Making my Own Meal Prep Service!

 As I mentioned recently, after trying 3 different meal delivery services, I still wasn’t completely happy. You can read more about that in this blog post; the crux of it is in this paragraph: 

My goal as a home cook: Cook delicious, healthy food that doesn’t taste “healthy.” I want meals that appeal to the senses, including looking pretty. As a self-trained home cook, plating is a learning curve for me. As far as macro nutrients go, for my family we strive for high protein, high fiber and “regular” sized servings of carbs. 

I started thinking about how I could cook our “regular” food with the convenience and sumptuousness of the delivery services. I already use curbside for my groceries; I haven’t been inside the grocery store in 3 months. Here was my brainstorm:  I struck a deal with my hubby (Paul.) On Saturday we will pick up all the food for the week (which will be 6 meals) and he will help me sort and pre-prep it on Saturday evening.

Know that I'm coming to you as a former "once-a-month-cooking expert." I don't do that now mostly because the food that I was able to serve back then with 5 growing children is not the same as what's needed in a house with 4 adults. In other words, I know how to prep meals and prepare ahead of time to cook, so Paul was pretty surprised when I asked/volun-told him that his help was essential. He's a good sport though, and agreed without complaint.

I then set out to plan a week of waistline-friendly–in my case, Weight Watchers friendly– but still delicious meals. I followed the usual pattern of meals: Meatless Monday, Taco–TexMex–Tuesday, eat-out Wednesday, Pasta Thursday, Fish Friday, and then whatever strikes my fancy on Saturday and Sunday. Sundays are usually kept pretty simple as I am often making lunches for the work week on Sundays. (If you want to know more about why I follow a pattern, read this post.)

I thought about what supplies I would need to make this all come together. I ordered some disposable portion cups in ¼ and ½ cup size and jumbo zip locks to make storage easier (plus the huge zip locks can be reused). It occurred to me that I will have to empty the fridge a bit to make room for SIX meals when
we’ve only been storing  3 pre-packaged kits. Depending on the week, I may have to freeze some of the meat to keep it fresh enough. That’s fine. 

I ordered only the groceries for those specific meals–not our staples, milk, bread, etc.-- so I can more fairly compare the price. The grocery bill was $132 for 6 meals including main dish and side veggies. I bought the brands (mostly name brand) I would normally buy and didn’t look at the total until I placed the curbside order. For this week, at least, it is about half the cost of the services since we got twice as many meals out of it.

Looking back at my review of the meal service recipes, there are two main components I wanted to incorporate: sauces and seasonings.  A big part of the convenience is in the seasonings. The seasonings are already mixed for you and you don’t have to have a bunch of individual ingredients, or dig them out of your pantry and measure them. I have noticed that if the mix is “taco seasoning,” without a label, it will taste EXACTLY like most people think taco seasoning should taste. That’s what makes this all easier than it seems. 

Ditto for the sauces; most of them are put together with some sort of “base,” like chicken base, water and some sort of creamy addition, either actual cream or sour cream. For that reason, I decided to add a few mixes and bases to my pantry. These things are expensive on the surface because they contain multiple applications so they are not included in my grocery bill for next week. 

Things I added to the pantry. 

Here’s what I purchased and I am keeping them all together in a plastic basket (For the pantry staples). I have decided to make a designated area of the fridge for the refrigerated items I will be using for seasonings and sauces so I can easily grab whatever I need. Most of these brands are the exact brands I received in packets from the meal service companies so I feel pretty confident in my ability to put those amazing sauces together. The 

Spiceology Smoky Honey Habanero Seasoning

 is fire (ha,ha.). Well worth the price. 

There are a few other things I know I will use that are already in my stock ingredients:

Refrigerator go-tos. 

Pantry Staples

Freezer Must-Haves

Okay. That's the plan. On Meal-Plan Monday, I'll post the story of how it worked out!

Memorial Day Eats and a quick Catch Up

Memorial Day Eats and a Quick Catch Up

I haven't posted in over 2 years! Wow! Shortly after my last post, Mom got sick and by July, she was gone. I have been thinking about her so much the last couple of days because my parents ALWAYS cooked something special for Memorial Day and I hardly ever have. I've only stepped it up since my folks moved down here in 2019.

