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You are here: Home / Food / The Basics and Flow of Meal Prep (Kitchen Day)

by Stacy  2 Comments

The Basics and Flow of Meal Prep (Kitchen Day)

basics of meal prep

One day per week, my morning/afternoon is dedicated to Kitchen Day…the time I dedicate to meal prep. I focus on things like: bread, buns, rolls, mixes and seasonings, chopping veggies, washing and cutting fruit, breakfast prep for the week, pantry staples, etc.

I have found that if I take one day per week and dedicate it to cooking and meal prep, it saves me SO MUCH TIME both at breakfast and dinner time. And for me, that’s a game changer. If you want to know more about how I “schedule” my days, you can check out that in the Homemaking How-To ecourse I offer.

I usually post my After photo on Instagram and sometimes I do a tutorial up in the Stories. And without fail, every week. I get asked two things:

  1. What do you do with your kids? (answered in the link)
  2. How does your day flow in the kitchen?

So, today I want to give you a basic guide of how I schedule the day. If you’d like to see an actual walk-through, you can check that out in my Instagram Stories. 

First things first…

The first thing I ALWAYS do is start a batch of yeast dough – yeast dough will be mixing and doing it’s thang while you’re using the oven and stove top. By getting it started first, you aren’t going to be in the kitchen longer than needed, waiting on dough.

I use the Bread Beckers Basic Dough every time and I mix it up in my Zojirushi Bread machine. I choose to take the dough out and bake it in the oven – but that’s just personal preference. At that point, I take inventory of two things:

  1. What’s in the fridge/freezer that needs to be used up?
  2. What’s coming on the meal plan that I can prep NOW?

Make a list, and prioritize.

After I do those two things, I make a list. What’s on the list? Things that need to be used up and items I want to make. If I write it down, I can make a plan. I take that list and number it, based on what I am going to do it. 

I like to start something in the oven immediately, like Baked Oatmeal or Blueberry Muffins. Why? Because your oven should always be BUSY. When your oven is BUSY, you are BUSY doing things that don’t require the oven. You use that in-between time to chop and mix. Then as soon as one thing is done, another is ready to go in. Let me give you an example:

  1. Yeast dough
  2. Muffins
  3. Chop onions and peppers
  4. Make Ranch Dressing
  5. Prep and bake Baked Oatmeal
  6. Mix up taco seasoning
  7. Mix up more Ranch Dressing seasoning
  8. Wash and slice strawberries and cantaloupe
  9. Prep and bake Oatmeal Raisin Scones
  10. Make Freezer Biscuits
  11. Boil eggs
  12. Bake Yeast dough

My goal is always to be done by the time the bread comes out of the oven. That gives me a time of about 3 hours total to finish – and that is usually plenty of time. If I need to make additional yeast dough, that goes in as soon as my first batch of dough comes out. I just work it into my numbered list, based on what I am making that day.

Granola is a whole other beast. It can take 45-60 minutes, so you don’t want it taking up your oven time when you are baking oatmeal and muffins, etc. When planning for Granola, it’s my LAST item instead of bread. When my bread comes out, Granola goes in so that it’s my last task while I am cleaning up the kitchen.

Kitchen Day can go really smoothly when you go into it with a plan, but also know that any time you start with something new, you should show yourself GRACE and start SMALL. Just one hour of meal prep time per week can save your hiney later in the week. 

Don’t underestimate a “small start.”

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About Stacy

Stacy is a Homemaking and Business Mom Mentor, the author of two cookbooks, creator of multiple e-courses, seasoned life coach, and comedian extraordinaire. Her first priority is her husband and her children - family first. She presses on each day because her calling is to teach, train, and mentor other ladies to have their dreams. She believes if it’s not easy, you won’t do it – because she’s lived it. She’ll bring YOU the awesome so that you can get your home back into control and watch your business soar. For tips and easy strategies, you can follow her on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the content above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Comment Policy: I love reading your thoughts and input on what you read here. I'm sure we'll disagree sometimes and that's okay! In those cases, do what's right for you and yours. As with any form of communication, only post comments that move the discussion in a positive direction.

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  1. Becky says

    September 13, 2019 at 8:44 am

    Grocery day is my kitchen prep day. Yep, saves MY hiney every week! 😊 It’s a full day and let’s just say… I sleep well that night. 😁 It’s convenient for me to get home, unload the car (and 11 mouths do make a load), refill all the pantry containers, pull out all the almost empties and make granola/bars, quick breads, or other leftover-user-uppers, chop the salsa, freeze/use all the near-dead previous week’s produce, cook the meats, and so on, all before I have time to ponder the size of the task, haha! I’m happy to get it ALL done. My crew are “fresh bread snobs”🙄, so I make that as needed, not ahead.
    Hooray for WAY less frantic last-minute in-the-kitchen time!!!

    Reply
    • Stacy says

      September 13, 2019 at 9:11 am

      You’re a rock star! The way our grocery shopping works, I get home with it around 8pm at night. LOL

      Reply


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