Bulk paleo meals

[Nicholas Wheeler]

So I have been shifting my diet to paleo fairly quickly, however the biggest roadblock I am having is my time spent at work. I'm fortunate enough to have a m-f 9-5 desk job with access to a microwave, fridge and freezer. During the week/weekend I'm not provided ample time to prep meals, so my solution has been to prepare a bulk meal on the weekends. For about a year now, it was a turkey sandwich/pretzels and some fruit. Which isn't really paleo...at all. So what ideas do you guys have for paleo meals I can make on a sun and pack into 5+ servings and throw in my bag I take to work.

I'm pretty brand new to paleo so, I'm still figuring it all out. I read on the boards someone using a crockpot to cook a whole chicken and then just pull off and seperate all the meat. That's perfect for me, but I was hoping for more ideas. Especially what to do with sides. Cauliflower cooks great in the microwave so that's up there too, but I don't know how long it stays fresh.

Secondly is breakfast, which I also eat at work, has been either yogurt or oatmeal. Both are no-nos on paleo. I LOVE eggs and salsa, but can't exactly prepare that at work. So for days when I don't have enough time, is there a good bulk breakfast meal I could prepare and preferably keep in my desk (though that's not required)

Lastly, I have plenty of room in my desk for food. It currently has jerky (not paleo approved jack links jerky, but its getting phased out), almonds and raisins. So there is the potential to have a mini-pantry as well.

[Rebecca Roth]

Bfast - I make enough eggs for 2-3 days, occasionally include bacon/sausage. Hard boiled eggs are great and very portable as well.
Lunch - Large amounts of meat & veggies. At the moment I am going thru 2lb of flank steak and a little over 1lb of pork loin, I break it up into single meal sized gladware containers with a random veggie every day. I usually keep 2 days lunches in the fridge at work at a time.
Snacks - Nuts, Dried Fruit, jerky, chopped apples/pears/celery/carrots & almond butter is good, oranges, hard boiled eggs (or devilled eggs with avocado instead of mayo), sardines, smoked oysters (though hard to find without salt), Lara Bars.

[William Simpson]

Hi Nicholas,

I've got a roaster and have been on a turkey kick recently. At $.90/lb it's tough to beat throwing one of those on every week or two for 7-10 days worth of meat.

Cube up the meat. Throw some almonds, cranberries and mayo in there and you're set. I know mayo isn't Paleo but I've chosen to cut a few corners to retain my sanity.

Most of my lunches are salads: tuna salad, chicken salad, ham salad, turkey salad, big arse saladsalad.

I bought a dehydrator for Christmas and it's been a Godsend. Homemade beef jerky and dried apples are awesome!

There are ton's of soups/stews you can cook in a 1-5 gallon pot that will keep for 7-10 days. I make one of these every few weeks. The combination's are countless.

A five lb meatloaf is another favorite or just take a couple lbs of meat, fry it up, add whatever (onions & shrooms are my favorites) and portion out in tupperware.

The longer you look the more surprised you will be at the millions of great paleo friendly meals that are out there. I discovered substituting mashed cauliflower for mashed potatoes about 3 weeks ago and am an addict (lots of butter & cream pls!!).

[Jason Peacock]

Random ideas:

Cook up a bunch of pork chops, steaks, fish, etc on the weekend and reheat throughout the week.

For sides, I'm a minimal veggie eater...I just go to the self-serve deli of a nearby grocery and get a salad once a week. You can do similar at home - precut and mix a big salad and have that for lunch one day.

I used to keep eggs at the office, and would make an omelet in the microwave - mix the eggs with broccoli and onions and some spices in a bowl, then microwave & stir until done (2 cycles of 2min+stir). There are some paleo breakfast recipes that tell how to make similar omelets in muffin tins at home, then refrigerate and reheat as needed for breakfast.

Also, breakfast doesn't have to be breakfast foods. Salad, steak, etc are all valid foods.

Other snacks: hard-boiled eggs, pre-cooked bacon from home, almond butter.

Good luck!

[Meghan Reid]

There are 25 hardboiled eggs, 7 lbs of pork loin, a pound of cabbage, apples and onions (that cooked under the pork) and about 3 lbs of pollo en escabeche in the fridge right now. All are great options for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

[Todd R Bailey]

Since you have access to a fridge and microwave, you could bring "steam in bag" veggies to work. Here's an example:

http://www.birdseyesteamfresh.com/ve...vegPremiumBroc (WFS)

Pop in the microwave and they cook right up in the bag in about 5 minutes. Pour some on your plate with some leftover meat from last nights dinner. Bring a tupperware to store the rest for tomorrow's lunch. Just make sure you get the plain kind that doesn't have a sauce or some other questionable ingredient. (I keep a jar of olive oil and some pepper in my desk to season the veggies.)

[Nicholas Wheeler]

Todd! That's PERFECT, I have a freezer full of those at home and didn't even THINK about bringing them in!

So the plan for the rest of this week is more steamers, this weekend I'm most likely going to pick up some chicken halves (because they are generally VERY well priced) and slow-cook them with some salsa and veggies. pick-pull all the meat and store the meat, use it throughout the week for salads and such. I've got a pretty awesome salad bowl I could use once or twice a week. So far it's looking like a lot more tuna as well. I have tons of cans of it and love it. Tuna and veggies!

My next step is figuring out how to eat. I've been feel pretty hungry fairly consistently since starting. I have a hard time riding the line between "not hungry" and "full"

Thanks everyone for your advice. I will be hard-boiling some eggs tonight! Suggestions to pep those up a bit? I'm not the biggest fan, but I can eat them.

[Katherine Derbyshire]

Originally Posted by Nicholas Wheeler

My next step is figuring out how to eat. I've been feel pretty hungry fairly consistently since starting. I have a hard time riding the line between "not hungry" and "full"

If you're hungry, eat more. Paleo foods are generally less calorie dense, so it's very easy to undereat. If you don't make up the calories you lost by switching diets, you can dig yourself into a deep hole pretty quickly.

Katherine

[Nicholas Wheeler]

Thanks Katherine - I'm going to start logging what I eat once I go a little bit fuller paleo. Dinners have been strict paleo, breakfasts have been half and half, once I get lunches/snacks in line - I'll record more. I also probably need to re-record and discover my bodies needs, because I have no idea how many cals are reccomended for me at this point.

[Joe Bernard]

Originally Posted by Nicholas Wheeler

Thanks Katherine - I'm going to start logging what I eat once I go a little bit fuller paleo. Dinners have been strict paleo, breakfasts have been half and half, once I get lunches/snacks in line - I'll record more. I also probably need to re-record and discover my bodies needs, because I have no idea how many cals are reccomended for me at this point.

What's your height and weight?