The answer: preparation. When you don’t bring your lunch to work, you are tempted to hit up fast food. When you don’t have anything ready when you get home and are starving, you tear into a bag of chips. We’ve all been there before.
Sunday evening was the first time in a while I had 1-2 hours in the kitchen to prep food for the week. Here is what I did to have for the week.
Cook a grain
I cooked 2 cups of brown rice. I can use this as a side dish, part of a stir-fry, or in a casserole. Other great grains are quinoa, whole wheat pasta and whole wheat couscous.
A few friends had recommended buying a rice cooker and they turned out to be spot on. This guy makes cooking rice so much easier.
Cook a protein
Today I cooked tofu, but other great options are chicken and black bean burgers. Tofu can be delicious if you prepare it right. First, cut firm or extra-firm tofu into pieces and put it on a paper towel, on a plate.
Next, top them with paper towels, another plate and something heavy. This squeezes out extra moisture.
Then marinate! I used a mix of a peanut sauce, soy sauce and red pepper flakes.
Let sit for about 20 minutes. Bake at 400* for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through, until crispy on both sides.
I can use the tofu for salads, sandwiches and in a stir-fry.
Cook vegetables, lots and lots of vegetables
I roasted a bunch of veggies at 400* (for varying times for certain vegetables). I chose broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper, and zucchini. I tossed them with a little olive oil, salt and Mrs. Dash Lemon & Pepper seasoning.
I also roasted some eggplant (salted first to take away bitterness, then rinsed the salt and sprayed with some olive oil spray).
And I couldn’t resist fresh corn at the grocery store, so I boiled some of that too!
These veggies will be great side dishes or as part of main dishes for my meals this week.
Do you ever cook a batch of food to last you all week? What are your favorite foods to cook ahead of time?
I don’t cook batches of food to last all week, but many times at dinner we deliberately cook enough to have leftovers. That corn looks delicious!
I’m definitely not as organized as you with it, but I do love to prepare grains to have all week since those tend to take a long time to cook. I’m impressed with your prep!
Sunday food prep is one of my favorite things. I love roasting up veggies, cooking a batch of brown rice (sometimes I’ll do millet or buckwheat) and chopping up some fresh veggies as well. It means I get to be creative for dinners and also throw together quick and healthy lunches!
I tend to make my lunches M-W and then again for Thur-Fri. It makes life so much easier during the week!
I do similar things to prep food for the week. I’ll cook a ton of quinoa or brown rice, lentils, whatever I have that I know I can just throw fresh veggies with and have a filling meal. It definitely helps to save time a lot.
haha…i don’t really cook so no, i’ve never thought to make stuff ahead of time
i’ve been meaning to eat more tofu though, i’ve just been lacking in ideas. thanks for sharing, i’m totally gonna steal this recipe 
I try to do this, but more recently I’ve been leaning towards healthy things that are easy to prepare on the spot. Since I don’t keep chips in the house, I don’t have much choice but to make something healthy! (although hummus and veggies gets old after a while…) I’m wondering though – do these foods stay fresh in the fridge all week? I find that rice goes bad really quickly for me.
The rice started to get hard after 2 days so I put it into the casserole. I ended up eating most of it by Wednesday night (between me and my husband) but I think the tofu would have lasted all week – I find it gets tastier after a few days since the flavors soak up!