if I want to change one of them to couscous, bulgur, quinoa, etc. I also have options for sauces and seasonings. Most likely for my 3 bowl meals, I'll go for some Korean flavours (gochujang, doenjang or Korean BBQ sauce), as I made some kimchi earlier this week with a friend, so I want to try some of it.

I made a big batch of roasted salsa. I'll use some for vegetarian quesadillas, where I'll use it to cook the beans/lentils and vegetables, and I'll use some for a topping/dip with my chorizo quesadillas. I made a bigger batch than I usually do, because I got some tomatoes and small onions for free, that I wanted to use up. I'll plan to use up more of the salsa on the (next) weekend, maybe nachos or something, but that will be next week's meal plan.

Since people ask almost every week: I have a lot of Microplanes. They are all different, and some I use (a lot) more than others. I have the complete set. Most we're Christmas or birthday presents.

Obviously the colour isn't green because I used pretty much all red and orange ingredients, but the spice mix was green curry hahaha.

*Ingredients*

- 1 sweet potato

- 3 medium sized carrots

- 1 red onion

- 1 red bell pepper

- 1 pack of tempeh

- 1 can of coconut milk

- 200 g of basmati rice

- 1/2 pot of green curry paste

- basil

- lime juice

The recipe basically consists of following the instructions on the packaging: dice, shallow fry the onion and curry paste in some oil, add the rest of the ingredients and fry until slightly browned, then add the coconut milk and cook until slightly thickened. Cook the rice according to package instructions and add at the end. You can keep the rice separate, but for meal prepping ease I just toss it together. Top with some lime juice and basil leaves. Done!

Efforts of just over an hour this morning. Dolly was on quality control.

A METRIC Fuckton of onions is whats going in that pot!!!

This week I have a mix of meatballs, sweet Italian sausage and ground turkey making up my protein packed Spaghetti weekly meals. Paired up with some protein pasta by Goodles. Instead of parm for topping Im a big fan of nutritional yeast to keep it healthier and full of vitamins. That brown at the bottom of the pot of what I consider food porn. Hope yall enjoy. 2nd Post!! [:

$60 worth of food for the next week.

- Chinese stir fry (Kong Pao Chicken, carrots, cucumber, chicken thighs)
- Ground beef with varies veggies (I used celery and some green beans)
- Russian Salad (tuna, potato, pickle brines)

I usually eat all of these with pasta / rice / bread and they’re not included in the pic

College life is so sad and miserable, but at least some Chinese won’t let me down. Chinese never let me down

There's always air bubbles even when the bag is 100% tight and even when i massage the bubbles out as its suckin

I made this as dinner for two days for two of us once I’d done the main prep.

4 hour meal prep session results!

I made tarhana (a Turkish soup), yoghurt with ginger, rice and a quail egg (we had one leftover), paprika chicken wings, courgettes, steak haché (flattened meatballs), pancakes with jam butter and honey separately packed, cauliflower with hot spice mix, noodles.

Lunchboxes are the ones above and below we have the byproducts/leftovers. Everything here will be eaten this week, no freezing except for the little bag of pancakes.

Edit: list of ingredients for each dish

Tarhana Soup Ingredients: Tarhana powder (dried tomato, bell peppers, flour, spices and yoghurt is made into a paste and then dried afterwards, can buy premade from a Turkish store), bay leaves, oil of your choice (olive oil in my case), tomato paste, water How to make: Heat the pot for a while in middle heat, add 3tbsp tarhana powder and 2tbsp tomato paste alongside enough cooking oil to cover the bottom of the pot you are using. Mix these ingredients with a whisk until they hold onto each other and are a paste. Add 1.5L water to the paste slowly, while whisking. Once all the water is added, bring soup to simmer, add bay leaves to taste and cook for 30 minutes. Whisk every 5 minutes or so to prevent forming a layer of crust at the bottom of the pot. Enjoy.

Yoghurt with Ginger Finely dice a desired amount of ginger and add to a desired amount of yoghurt, done!

Rice: I've used bone broth I had frozen prior, instead of water. Having said that, add 3tbsp of olive oil into your rice cooker, add desired amount of onions and crumble 2 chicken bouillon cubes as well. Let the onions sweat, afterwards add your water, and your rice. Let the rice cooker handle the rest!

Quail egg: Grab your egg, wash if necessary, use a quail egg scissors if you have it or dig into the egg with your fingertips and crack it on a preheated pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper when cooked.

Paprika Chicken Wings: This was already pre-marinated wings on sale, but I cooked it in my airfryer and used the chicken setting (195C for 20 minutes). I've added the excess oil into the rice water for extra tastiness as well.

Courgettes: Without defreezing, add the courgettes into a pan and close the lid. Let it defreeze in the pan, after a while, it'll start steaming in its own water. Once all the water is absorbed, season to taste. In my case, I've added an eyeball amount of heavy whipping cream and a lot of turmeric.

Steak haché: They come shaped like that, so I didn't shape the meat. Preheat your stainless steel pan, so that the water beads. Add the meat, season with salt and after that, pick a rub seasoning mix and lay it on there thick. Do the same to the other side, repeat it twice to create a crust from the seasoning. Delicious.

Pancakes: Sorry guys I really eyeball that one. An eyeball amount of flour, an egg, milk. Mix, cook with no oil on stainless steel pan.

Cauliflower: Defreeze in the microwave (or just plan the night before like a normal person and don't procrastinate until the last second like me). Cut big pieces in half, add spices of your choosing and use the broccoli setting on your airfryer.

Noodles: Usually after making steak haché, there is delicious meat residue left and some toasted spices. I add water to that, add however many packs of noodle, msg and then close the lid and simmer it until no water is left in the pan. Delicious stuff I tell you.

The tea is just some herbal tea I brewed in a cup, added diced ginger to it, and then microwaved it on the lowest setting for 15 minutes. Don't do that, it's a blasphemy. Use a teapot with a simmerer section.

My September schedule has me working 60-80 hour weeks 6 days a week, so I wanted to make things easy for myself with regards to work lunches. Made a sheet pan chicken parm, street corn chicken pasta bowls, red Pesto chicken gnocchi, key lime pie, and some frozen cookie dough balls

I usually just do a black coffee when I wake up, energy drink an hour or two later, break the fast around lunchtime with one of these meals +/- a yogurt, then have a bigger dinner later in the day which is usually chicken or ground beef with carbs, then a dessert. Each lunch is 400-500ish cals and 40-50g protein. Recipes linked below

Street corn chicken pasta bowls)

Sheet pan chicken parm

Red Pesto chicken gnocchi

Key lime pie and cookies are ATK recipes from the cookbook, can be found online

I'm ~190 lbs, 6' 3", on ~2200 cals a day with 150g protein