PREP... what it is... and why it WORKS!

I make, prepare, cook, almost everything I am going to eat for the week, in one day, with the exception of smoothies.


Why? So I don’t have to think about what to eat. So I can eat when I’m hungry and not get lazy and just “go get something” from that line of death called the “drive thru”. Yah, I said it.

So I can concentrate on all the other wonderful things in my life, and not concentrate on food. So I can do the things I WANT to do, and not the things I HAVE to do.

My defintion of prep is anything that can be done ahead of time for any recipe. Here’s my list of things I do, in no order, and they are not done every week, only when I need them…

1. make soups, (two) for variety.

2. chop all onions, wash and prep all salad greens, slice all cucumbers, chunk all tomatoes

3. Make all the bread (usually focaccia) for my hubby and kids lunches and make ALL THE SANDWICHES FOR THE WEEK! Yep… I do… I only have to make them once a week!

4. Make a stock with all the leftover tops of veggies and roots of veggies, for soups NEXT WEEK.
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Now, please… I am not super woman. Lots of people do this… restaurants do this, caterers (of which I am one) do this, Mom’s do this. It’s a way of coping. For me… it’s a way of surviving the weeks of chauffering back and forth to school and three different sports, and meetings and volunteer responsibilities. {{Whoever said the phrase “Stay at home Mom” was Mom that actually “stayed home” was a moron!}}

I know your question even before you ask it. “You make your kids lunches FOR THE WEEK? How do they stay fresh?” Simple. Foil and a refrigerator, and simple, fresh, non dairy ingredients.

Today, I am making stock FOR NEXT WEEK, and I’m going to use stock from LAST WEEK to make my soups for the week. My boys LOVE to just take the Lock n Lock container out of the fridge and grab a cup of soup as a snack or we all eat it as dinner together. EASY… when all we have to do is reheat and enjoy each other’s company!!! What’s in the pot?


Tops and bottoms of onions, cut carrots, 10 peppercorns, 5 cut in half, skin on garlic cloves, onion skin (that’s what gives it that gorgeous color) and celery butts. yah, I said celery butts… LOL! It’s been cooking for about 2 hours now… I’ll just drain it and put it into a Lock N Lock container and use it within a week. YUM… Oh! Never add salt to stock UNTIL THE DAY YOU MAKE SOUP WITH IT! I love this base for Rags Soup and the 2 bean chili soup…

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I hope this helped you out. I know I enjoy cooking and all, but not every single day. I like to live my life without worrying about what to make for lunches or dinners.

Sure, I’ll sometimes have to prepare something, but with most of the ingredients, the staple ingredients chopped and at the ready, it takes minutes instead of hours to prepare something yummy!