Southern Mom Loves: Start Your Week off Easy by Food Prepping

Start Your Week off Easy by Food Prepping

Monday, May 15, 2017

This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Rubbermaid®.

By now you've probably heard of food prepping. It's a method of performing tedious food prep while you have the extra time so you can reap the benefits when you don't. I've done this quite a bit with freezer cooking and it is a godsend. You may have seen those impressive posts where someone completes a week or month's worth of meals in one day and thought it looked like too much trouble, but you don't have to go to the extreme, or even do it regularly. If you know you have a busy week or few days coming up, you can prep a few meals or a lot to help save your sanity.


Do you like the crystal-clear meal prep containers I'm using? Keep reading to get the chance to win a set of them for yourself! [GIVEAWAY CLOSED]

It doesn't have to be complicated. You can do lunches only, dinners only, or breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a few days. That's what I'm doing here and I'll walk you through and give you some ideas.


FYI, the containers I'm using are the new Rubbermaid BRILLIANCE and I love them so much. They're high-quality stain- and odor-resistant food storage containers that are crystal-clear from every angle. They're guaranteed 100% leakproof with an airtight seal.


Do you see the black rim on the lids? Airtight. They're also BPA-free and are designed with innovative vents that allow microwaving with the lid on and latches open to help reduce splatters. 


They're designed to be modular and space efficient in five sizes that all stack together. You can buy them separately or in sets depending on which sizes you use the most. Find out more about them here and keep reading to the end of the post to enter to win the same 10-piece set of Rubbermaid storage containers with lids that I'm using!


I've got a crazy few weeks coming up, so I thought I would save myself some time by prepping a few breakfasts, lunches, and dinners on a Sunday to help start my week off more easily. You can make the same thing over and over or make a different recipe for each day, your call! I'm making a brown sugar soaked oats with diced strawberries on top for my breakfasts. I'll give you the recipe for each serving and you can make as many days as you like.


Breakfast: Strawberry Brown Sugar Soaked Oats
Servings: 1

Ingredients:
  • 1 c. instant oats (can use steel-cut also, but it will need to be microwaved in the morning)
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar (or to your taste)
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 c. milk (cow, soy, almond, whatever)
  • 1 large strawberry, diced

Directions:
  1. Mix together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon, then add the milk and stir well.
  2. Scoop into your container and top with the diced strawberry.
  3. Refrigerate overnight in an airtight container.
  4. Can be eaten cold (if using instant oats, they will soak up the milk for a cold cereal) or warmed in the microwave for approx. 2 minutes.


soaked oats, overnight oats, strawberry, brown sugar,
Breakfasts, Main Dishes,
American
Yield: 2
Author:

Strawberry Brown Sugar Soaked Oats

Strawberry Brown Sugar Soaked Oats

An easy brown sugar soaked oats with diced strawberries on top for breakfasts.

ingredients:

  • 1 c. instant oats (can use steel-cut also, but it will need to be microwaved in the morning)
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar (or to your taste)
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 c. milk (cow, soy, almond, whatever)
  • 1 large strawberry, diced

instructions:

How to cook Strawberry Brown Sugar Soaked Oats

  1. Mix together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon, then add the milk and stir well.
  2. Scoop into your container and top with the diced strawberry.
  3. Refrigerate overnight in an airtight container.
  4. Can be eaten cold (if using instant oats, they will soak up the milk for a cold cereal) or warmed in the microwave for approx. 2 minutes.
Calories
250.90
Fat (grams)
3.86
Sat. Fat (grams)
1.22
Carbs (grams)
45.38
Fiber (grams)
4.46
Net carbs
40.92
Sugar (grams)
17.91
Protein (grams)
9.54
Sodium (milligrams)
59.34
Cholesterol (grams)
6.10
This nutritional info is automatically generated from a database and may not represent the actual nutritional information of the ingredients you use.
Created using The Recipes Generator


Lunch: Salad Variations


You can grab a large bag of prepared salad greens and make your favorite salad every day or change them up for a different taste.

Variations:
  • American - carrots, tomato, broccoli + ranch dressing
  • Antipasto - pepperoni, onion, tomato, olives, mozzarella, pepperoncini + Italian dressing
  • Cobb - tomato, bacon, chicken, hard-boiled egg, avocado, Roquefort cheese + red-wine vinaigrette
  • Caesar - croutons + Caesar dressing
  • Nicoise - tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, olives, anchovies + drizzle olive oil to dress

I'm using little dressing cups, but you don't have to, just stack your ingredients. Place your dressing in the bottom, then ingredients like cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, broccoli florets, olives, etc. would go in the dressing, then your salad greens would get stacked on top, out of the wet dressing. When you're ready to eat, just shake it up. It's not possible for all of the variations, but you do you. ;)


Dinner: Whatever you have planned :)


There are lots of ways to prep dinners. You can make them ahead completely, then store them in the fridge or freezer to be reheated later. You can prep an entire meal to be cooked later, including the meats, which works great for an easy start to crockpot meals in the mornings. You can also just do the PITA prep ahead of time for quick cooking or assembly at dinnertime (which is what I'm doing here.)


For this method, I'm pre-chopping all of the veggies for quick veggie fajitas. All I'll have to do is saute them and add seasonings before piling the mix on little flour tortillas. 

You could also just prep your most commonly-used ingredients. For instance, if you use a lot of onions in your cooking, dice or slice up a few so you'll have them on hand to add to your recipes. This would work with lots of veggies like peppers, carrots, broccoli, garlic, or ginger, or you could pre-cook meats like chicken breasts to be sliced or diced into a dish. 

What do you like to cook with most? Would it keep in the fridge for a few days? If yes, then you can prep it. :)



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I hope this was helpful and inspires you to try food prepping for yourself. To help one of my readers get into the spirit, Rubbermaid is sponsoring a giveaway for a 10-piece set of their awesome BRILLIANCE food storage containers with lids!


Giveaway begins on 5/15/17 at 1:00 am CST and ends on 6/5/17 at 11:59 pm CST. Must be 18 years or older, open to US residents only (void where prohibited.) I will email the winner; The winner will have 24 hours to claim or I will redraw. Once winners are confirmed, they will be added to the Winner's List here



Disclaimer: Southern Mom Loves was compensated for this post. No purchase is necessary to enter. One entrant per household, per IP address. All entries will be verified. Void where prohibited by law. Winner will be contacted by email; Please add southernmomloves@gmail.com to your whitelist. SheSpeaks will be responsible for prize delivery to the winner. This giveaway is in no way administered, sponsored, endorsed by, or associated with Facebook and/or Twitter, Google, Pinterest, or any other social media platform.

Contact Holly at southernmomloves@gmail.com if you have any additional questions or comments, or would like Southern Mom Loves to organize your next giveaway.



Have you ever tried food prepping? What do you like best about the Rubbermaid BRILLIANCE containers? I love to read your comments!

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