Would like to start meal prepping my lunches.
What meat/cuts of meat do you like and how do you initially prepare it so it can be microwaved later without becoming dry?

Lately I've been picking up a whole rotisserie chicken from Sams Club and shredding it. The meat tastes good cold in a salad or reheated.
I get a little more than a half gallon ziplock bag full which lasts me about a week. I have a small kitchen at the office with an air fryer and toaster oven so I get to cook anything else fresh.

Soups, stews, sauces.

Covering the plate with plastic wrap with a few holes poked and using the reheat seating on the microwave.

Don’t cook the meat too hot in the first place so there’s some room to reheat it while it’s still juicy. As an example, I pulled an 8lb sirloin tip roast from the smoker at 135 degrees, and it reached 140 by dinner. What we didn’t eat, I sliced it and put in the fridge. Heat a slice in a pan and put it on buttered toasted bread with some cheese. The butter keeps the juices from soaking into the bread. Great sandwich.

Been meal prepping for about 6 months now. I usually do chicken with some sort of side dish. 95% of the time I make my chicken in my crock pot and then add a side dish, like white rice, buttered noodles, or flavored rice from a package.

My meal prepping started when I was changing my eating habits/losing weight. After 1 year, I'm down 85 pounds and now at the maintaining phase. I have kept up with the meal prepping because it really helps me for 2 reasons: it keeps me fed with a well-balanced meal, is low in calories, and it's cheap. My meals for this week cost me around $18 for 5 meals.



This week's meal is chicken with cream of chicken soup and Italian soup (dry packet) in the crock pot on low for 8 hours with the chicken flavored rice. It is delicious and very moist.

I got those containers from WM - they came in a package with 10 for around $10. I wash and re-use them weekly.

Trying to save money and lose about 35 lbs.

Red meat anyone???

Chicken breast here. We make a bunch up on Sunday and pack it up with veggies for lunches all week.

Pulled pork and carnitas come to mind.

I’ve been throwing an extra chicken on the Traeger and shredding it. Separate into sandwich bags and freeze. Prep mean’s throwing a wrap along with an individual guacamole pack in the lunch bucket along with the bird. Rob a bit of lettuce from the salad and it’s fresh wrap time.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Trying to save money and lose about 35 lbs.

Red meat anyone???

I can usually find chuck eye roast for around $4.47/lb. I will dice it into chunks for burnt ends. A decent roast will give me 4 steaks. When they sell it thinly cut, I will pound it with a tenderizer to get minute steaks. Tri-tip is another cut that I can find on mark down and it's immediately in my basket. Souvide, a cast iron pan and an airfryer are my current tools for turning those tougher cheaper cuts into butter.

I would recommend looking up Josh Cortis on YouTube (I think he has a website as well). Tons of meal prep recipes of about every variety you can want.

I meal prep but I maintain a pretty strict diet and eat every 3 hours. My prep consist almost entirely of chicken breast, ground turkey, and occasionally 93% lean ground beef. It isn’t exciting but healthy and gives me the nutritional value I need.

Red meat. If you want salad, have chicken.

For the record I don't use a microwave. I'll eat it cold first. Not saying I'm right, just stubborn.

I prep a few lbs of taco meat at all times. Generally don't eat tacos, no cheese, avocado here and there with it. I never get tired of it, and can eat lbs of it. Body almost craves it. Been that way since a kid.

As a lifter, taco meat and white rice was a staple I could eat multiple times daily and love it. Rooster sauce is in the mix.

And SigSentry is right on with the Chuck Eye Roast, or better yet, Chuck Eye Steak. Solid buys and cheap, especially marked down since no one buys it around here, hell I saw about 10 options today marked down to about the price he quoted. Also spot on point on the Tri Tip.

I don't do anything crazy. Slow cook for the roast usually, everything else gets the stovetop pan and Tony Checheres. Never gets old.

