Because I hate prep so much, Hubby actually bought me a mandolin when I first started cooking. As a former Music Teacher, I always thought a Mandolin was an instrument. I had no idea there was a mandolin that that would help me slice faster and easier. That mandolin has been a great addition to my kitchen! I don't have to know how to slice and dice. I just run it across my mandolin and it's done!
That doesn't mean I like doing prep. In fact, I still hate it and try to find recipes that don't have much prep required.
Since I've been so extremely busy lately, I've been finding it hard to prepare fresh snacks to eat. On my busy days, I just don't have the time. This week, I got home from the grocery store with all my fresh veggies, fruits etc... and decided to take some time, right then, to do some snack prep. NOT something I've ever done, because...um...ugh...who wants to take time to do food prep when you're not going to eat it right away?! Seriously!
I did it anyway. I REALLY wish I could afford to hire someone to do food prep for me every week. If anyone wants to come do it for free, just leave a comment and I'll take you up on it. :)
In doing the prep on Monday, I've had all sorts of fresh foods to eat this week. It's very easy to choose healthy when I'm busy and everything is ready to eat. I also found that I've had less kitchen clean-up at snack times. When I prep at the time I eat...I tend to feel like I'm always cleaning up the kitchen. Especially since I eat 4-5 times a day! So, I might...I say MIGHT...just have to do this again.
For those of you who are wondering what foods I prepped and how I made them into quick snacks, I've included that below.
- Green Beans - Fresh green beans were $0.99 a pound. So, I grabbed me a bag full.
- Prep-Wash, snap off the ends and put in a veggie bag to keep fresh.
- Snack-I've been eating them raw and they are a very crunchy, tasty snack!
- Strawberries - Strawberries were on sale too, so I grabbed one container of those (probably should've grabbed two, but you live and you learn).
- Prep-Peel off the leaves, core out the stem and slice.
- Tools-Hubby got me a couple handy, dandy strawberry tools for Christmas this year. One of them takes the stem core out and the other slices them like an egg slicer. Easy!
- Snack-Strawberry and yogurt parfait. Pile out some strawberries (2-3 strawberries sliced), spoon a couple heaping teaspoons of vanilla yogurt on top, sprinkle a tiny bit of granola on top of that and you have a tasty dessert.
- Cucumbers - These are one of my favorite veggies to snack on. I bought two, so I'd have plenty.
- Prep-Peel off four stripes and slice. The mandolin is very helpful for this.
- Snack 1-I get those little pre-drained cans of tuna. Add a little mayonnaise, some pre-shredded carrots, some dill relish for tuna salad. Then I take one cucumber slice, add a bit of cojack cheese and then scoop on some tuna salad. This makes a tasty, very low carb snack!
- Snack 2-Or shall I say, lunch side dish. Hubby and I have been munching on these with our lunches raw. Yummy!
If you have any tips on food prep, I'd love to hear them.
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