So . . . last week I did a LOT of celebrating -- my graduation with my M.Ed, the kids finishing school, and today, Tink turned 18. So even though I wanted special food for Memorial Day, I needed it Weight Watchers friendly.

Did I mention I've lost 50 pounds in the past 12 months?  Yup. Still losing; I have about 20 to go. So here is my kind of crazy WW-friendly Menu for Memorial day. 9 Points total !! 

• Almost BBQ Chicken  - this one is the long game, start w/ sous vide, dry and cool, then end with air fryer - 1 point if you remove the skin before eating. 
•     WW's Easy Pasta Salad (on app) (4 points)  I add celery for zero points. 
•     WW's Air Fryer Corn Ribs (on app) (2 points) 
•     2 Point Strawberry Dream Cups - adapted from a Facebook post - super simple 

       PREP: 

1. Place muffin cups into cupcake pan - silicone are amazing 
2. Crush up 1/2 (2 rectangles) of Chocolate Graham cracker
3. Put graham crackers into muffin cups 
4. Make 1 recipe of Dream Whip
   
5. Mix 1 - .03 oz. packet of Sugar-Free Strawberry Jello into the Dream Whip
6. Cut up as many fresh strawberries as you like
7. Add to the Dream Whip
8. Fill muffin cups
9. Enjoy!

   This whole meal is only 9 points, provided you take the skin off whatever chicken you eat! I leave the skin on for cooking as it makes it so much moister and more flavorful. My family really loves the beautiful crispy BBQ skin so . . . it's worth the little bit of extra work and time. It's still MUCH easier than actually grilling it!

It was SO delicious that I decided I could re-run the whole menu for Independence Day.  Maybe with a green salad and some blueberries added to the dessert. 

Of course, you grillers could actually grill instead of air fry, but you know me -- I love cooking in the A/C!

No pics this time. We gobbled it up so quickly. 

We Compared 3 Popular Meal Delivery Services

 

We Compared 3 Popular Meal Delivery Services

Here's what we loved. . . and did not love

I'm a working mom and currently, a student. I need to put fast, delicious meals on the table most days of the week. That's what led us to try meal delivery services.

My family tried 3 of the 5 best known meal preparation services and here is our experience. To summarize in case you don't want to read the whole chart, they were all easy to prepare but Home Chef was more difficult to read or follow. The freshest food was from Hello Fresh. The best tasting meat was from Blue Apron. The least amount of veggies was in Home Chef and it was also the least flavorful. They all had way too many carbs. Bottom line, if I was choosing today, it would be Hello Fresh, although Blue Apron was a close second. (Chart at the end of the post).

When we returned from our vacation, between Home Chef and Blue Apron trials, we had a week of cooking the “usual” way. This made me happy as our weight needed to recover a bit from overeating on vacation. Following that vacation, we had 2 weeks of Blue Apron. 

It's probably important to mention here that I am currently a member of Weight Watchers and I've had great success in the past year - 50 lbs. down. I normally serve published portions of carbs to my family – 1 cup of pasta, half a cup of rice, etc. All three meal services serve 2 to 3 times that. amount. I’ll say this, you are never hungry afterward. I can only eat a half-serving of these meals. I also serve higher fiber when possible; it’s so good for your heart. That’s why the Blue Apron trial lasted only 2 weeks.

Here’s the thing. With the exception, in my opinion, of Home Chef, these meals are DELICIOUS. The reason they are so good: excellent seasoning and sauces plus full fat ingredients adds up to yummy. My buddy CHAT GPT made you this graphic:

It’s not just the convenience that sells people on these services, although they are  VERY convenient. The simple instructions, the sauces made with 2 or 3 prepackaged (delicious) ingredients, and the full flavor you get with all of those plus fat is what sells. Suddenly, a homemade meal literally tastes and looks like a restaurant meal. All 3 tell you how to present the meal because we “eat with our eyes” first. Plus, most of the meals can be put together in the time it takes to drive to a restaurant and be seated. Arguably, the cost is also lower than a restaurant meal. So, what to do? 

