If you wish to meal prep however have VERY LITTLE freezer area, you need to get artistic!
Many of our meal prep queens on our Healthy Mummy Food Lovers Facebook Page appear to make a number of meals to pop within the freezer. But for those who don’t have a giant (or second) freezer, you might need thought it’s not for you.
Well suppose once more! Here are 11 useful suggestions for these of us with small freezers that gained’t match many containers of pre-made meals inside.
11 methods to meal prep when you may have a small freezer
1. Make salads to final per week
Christine Jones shares her recommendation on making salad for the week – simply maintain something ‘wet’ out of it and add it when able to serve.
“I do salads in bulk for the week, I make about seven and put them in separate containers. No tomato and no dressing and they would last the full week, just keep them at the back of the fridge.”
2. Get breakfast sorted in a single session
We usually don’t consider meal prepping for breakfast, but when mornings are busy it may be actually useful to make sure you don’t miss a meal.
Try making a batch of Choc Berry Chia Pudding or a some of the Gluten Free Breakfast Granola (pictured above) to maintain available for the week.
3. Meal prep lunch for the week and retailer within the fridge
Ebony Featherstone does this, and doesn’t it look tasty? You might make one meal for the week, or two and blend it up.
Ebony says, “This is chicken with brown rice cooked in coconut oil with steamed broccoli. The top is yoghurt mixed with cumin, paprika and curry powder.”
4. Meal prep snacks for the week and retailer within the fridge
Samantha Lee Gaskin says, “I make Zucchini and Bacon Slice (recipe from the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge) for my children’s lunch boxes for the week.”
And Stacey Beale agrees and says, “I have found some of the Healthy Mummy recipes keep really well in the fridge, such as the healthy chocolate Weet-Bix Slice (pictured above) and the chocolate berry peanut bliss cups – these don’t take up much room.”
5. Meal prep your dry smoothie elements
Cassy Browne is aware of tips on how to make her Healthy Mummy Smoothie even sooner.
“I make up ziplock bags of all my dry ingredients for my smoothies (smoothie mix, protein powder, nuts, chia seeds, coconut etc.) so that all I have to do in the mornings is empty it into my blender, then add the milk and fruit/veg.”
6. Prep and squash your mince earlier than freezing it
Cassy Browne has shared this nice tip. Rather than freezing packets of mince, she takes the meat out of the container first.
‘”I make forward the combination for burger patties, pop them in a ziplock bag and flatten it out earlier than popping it within the freezer to save lots of area. And this has the added bonus of defrosting faster too.”
This burger is a recipe from the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge.
7. Use glass jars within the freezer door for rice
Utilise ALL the area in your freezer, together with the door! Cassy Browne does this by cooking up rice after which freezing in particular person parts in a jar.
Then you'll be able to simply defrost within the microwave and reheat till steaming to serve.
8. Flatten your leftovers in ziplock luggage
Michelle Scowen at all times makes double of her household meals in order that she will be able to freeze one to make use of later. But as a substitute of utilizing cumbersome containers that gained’t slot in a small freezer,
Michelle says, “I freeze the second one in a labelled ziplock bag, making sure it freezes flat so it stacks easily. I never use the plastic containers as you have all the wasted “air” area in each, plus they’re costlier than luggage.”
This is the Red Fish Curry from the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge.
9. Chop up your meat able to go earlier than freezing
Instead of freezing the cumbersome packs of steak or hen breast, do this.
Thea Gibb says, “I minimize up all my meat in parts for meals and place them in labelled plastic ziplock luggage. Not solely does it save time on the night time, however I don’t have to clean a reducing board that has had uncooked meat on it each night time.
“Then you can just grab a bag of chopped up chicken ready to make your healthy stir fry.”
This one is a Lemon Chicken Stir Fry from the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge.
10. Just cook dinner and freeze the principle part of the meal
Haven’t obtained area to freeze a complete meal? Why not simply make and freeze the principle aspect of it? Shayla Kuczer does this when she’s making issues like hen schnitzels which could be frozen.
“Then they just need to be partly defrosted and placed straight into the oven for 30 mins or until cooked through, eat with quick salad or steamed veggies.”
Try our Homemade Chicken Nuggets for this tip.
11. Make a triple batch of 1 key meal part
Us mums love a great bolognese (particularly with all these hidden veggies), and it’s so versatile to show into different meals. Try making an enormous portion of bolognese (the gradual cooker is nice for this) like Stacey Beale does.
Stacey says, “I make a kilo of mince into bolognese with a number of veggies and tomatoes and that's sufficient for 3 meals for two adults and a couple of children.
“We have it with pasta one night, then next time I add peas and make a pumpkin and sweet potato mash to make it a shepherd’s pie. Another time I’ll use it as the base for a lasagne (adding some kidney beans to stretch it if needed) or it can also be made into a pasta bake.”
As if this isn’t sufficient concepts in your bolognese, we’ve obtained extra HERE.
For extra MEAL PREP suggestions – obtain our FREE meal prep information + recipes.