Cooking a whole chicken in the slow cook and pulling that apart is fun and lasts a few days. Rotisserie is good too, I like the organs though and don't always find em in those pre cooked birds.

Hard boiled eggs make a good quick snack. A dozen at a time is no sweat.

Honorable mention for ground turkey taco meat. My body loves it. Not as fulfilling as beef, bison, elk, etc ground taco meat. But it is lighter feeling if that makes sense. All good, not bad.

Nuts are a great option you can carry. High calorie, fair warning.

I get free meals at work so not really an issue with me, but something good that I've taken in the past is a steak salad. Slice up a grilled steak and mix with your greens. Add some cherry tomatoes, grated fresh Parm, whatever else you like in a salad, and drizzle on some homemade vinaigrette. Throw it in a bowl with a lid and it'll stay good for hours until lunchtime.

Used to take in meatloaf a lot back when I worked nights. Throw in some mashed potatoes and/or spaghetti squash, and it heats up easily in the nuker. Or just make some meatloaf sandwiches with sliced onion.

I'm a half-ass meal prepper.

I generally prep my breakfasts for the week on Sunday, using various oatmeal bakes or breakfast casseroles. (I'm not a morning person, but want to get a decent meal in me to start the day, so meal prepping allows me to do that with minimal effort.)

But I don't fully meal prep other meals. Instead, I tend to prepare a large amount of meat on the weekend (like grilling a bunch of chicken breasts/thighs, smoking a pork butt, smoking a tri-tip, etc.) and that premade meat can then be used as an easy base for a bunch of different meals.

Or, during the winter, I make large pots of soups/stews on a regular basis, and have plenty of leftovers.

quote:

Originally posted by Garret Blaine:
I would recommend looking up Josh Cortis on YouTube (I think he has a website as well). Tons of meal prep recipes of about every variety you can want.

I use his breakfast meal prep recipes a lot. In fact, I made his apple pie baked oatmeal for breakfast this week.

https://mealprepmanual.com/apple-pie-baked-oatmeal/

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
Tri-tip is another cut that I can find on mark down and it's immediately in my basket.

I'm a big fan of tri-tip. Kinda like lazy man's brisket. Smoking a 2-3 pound tri-tip takes under 2 hours, and provides enough meat for 4-8 meals.

quote:

Originally posted by Slippery Pete:

Hard boiled eggs make a good quick snack. A dozen at a time is no sweat.

I can eat 50 eggs.

For beef, the sirloin tip roast I mentioned earlier at Sam’s Club for $3.50 a pound. It was very lean and my first time cooking it. I should have spent more time trimming the connective tissues out, otherwise the meat was tender and tasty. Next time I’ll cube some for stew. We cut some of the slices into strips last night for fajitas. Could also be used for stir fry.

Costco and Sam’s both have a smoked and packaged refrigerated Pulled Pork. They’re about 2 pounds a pack. $10 to $12 or so.

The ingredient label is about 3 items: pulled pork, salt and something else can’t recall right this moment. Not a lot of added crap you can’t pronounce. Quite healthy.

I buy it, portion it, and microwave it when I want it. All you need is a fork.

Costco also has a delicious precooked ham, I can’t recall the package name. Slice or chunk pieces up and go with it.
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Been doing it for 25 years. Goes with the turf lifting weights every night and being healthy. You might try Factor meals for a month to get solid ideas for entrees.

I do a lot of apple/grilled chicken salads. And a lot of fish and rice. Chicken or fish with a sweet potato also. All microwave well provided you keep any lettuce and fruit cold. My soft igloo for each day at work has 3 meals in it as I eat every 3 hours and breakfast is a 700 calorie protein shake.

Easy to do and don’t even think about it anymore. I cook every day and always make at least a 2nd meals then pack in Tupperware.

I had to go to a work dinner last week and I know I’m indoctrinated when I got zero enjoyment out of the high end steak house. I would have rather been at the gym.