My goal as a home cook: Cook delicious, healthy food that doesn’t taste “healthy.” I want meals that appeal to the senses, including looking pretty. As a self-trained home cook, this is a learning curve for me. As far as macro nutrients go, for my family we strive for high protein, high fiber and “regular” carbs.

The first night of the 2nd week of Blue Apron, I came up with a plan that gives us everything we want, with only a little more work on my part. That’s fodder for the next installment!

Category/Numerical	Hello Fresh (HF)	Home Chef	Blue Apron.
Weeks Tried and why - 3 meals per week on average	We started here so we ran a 12 week trial because it was all pretty good - 38 meals	We did a 3 week trial for fairness but would not have renewed - 9 meals	2 week trial  - it was fine but  . . . well, read the blog post!
Average Cost for us including shipping. All were 4 servings, 3 meals a week.	$150/week  - included 0.5 “premium” meals per week. 3 meals plus a 2 serving snack or dessert.	$140/week  Inc. 2 premium meals in the 3 week trial; 3 meals per week.	$139; I bought these al a carte so no extras but 1.5 premiums per week.
Taste	Very good! There were a few things not preferred for personal preference but excellent seasonings and sauces	It was just ‘lacking” in some way. Not bad, by any stretch, just nothing amazing. The sauces were just okay. Seasonings fine. Teens asked me to go back to HF.	It was delicious and simple. Very similar to Hello Fresh.
0 to 5 (worst/perfect)	4.75	3.5	4.9
Freshness of Ingredients	The ingredients were fresh 90% of the time. I had one small package of herbs I’d consider “past it’s prime" but it was still useable.	We had some issues here. In our 12 meals, 3 had spoiling produce; 2 of those could be salvaged.	We had 2 issues.The veg tends to be a little “on the edge.” For our first box we cooked all 3 recipes in 4 days and yet 2 meals still  had “gone” produce.
0 to 5 (worst/perfect)	4.9	4	3
Durability (could it still be cooked safely on the 7th day after delivery)	I cooked 11 meals on the 7th day. All were perfect.	Major downside: has to be cooked by the 4th day, so you have to cook them all day after day and then figure the rest of the week.	They don’t state how fast you need to cook it, but I’d be surprised if it held up past 5 days. It’s just not as fresh, which might be due to the produce being more prepped, so it’s a tradeoff.
0 to 5 (worst/perfect)	5	1	4
Quality of ingredients Quantified by an average of 3 MAJOR ingredients in each meal and then one point for the minor ingredients. So each meal could have a max score of 20.	My only “beef” with HF is the beef. The steak items have a “livery” taste about half the time. The burger is great. No one else in my family tasted this. You may not notice! I just order my steak from the grocery store instead.	The ingredient quality was fine. I already addressed produce in freshness. Packaging impacted my rating here; many ingredients were pre-sliced or prechopped which speeds prep but impacts quality.	The beef is fine - delicious in fact. That gives Blue Apron a leg up on Hello Fresh. Aside from freshness, the ingredients were great and their seasonings were SO good.
0 to 5 (worst/perfect)	4	3.25	5
Ease of Preparation	Each meal is packaged separately which speeds up prep. You do need some chopping skills unless you opt for the “low lift” in which more ingredients are “pre-prepped”	Very fast prep due to many pre-prepped ingredients. Meals are packaged separately. You won’t learn anything here if you are hoping to improve your skill in the kitchen.	Very similar to HF. You have to chop the veg about half the time. That’s fine. It was really very simple; a novice cook could do it well.
0 to 5 (worst/perfect)	4.5	5	5
Recipes	All recipes have very clear step-by-step instructions. A novice teen cook was able to prepare them with no adult support. The timings are fairly accurate. Includes a clear color picture of plating.	The recipe cards were a little hard to read at first and I did not always agree with the order of preparation. The sauces were combined in bowls but not “cooked” so lacked depth.	Well laid out, logical, easy to read. Very similar to HF. Nice photos. I was never once confused.
0 to 5 (worst/perfect)	5	4	5
Nutrition	¾ of recipes contain at least a cup of veggies; many contain more. Full nutritional information is supplied. Offers calorie conscious, vegetarian  and high protein options plus many more options. That said, although lower in calories, they still often have high carbs so read the macros if carbs, fiber and protein are important to you, so you know what you’re into.	½ of recipes contain at least a cup of veggies; some contain more. Full nutritional information is supplied. I liked their method of filtering by category better than HFs.	¾ of recipes contain at least a cup of veggies; many contain more. Full nutritional information is supplied. Offers calorie conscious, vegetarian  and high protein options plus other choices. I  have the same concerns as HF. While delicious, they tend to be very high calorie and even lower calorie choices tend to be high in carbs.
0 to 5 (worst/perfect)	4	4	4
Averaged Score	4.6	3.5	4.4

