Meal Prep Monday Podcast‪™‬ Allison Schaaf

Before diving into her recommended memoirs to read this fall, Prep Dish founder Allison Schaaf announces an exciting opportunity for Prep Dish customers to share their meal prep stories, and offers a support resource for October’s National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in Episode 190.
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Announcement: You’ve used Prep Dish in your home, now we’d love to hear from you on the Meal Prep Monday Podcast! Allison is opening up the opportunity to share your own personal experience with Prep Dish as a guest on her show. No previous podcast experience is required and we’d love to hear your story - how you shop for food, plan your meal prep, and create Prep Dish masterpieces for yourself and your family. If interested, please inquire at info@prepdish.com.
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October is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. The Miscarriage Hope Desk (http://miscarriagehopedesk.com ), founded by Allison Schaaf, is a helpful resource and community for anyone whose personal story involves miscarriage, recurrent pregnancy loss, or infant loss.
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Allison has been enjoying several memoirs recently through Libby (a public library downloadable book collection), books borrowed from the library, or through Audible. Her top memoirs to check out this season include:
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (audio is read by Matthew and very entertaining) Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit and Glamor of an Icon by Kate Ansersen Brower Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel (audio is read & sung by Jewel) Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry Inside Out: A Memoir by Demi Moore The Happy Texan: Adventures of a Rock & Roll Truck Driver by Michael Inman (Allison’s neighbor - your local community is made up of people with many wonderful stories to tell!). ‌
Connect with Allison: PrepDish.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prepdish/
Get your FREE mealplan at PrepDish.com/podcast OR text the word mealprep to 33777
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Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Get your free trial at prepdish.com/mpm for two weeks of free meal plans!
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Be a guest on the Meal Prep Monday Podcast: info@prepdish.com
Miscarriage Hope Desk: http://miscarriagehopedesk.com
Audio Books
Libby, by OverDrive App: http://overdrive.com
Audible: http://Audible.com

Episode 189 highlights easy vacation meals for family from Allison Schaaf, Prep Dish founder and travel enthusiast. Allison covers a recent trip to Panama that she and her family took and discusses ideas about how to handle meal prep and meals while traveling. She notes the benefit of splitting time between a hotel and an Airbnb as it relates to both local flavors and familiar tastes.
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Allison’s recommendations include:
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Using the “Find Me Gluten Free” app if you or someone in your family needs a Gluten Free menu. This app creates an easy way to navigate local restaurants to meet everyone’s dietary needs and experience authentic cuisine while traveling. Making sure to stock up on snacks and water bottles, whether you’re staying at a hotel or an Airbnb. Snacks, regardless of the traveler’s age, are essential while vacationing! Setting out to maintain a good balance of eating meals out versus eating meals in when you’re vacationing with your family. It’s always exciting to enjoy a location-specific culinary experience, but familiar flavors from home are comforting, especially to children. Experiencing local produce through your senses. Shopping at a local market during international or domestic US travel allows you and your family to really immerse yourselves in the sight, feel, aroma, and preparation of authentic local cuisine. ‌
Connect with Allison: PrepDish.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prepdish/
Get your FREE mealplan at PrepDish.com/podcast OR text the word mealprep to 33777
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Resources mentioned in this podcast:
App: https://www.findmeglutenfree.com/
Get your free trial at prepdish.com/mpm for two weeks of free meal plans!

