Smart meal prep to kickstart your back-to-school routine

Carefree summer days are almost over, it’s back to school time. Family timetables are getting full again, sport practices, music lessons and extracurricular activities are giving us less time to spend preparing our favourite meals.

Don’t be overwhelmed by back-to-school stress. You can still enjoy nutritious and delicious home-made dishes; the key is to plan ahead and have everything ready to go. With a little help and some smart moves, half of the work is practically done. It’s time to jump into the trend of meal prepping.

How to meal prep?

The most common practice is to prepare whole meals and store them in airtight containers ready to eat. Use a Sunday evening to cook your veggies, rice, chicken, casserole, and a smooth soup, put them in the fridge or freezer, and you are ready for the week ahead.

Not sold on eating pre-cooked meals during school nights? The good news about meal prep is that it can be done partially. This means that you will still have to do some cooking, but it will save you a lot of time during the week and let you enjoy your meals to the fullest without really working for it.

Freeze single portions of soup, stock, or sauces

Cooking soups or sauces takes a lot of time. So, try cooking in bulk. Leave it to cool down to room temperature then store it in small containers and deep freeze. There’s nothing better than having a bowl of home-made minestrone or vegetable soup ready, when you need a quick save for dinner.

You can even use a small part of your fridge, like the My Fresh Choice, as a handy mini freezer for your meal prep only, so you have everything at hand. Or invest in a quality chest freezer to deep freeze all sorts of delicious dishes.

Pre-cut veggies and herbs

Clean up, peel, and cut the veggies you are going to need during the week and store them in the vegetable compartment of your fridge. With Dual Tech Cooling system and moisture control they will stay super fresh.

Did you buy fresh herbs like parsley, basil, or chives? Chop them up and store them in the freezer. Fill up ice cube trays with chopped herbs and oil to have handy little portions ready to use.

Bake two lasagna casseroles instead of one

Use the Hisense oven with 77 litre capacity and more than enough space to bake at least two huge lasagna dishes instead of one. It takes basically the same time, but you will have plenty left over to freeze and use during the week. Hisense ovens feature an amazing Even Bake Technology with advanced ventilation system for perfect cooking results, so the heat is distributed evenly and gives the best result on every single level.

Have a big batch of cooked rice at hand

Did you know that rice keeps great in the fridge for a whole week? Cook one big batch of rice and store it for later. You can use it as a side dish that pairs well with almost everything and every cuisine and it can even double as a key ingredient for some fun sweet treats as rice pudding, baked rice dessert or delicious arancini.

Simple breakfast to-go

Love sleeping in on a week day? Meal prep breakfast and you are ready to go! Here is a great idea – simple egg muffins with delicious toppings. They are full of nutrients, filling and great for a sneaky afternoon snack.

For approx. 12 muffins you need:

• 12 eggs
• ½ onion (finely chopped and lightly caramelized)
• salt, pepper, oregano (or other herbs to taste)
• 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese (grated)
• toppings of choice (ham, tomato, mushroom, spinach, tuna, salmon, broccoli …)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 180 °C. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the onion and parmesan cheese and mix well together. Add salt, pepper, and herbs to taste. Lightly grease the muffin pan (or use silicone muffin cups) and fill 2/3 with egg mixture. Add toppings to taste, experiment and make different combinations. We like to make at least 3 different variations each time! Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top. Bake for 17 minutes or until set. Let cool to room temperature then transfer in a zip lock bag and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.