Menu Plan Sunday/Monday and Anti-Inflammatory Eating

Yep I hardly EVER blog any more. Lessons to plan, choices to make - school wins almost all the time. That said, since November, I've had a goal to lose down to my 1998 weight. I'm still making time to meal plan and eat healthfully, but rarely taking time to write about it. 

I've gotten 60% of the way there -- and been idling there for weeks and weeks. My goal was to hit that weight by April 10 and I clearly am not going to make it as I am 16 pounds away. I recently had blood work done and it was really all good news so . . . what to do? 

I've decided to do nothing. Well, nothing drastic, anyway. My health plan pays for consults with a dietician so I set an appointment and will keep a food log for the next two weeks to get some feedback from her on my eating.  

In the meantime, I am going to eat a strict anti-inflammatory diet and see if I can break something loose that way. If not, I'll still win because when I eat this way, it helps my joints SO much. Therefore, if you want to have a little less pain in your life, maybe try this plan for a week or two. 

Here are the basics of how my menus work in case you don't know:

• I eat the same breakfast most weekdays (and I make it portable for school). 
• Ditto lunch. And both of these meals are only for me. Dad and the kids do their own thing! 
• Supper/Dinner - I cook for me and sometimes the kids (and maybe Dad) get a different meal because I am the only person who eats this particular way. To this I say, you do you.  I'm just listing both for clarity and to possibly help you out to make the process seamless for others.
• I try to provide calorie counts if I  can't provide the actual recipe so that if you internet search it, you'll know when you're close.
• I don't have a store. If I link a cookbook, it's for your convenience. I have no stake in you spending money (or not) anywhere in the world. 
• In general, I try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, more protein, less carbs, and whole foods. 

• Finally, most importantly, I'm a mom and a teacher. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. Don't look to me for medical advice. I'm doing what works for me. If it works for you and makes your life better, I'm happy!

Here is this week's menu.

Independence and Menu Plan Monday!

 Happy 4th of July and Menu Plan Monday.

Does it seem like "Menu Plan Monday" would be antithetical to the theme of independence? Au contaire!  Menu Plan Monday is what has brought  me independence all these years. I've written previously about my themed week days but here are some other things I love about Menu Plan Monday.

• We hear a lot about decision fatigue; menu plans eliminate decision fatigue. You've decided. This is what we're having and that is what you fix. Problem One, solved. 
• It saves so much money. Instead of buying a handful of meats, various veg and starches and then pulling together meals from my larder, which inevitably results in me having to run out and buy the things missing for that meal, I have exactly what I need on my list and I buy only those things. It also keeps me from buying a lot of "just in case" food we do not need. 
• It saves time. Trying to decide day by day what to cook, having to stop and pick up last minute things needed for that particular meal, or look up a recipe is time consuming. By spending an hour on the weekend to plan, it's all done at once and all the plans are made ahead of time. 
• But here's the real beauty of Menu Plan Monday: It eliminates all the wrangling with the kids. "Mom, can we please order pizza tonight?" Oh, no, sorry, I already have spaghetti in the works. "Oh, great, I LOVE spaghetti!" See? it's a lifesaver.  

I often make my shopping list for the whole week but I don't always shop for the whole week. I sometimes do a mid week shop, depending on what Fishy Friday holds. If it's freezer fish, I can shop ahead, and do. Otherwise, a Thursday shop will be needed. 

