Heather Bedard, C.H.E.
It may be a bit of a stretch in the title, but we can prep our provisions and make it a party! (a.k.a. food prep party)
Here are some fun ideas:
If you love hanging out with friends, get together and plan your meals for the week together. Everyone can buy their own food or one person can purchase everything and then split the cost. On a designated day, all of you get together and batch cook the items and put your meals together, together.
Another great idea is a salad party where the host provides the greens and the participants each bring their favorite topping and large mason jars. This can be a really fun way to try things you may have never tried before in some crazy combinations. Plus, your lunches will be done for the week! Some fun toppings would be blueberries, strawberries, apricots, pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, toasted coconut, lemons/limes, cucumber, cooked potatoes, sautéed onions, and tomatoes. This is a fabulous way to enjoy your friends and make some new ones too!
Other thoughts would be to invite 4 friends to each pick a dinner and prep it on their own, multiplying the amount by 5. Pick a day to exchange meals and you’ll have 5 delicious dinners, 4 of which you didn’t have to prepare, and bonus this helps TREMENDOUSLY with the ease of batch cooking!!
Have an oatmeal prep party while the host provides the oats and brown sugar and the guests provide the toppings. Fun options include dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried cherries or any freeze-dried fruits, sliced almonds, sugar free powdered peanut butter, cocoa, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, sugar free chocolate chips and sliced coconut. This is a great way to get the kids involved too! The assembly line option is perfect for the littles while the older ones love to experiment with fun flavors. Not to mention, the basic recipe is super simple to remember. You can find this idea on the Favorite Family Recipe page on the website. This is a fun thing to do before school starts to have some healthy options for those of you who are on the go early. You can also do this with chia seed pudding, saving the wet ingredients to add the night before you want to eat it. The variety is endless!
I invite you to try some of these fun ideas and let me know how they go!