In Episode 188, Prep Dish founder Allison Shaaf shares a brief history of Prep Dish and her behind the scenes experience in the Prep Dish test kitchen. Allison discusses some of her most noteworthy takeaways from testing recipes in the kitchen.
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Allison’s biggest takeaways from testing meal plan recipes include
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Accountability: the meal plan editor relies on Allison’s feedback from the meals she’s editing each week to optimize recipe success. From a customer’s viewpoint, there’s also accountability on a financial and time investment with the Prep Dish menus. Expanding her family’s meal experience and flavor palate. Being part of the Prep Dish test kitchen process gives Allison’s family something new to try and the opportunity to stick to the original recipe without incorporating substitutions. They have experienced many new flavors and pleasant surprises among some new family-approved recipes. Opportunities to delegate the food shopping and preparation. Being in the test kitchen really helps Allison think like a Prep Dish customer instead of solely wearing the home chef’s hat. Delegating food shopping, food preparation, and dish day serving instructions allows everyone in her family to participate in the family’s meal prep process. ‌
Connect with Allison: PrepDish.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prepdish/
Get your FREE mealplan at PrepDish.com/podcast OR text the word mealprep to 33777
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Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Get your free trial at prepdish.com/mpm for two weeks of free meal plans!

This post includes affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Prep Dish!
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In Episode 187, Prep Dish founder Allison Shaaf discusses a recent evaluation and update of her family’s meal prep schedule, including when grocery orders are made, food shopping takes place, and when food is prepared.
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As a new school year begins, one season changes to another, or even as family dynamics evolve, it can be helpful to reevaluate what’s working in the meal prep process in your home and what could be updated to reflect a rhythm that optimizes your time, energy, and season of life.
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Allison shares how recently switching up the day of the week that her grocery order takes place and the day she’ll schedule the food pickup and prep truly lightens the meal workload when she’s spending time with her family. Allison also continues to use helpful tools like curbside pickup at her local grocery store and a Butcher Box subscription to enhance this recently updated food prep routine.
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Connect with Allison: PrepDish.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prepdish/
Get your FREE mealplan at PrepDish.com/podcast OR text the word mealprep to 33777
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Get your free trial at prepdish.com/mpm for two weeks of free meal plans!
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Butcher Box: https://butcherbox.pxf.io/YgeMMm ()
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This post includes affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Prep Dish!

In episode 186, Prep Dish founder Allison Schaaf shares how applying the concepts of consistency and batching to swim lessons for her kids has encouraged huge progress. As part of encouraging consistency, we’ve had to build the habit of getting in the pool every day.
For us, habit stacking has been huge for this. We either get in the pool right before lunch or right after dinner, using mealtimes as a touchstone for building our swimming habit.
This same idea of honing skills and building habits a little bit at a time can be applied to meal prep and our Prep Dish meal plans as well. If you’re not in the habit of meal prep or even of cooking home-cooked meals, you don’t have to go all-in and risk burning out. You can incorporate one part at a time until the habit is strong.
Connect with Allison: PrepDish.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prepdish/
Get your FREE mealplan at PrepDish.com/podcast OR text the word mealprep to 33777
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Ep #141: Batching is Freedom: https://prepdish.com/podcast-show-notes/ep141/

In episode 185 of Meal Prep Monday, Prep Dish founder Allison Schaaf shares 4 things she learned from hosting a half birthday party for her son, including tips for make ahead party food.
What’s on the menu?
Grapes Orange Wedges Bell Peppers Popcorn Cheese Sticks Cheese Board Cake and Ice Cream Lots of Beverage Options My Takeaways:
1. I loved the approach of low stress food, with a focus on the cake and ice cream. I made a homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting. I also made a honey ice cream with honey from our bees.
2. I kept in mind having foods that were easy to grab in individual portions for the kids. The oranges were cut into wedges. The popcorn was in individual cups. The bell peppers were the mini size. I used scissors to cut the grapes in mini bunches. All of these touches were easy but made the food more approachable and kid friendly.
3. I made a last minute purchase of coconut water and that went over really well. It’s a nice item to include for a summer party.
4. I included a nicer option for the adults, a cheese board with fancy cheeses and things.
Connect with Allison: PrepDish.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prepdish/ Get your FREE mealplan at PrepDish.com/podcast OR text the word mealprep to 33777
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Get your free trial at prepdish.com/mpm for two weeks of free meal plans!
Prep Dish Party Menus: https://prepdish.com/shop/party/
10 Considerations on Beekeeping: https://prepdish.com/podcast-show-notes/ep98/
Prep Dish Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1537447836539716/