Make Ahead Meals Anyone?
 

Anyone here cook meals ahead on weekends then just reheat as the week goes on? I'm already panicking about feeding 10 dcks daily instead of 6.
It's chaos when I try to cook and 2 of the tots are clinging to my legs(they usually get put in booster seats with some before-meal veggies or something.
But I thought if I could at least make things like meat loaf, barbecued chicken, etc., then simply microwave it at mealtime. Or make large fruit/veggie salads, etc.
What are some easy prepare ahead meals?

One thing I do is cook large batches of ground beef and chicken, divide it up, and freeze. It helps to be able to pull a bag out of the freezer and go from there when making lunch. I haven't done a lot of actual meals for the freezer--I'm hoping to get some ideas, too. There have been other threads on this subject--you can search for them and get lots of ideas.

We have all fresh fruits and veggies so my timesaver is to prep as much as possible ahead on Sunday so we can just pull it out and go. Other foods I do what I can ahead but most of the time I just prep the morning of.

I precooked all my meats and freeze them. I buy frozen or fresh fruits and veggies. The sides sometimes are made ahead and frozen. I don't precook the pastas often as they get mushy sometimes when warming back up. Meals are warmed in the crock pot or oven. It's extremely easy for me. Twice baked potatoes, pizza balls, barbecue chicken, ground turkey and baked chicken are a few things I prepare and freeze.

I do a lot of the things listed above. I also do crockpot freezer meals, huge time saver. I do these things for my family also.

Because I do a lot of vegetarian stuff, most is same day; for nut/veggie burgers and casseroles, I make ahead and freeze (I preform patties out of the veggie burger mix & freeze patties or I put casserole together in a freezer/oven baker), then on day needed, I thaw and cook. Now if i could just find pretzel buns lol