Percolate Kitchen

meal prep that works.

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When the Working Mom Meal Prep Actually WORKS

Working mom meal prep feels like a giant hassle but here's the real secret- spending that time gets you out of washing dishes, too.

Pushing through the working mom meal prep is, in my opinion, the most effective thing you can do every week.

Want to know why? It’s not because meal prepping saves you time cooking (although it fully does) It’s because it saves you time washing dishes. 

By far and large, whenever I talk to my fellow busy parents riding the struggle bus during weekday meal times, their biggest complaint is this: I freaking hate washing dishes.

This is even more so in New York City, where so many apartments come dishwasher-free. If you’re raising kids and doing it without a dishwasher, I say to you: I’m with you, and I salute you and isn’t it just the worst!?

I’ve been living without a dishwasher for almost three years now, and in that time I’ve launched a cooking company, scaled up my recipe testing and recipe development freelance work, and continue to raise two kids, one of whom eats like a horse.

I hand wash a lot of dishes.

Like, seriously a lot.

My hands are constantly dry and battered, and a few weeks ago when I went for a manicure, the manicurist peered down at my hands, with their cracked skin and nicks and cuts and raggedly nails, and then gave me a funny look.

“Your hands are in rough shape,” she told me. Yeah, thanks for that.

Over the years, especially my years without a dishwasher, I’ve learned a thing or two about how to mitigate the overwhelming-ness of my sink:

  • I listen to podcasts or books on tape to make the time go faster.
  • I buy nice-smelling dish soap.
  • I get the good sponges. (these are legitimately amazing) 
  • I clean as I go.

Basically, I do #allthethings that cut down on my time spent at the faucet, elbow deep in sudsy water.

But you want to know the one thing that cuts down on my dishwashing throughout the week?

Spending 60 minutes on the weekend, busting through a meal prep power hour.

I first talked about the meal prep power hour around this time last year.

I also dive deep into the Meal Prep Power Hour in my ebook, The Weeknight Dinner Survival Guide.

The working mom’s meal prep routine is a huge timesaver, AND it cuts down on your dirty dishes throughout the week.

When you’ve already prepped for the week, you’ll only have your storage items and plates to wash after that- no pans, knives, cutting boards, pots, lids, etc. You don’t have to worry about bleaching down your countertops after you’ve prepped raw meats. 

See those cute little storage containers? They’re crazy easy to clean and dry. No funky corners or baked on grease. I’d rather zip through cleaning these guys than a million pots and pans on a busy Wednesday evening when I’d rather be curled up with my kids watching Boss Baby for the zillionth time.

Here’s an example: my meal plan for this week. I write it out in the margins of my bullet journal because my brand of working mom meal prep is big-time Type A and I love it that way.

I’ll also add as an aside, this week was an odd meal plan for us (pizza bagels, I know!), because I’m in the middle of a recipe testing project for Peapod, and some of the items I’m testing have made their way onto our dinner table so I can make sure they work time wise.

So here’s how I broke down my Power Hour when meal prepping last week:

In 60 minutes, I:

  1. Formed 2 pounds of burger into patties for hamburgers
  2. Sliced 4 sweet potatoes into fries
  3. Combined the seasonings and liquids for Beef Stroganoff, since it’s a crockpot dish, and set aside (the meat had come already diced)
  4. Seasoned and cooked the sausage for Stuffed Peppers
  5. Combined panko and parmesan in one container, and egg wash and mustard in another, and chopped fish into fillets Roasted broccoli in a hot oven
  6. Roasted green beans in a hot oven and then tossed them with slivered almonds for a side

Guess how many pans and post and containers I skipped washing?

Like, a million.

Okay- I skipped the big pots and pans, to be fair. So maybe it wasn’t a million.

At the end of the week, in reality, I had washed only plates, silverware and cups/glasses, plus 2-3 daily containers.

I mean, I’d say that’s not too bad, right? No cutting boards, no pots, no sheet pans- they were all used and then washed in a big push on Sunday afternoon.

You can do this, too! Getting through a stretch of working mom meal prep can feel like too big of a hassle to deal with- believe me, I KNOW THIS.

But when you can push through and get it on your schedule and get it done, your tired ass self will thank you a thousand times over throughout the week. To come home to dinner made or mostly made during a working mom meal prep- that is such a good feeling.

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About Ruthy Kirwan

Ruthy Kirwan is a recipe tester and developer living in NYC with her two small kids and hard-working husband. She created Percolate Kitchen in 2016 to help busy people get their act together in the kitchen. Learn more at percolatekitchen.com/about

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ferowza

    I seriously need to get more into this meal prep! I avoid doing too much prep because of limited freezer space. But I do find that even a little prep is super useful. If I prep lunches for the next day on a Sunday evening, I have a clean kitchen the Monday morning pretty much. And… it cuts down on the time to get lunches packed for school and work!

  2. Maygen

    I also hate doing dishes! Luckily, my husband usually steps in 😍. But meal prep is all me, so thank you for the tips and motivation.

  5. Meg

    Seriously great tips. I absolutely HATE doing dishes. Im awful at meal prep though but really need to try again because it would make my life so much easier

  7. Seanna

    Good on you for doing This! My boyfriend and I haaaated washing stuff by hand before we got our dishwasher. I like knowing that my dishes are sanitised and that the dishwasher probably didn’t miss a spot 🙂

  8. Priscilla

    I dread doing dishes. Thanks for the ideas. With my 3rd baby due any day now, I am def going to meal prep to help with the upkeep of dishes (and overall home).

  10. Maria

    Oh man! This is such a great read! Thank you! I don’t know why we don’t do meal prep more often but you’re right, it does cut down on dishes!

  15. Kate

    I’m going to be fully honest and admit that I never do dishes, unless my hubs is out of town… I’m definitely going to keep these tips in mind for those occasions though!

  17. Emily

    I find when I do dishes as we go then it isn’t as overwhelming. I think meal prepping would make it even easier!

  18. Kareen Liez Datoy

    Meal planning is hard especially if there are certain types of food that are not allowed for a family member to eat. And yes, apart from meal planning, washing the dishes is all part of it. I have no problem with washing and I do everything by hand. But the tips you gave are indeed helpful.

  22. Ruthy Kirwan

    Ok, yes- there are still a few items throughout the week I have to wash, like sheet pans for things like sweet potato fries, or the Instant Pot liner. However, having as much as possible prepped ahead of time just cuts down so dramatically on the dishes overall that it’s not a big deal! Since I store almost completely in glass (and some plastic) containers, that makes it much easier for them to go straight into the microwave to be reheated. I think especially when you’re raising a family, you’ll never be COMPLETELY free from dishes (and I inevitably wind up making pasta for someone on a dinner strike, ha!), but meal prepping reduces it a ton. Maybe I was a little too exaggerative 🙂

  25. Christie

    Sounds dreamy. How do you reheat all the items you prep, though? The sweet potato fries, for example – wouldn’t they produce a baking sheet post cooking? And would the fish be cooked in a pan or baked in one of your glass dishes? Maybe I took this too literally and there were some pots and pans to wash throughout the week? Do you heat other things in the microwave or oven straight in the glass containers they’re stored in? I guess I’m a bit confused as to how this all works. Some good ideas for prep though – I never though to make an egg wash ahead of time!

  27. Melody

    I absolutely hate washing dishes, too! I finally landed in an apartment with a dishwasher this year so that was a huge plus. But I still struggle with the once-a-week meal prep even so. Sounds like you have a good system going though!

  28. Beth

    Totally a fantastic plan! Who doesn’t hate washing dishes? It’s the worst! I will see if I can’t get organized enough to accomplish this!

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