Food prep for long work days?

How many of you food prep for long work days? What do you prep? I'm thinking I need to start putting together my snacks and lunch fahead of time for a quick grab and go in the mornings. Looking for some up to 20g protein ideas that will last up to a week prepped in the fridge. I typically eat breakfast while driving to work as I leave at 6am. Most night we don't get home until after 6pm. My daughter is pretty good at having dinner ready when we walk through the door. It's the rest of my day that is a challenge.

Instead of prepping a week in advance, could you just box up your next day's lunch when taking care of dinner leftovers?

With 3 teenagers and my husband we usually don't have leftovers. I'm really wanting to prep 5 containers or bags of what my food is for the day while I'm at work so I'm not going down to the cafeteria and making unhealthy choices. I prep my husbands lunches that way because he's doing medifast so he just grabs his bag out of the fridge and puts it in his lunchbox and heads out the door. It's the easiest way we have found to keep him on track.

Gotcha.

It's hard to know what to recommend, since I don't know what you like to eat. My lunches are often just.. sliced meat :)

I'm 18 months out and in maintenance, as a reference.

I personally don't week-long food prep because if I'm not feeling it for some reason I end up wasting food. I do keep around things that are easy to grab. Lunch is almost always leftovers from the night before. I also keep frozen chicken breasts in the freezer that I can pop straight into the oven to make chicken for chicken salad. I also keep packages of pre-cooked chicken sausage in the freezer for quick meats to grab for lunch. Deli meat/cheese/pickles is another common option.

In addition to that, I keep:

• Hardboiled eggs
• String Cheese
• Pork Rinds
• Nuts/Seeds
• Cheese Whisps
• Jerky
• Greek Yogurt
• 100% dark chocolate
• Pickles

I make a large dinner and box up lunches for myself and 5 kids before I even serve the dinner. Nobody is allowed to eat it til lunchtime the next day.

Try Costco. They have a variety of precooked protein options that you can grab and go. My favorite lately are the West End Cuisines chicken skewers. Good cold or 30 seconds in microwave if you prefer hot food. I also pull them off the sticks and place on top of salad greens. Like all ready to eat food choices, label checking a must for high sugar ingredients. I like Erin's list idea of grab and go foods.

Prepping is the #1 habit that I attribute to continued success. I think timing, quantity prepped etc have to fit into your lifestyle. For me, my life can often be hectic and unpredictable (which I think applies to many of us) - so I don't always know if/when I'll have time, which could leave me in a lurch.

What I do to accommodate this is to prep in large batches, then freeze in individual containers (and label of course!). I usually have 2-3 weeks worth of food in my freezer. Then I just grab what I need for lunches, and if I'm in a pinch for dinner (or don't feel like cooking), I grab one of these meals as well.

Much of the food I cook lends itself well to freezing. If I am feeling like something that doesn't lend itself to freezing, then I make that for dinner some night, and use it for lunches/dinners that wee****il it's gone.

I am happy to give you examples of what I like to make, but as I eat a Whole Food Plat Based diet it is not well aligned with the plan most of the bariatric community follows, so may not apply to you as it's a lot higher in carbs (not refined) than most like to consume.

I also eat a lot of gigantic salads for lunch during the summer months when produce is plentiful, delicious and relatively inexpensive. For those I chop everything up for the week, and put it into individual containers (even the greens, which I wash, chop and place in a freezer bag or two). I do this, and a salad that is pre-assembled often does not hold up well. Then each night when I come home, I take the container I used that day, and refill it with salad for the next day. Takes about 1-2 minutes to assemble my salad.

My salads generally include:

• Greens (some combination of romaine, kale, spinach or other leafy greens)
• Beans (generally chickpeas or black beans)
• Fruit (grapes, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)
• Veggies (onions, peppers, cucumbers)
• Mushrooms (I pre-saute these a pound at a time, usually good for the week)

I also make my own dressings and load them into re-usable containers, leaving one at work (if not possible, it can be transported daily). My current favorite dressing is made by blending an orange, a couple of TBSP of apple cider vinegar, couple of TBSP of water, a 1/4 cup tahini and some salt.

Bottom line is that your schedule and what you like to eat will dictate how and when you prep. But I would strongly encourage you to find something that works for you as I think it is just another tool that is very powerful in enabling longer term success. I've been at it about 2.5 years now and it works for me!

I am a little farther out than you, but I got back into meal prepping in advance some time ago and I find it critical to continued success (as well as saving my sanity in the morning when trying to run out the door).

I generally meal prep on the weekend. So I do my grocery shopping with the meal plan for the week in mind. I have been doing a lot of chicken lately, and I love Asian cuisine so it tends towards teriyaki chicken (or shrimp, or some type of fish). I take a huge casserole dish, dumps in 8-10 chicken thighs (probably about 4 oz each), add a ton of veggies (usually fresh, sometimes frozen) and top it with a sauce. Cook and then portion for the week (1-2 thighs depending on the size). I do this on Sunday with enough through Friday and the meals last all week. Rinse and repeat :) I don't know what you like, but you can probably vary this idea with little trouble.

I can easily grab a pre-portioned container in the morning, along with my snacks (which tend to be fruit, honestly) and go pretty quickly. It's high in protein, low in carbs, and low in calories but tend to be quite filling because the veggies add volume. I change the veggies to keep it interesting. I also sometimes separately roast other veggies and take them as a side or a snack, or for dinner during the week.

Hope that helps!

I find myself on the road for lots of driving several days a week. Food prep for those days is heavy on things like beef jerky and protein bars. Depending on the weather (i.e. hot hot it will get) I also pack premeasured bags of meat and cheese. This requires either cooler weather or enough forethought to prep the insulated bag with ice blocks.

At home, we like to make large quantities of things like chicken salad, chili, pork or beef roasts, etc, that are easy to measure out. Some of these lend themselves well to going out the door for travel or work. Some don't. Pretty much everything is high protein, low carb.