If I'm standing around for 5 minutes waiting for something to finish cooking, I'll start on tomorrow's dinner, since I know what it is! See how that works out?  Maybe I will chop a bell pepper or grate cheese, just some little thing to give me a head start. The next day, when I start cooking, it's like a little gift I've given myself.

This week, I'm eating citrusy yogurt parfaits for breakfast. I love these so much and starting with homemade Greek yogurt is a great way to get those extra servings of protein and dairy that I'm working for.  

I also linked this Roy Choi spaghetti recipe that I adore. This is not a recipe for weight loss at all but it is worth every precious calorie. It's a treat and we only eat it once a month for that reason. This recipe makes twice what you need so you just put half in the freezer for next month before you add the pasta to the sauce. Don't tell my mom, but we'll never make her spaghetti sauce again. This is the only one I make now. When I saw Chef Choi make this on TV, he said you could add meat to it, but I don't care about the meat so I haven't. It takes some time to make the mushroom roux but the investment is worth it, trust me!

Happy Independence Day. 

Juneteenth and Menu Plan Monday

 More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas on June 19th, 1865, to tell enslaved people they had been freed. If you've never heard of Juneteenth, you aren't from Texas! It's been celebrated here for a long, long time, but it's only been a federal holiday since Biden signed it into law in 2021.  

That said, I've planned a Juneteenth menu for the family. It's still well balanced and lower fat, except the macaroni salad, because we had to have a nod to Mac and Cheese, but has all the yummy flavors of celebration. Yesterday was Father's Day and hubby and the kids went to bed moaning after eating Chef Allison's delicious repast at Hamilton Pool Vineyards so moderation is called for!

For breakfast, it's Smoothie Week. When you click on the picture of the menu or link to the menu, you'll see a "notes" column on the right. The "formula" for the Freezer Smoothies is there. I make 2 or 3 varieties through the week and I make them all ahead of time in baggies on Monday and then just dump them in the blender each morning, along with "milk" (or nut-milk, oat-milk etc.) and 2 bananas. Voila! Smoothies for 2! The bananas are sweet enough so no sweetener is required. 

Lunches around here are up to the individual so I eat the same lunch every day. It makes my life easier! My lunch this is a big green salad with deviled egg, italian dressing and green apple slices. It's cool, crisp and delicious and ticks all the boxes!

Hope this week's menu gives you a head start on a great week of celebrating family and freedom. If you want to learn more about Juneteenth, today's Google Doodle is a fun place to start!

Here's a preview of the menu but to get to the recipe links, you'll have to click through to the actual menu link first, either by clicking here or clicking on the jpg below. Happy planning and eating. 

Hot June! Menu Plan Monday

 

Wow. I just walked into the house and I think I melted my shoes a little! I'm trying to get back into the swing of posting these menus since I do plan my menu every single week without fail. I got a couple emails last week about recipes from last summer so let's see if I can get better at posting! I have a lot of ideas so I am excited to get back on it!

I have overnight oats on the menu for breakfast but I've decided to switch up to something more like chia pudding with oats. I'm trying to increase both my servings of daily dairy and protein and this little adjustment allows for that, plus a half serving of whole grains. I wish I could eat my yogurt "unsweet" but I'm not there yet. It would be healthier if I could let the carbs go. I'm keeping my regular recipe on the menu but here is what I'm eating this week:

Overnight Chia Oat Pudding

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds
1 Tablespoon Honey, Maple Syrup or Jam (I like Smuckers Strawberry Preserves)
1 Cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt, Plain
1/4 Cup Blueberries (or strawberries, half a banana, peaches, orange segments etc.)

Instructions:

Layer into pint jar. Stir it all together.  Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

Eat and enjoy!!

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: Tablespoon
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories	320
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5.8g	7%
Saturated Fat 0.7g	3%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 75mg	3%
Total Carbohydrate 45.5g	17%
Dietary Fiber 8g	28%
Total Sugars 20.5g
Protein 23.3g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 304mg	23%
Iron 3mg	15%
Potassium 413mg	9%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Recipe analyzed by

Enjoy this week's menu.  Let me know what you like!