5 Tips for Meal Prep During the Busy Summer Months

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5 Tips for Meal Prep During the Busy Summer Months

The school year is coming to a close and that means a change in my family’s schedule and daily routine. My daughter will be turning four this summer and will be finishing her first year of part-time preschool at the end of May.

Our family is going to have a busy summer. I’ve got activities planned my daughter like dance class, story time at the library and possibly swimming lessons.

All this running around town can make cooking meals a hassle if I don’t plan properly. Today I am going to share 5 tips for meal prep during the busy summer months.

Keep the Fridge Stocked with Kidfresh Frozen Meals

I have been purchasing Kidfresh Frozen meals for my daughter since last fall and she loves them. I picked up more recently on a shopping trip to Fred Meyer. Every Kidfresh meal is made with up to ½ cup of hidden veggies and are frozen as soon as they are prepared to ensure maximum nutrition.

They are convenient for those busy days and ready to eat in less than 4 minutes. Kidfresh meals are packaged in BPA-free trays to ensure that you can safely prepare them at home. All Kidfresh boxes are eco-friendly and made from 100% recycled cardboard as well. Kidfresh was created with the help of a top chef and a pediatric nutritionist, Kidfresh meals are consistent with USDA dietary guidelines for all children. I love that I can trust that the ingredients in Kidfresh are safe and healthy for my daughter. It’s great that I found a food that she loves that I can feel good about serving her.

For a limited time at Kroger and Kroger family of stores you can save at least 15% off the everyday retail price at Kroger!

Do Meal Prep Once a Week

Planning ahead is key. As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. There are certain things I can prep once a week that make a huge difference. For example. I can boil a week’s worth of eggs ahead of time for a quick snack and cook up multiple servings of rice at once. I can portion the rice in to separate containers and freeze it. It only takes a few minutes to defrost and heat on weeknights.

Another trick is to make a double batch of whatever we are eating on Sunday night for dinner and freeze the second batch, then one of the week’s meals is already done.

Plan Your Meals Around What’s on Sale

I go shopping once a week on the same day I do my meal prep. I plan my meals around what’s on sale at the grocery store. I find this especially helpful when purchasing meat. I will shop for the lowest price on meat that I can find and then do my meal planning around that. For example, if ground turkey is on sale I will stock up and plan to have several meals with turkey as the main ingredient like turkey chili one night and turkey tacos the next . Once I know what I am cooking I just have to pick up a few other ingredients to complete my meals. I save the more time by checking the grocery store’s flier so I know what’s on sale and what I’m going to make before I go shopping.

Make a Printable Grocery List

When I was growing up my mom had a grocery list hung on the refrigerator door. It was a list of nearly every food and toiletry item that you could think of that we used in our house. My mom kept a hard copy on her computer and printed off a fresh list each week. As we ran out of things we needed like milk or bread we could quickly highlight or circle it on the list. This way we would never forget to pick up something that we were out of.

Prep your produce

You may not want to cook up a week’s worth of meat on your meal prep day but prepping your veggies will save you a ton of time. You can cut up carrot sticks and store them in containers, slice your brussels sprouts so they are ready to quickly roast in the oven or chop up some peppers for a quick snack.

Do you do meal prep ahead of time? What are some of your best tips?