Eggs provide a lot of nutrition and taste excellent, making them an ideal choice for meal prepping. We’ll explain the remarkable advantages of preparing scrambled eggs ahead of time and provide recipes for making them for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.
Why Scrambled Eggs Are Great for Meal Prep
What are the benefits of making scrambled eggs as part of meal prepping? Here are five reasons to include scrambled eggs in your regular meal prepping rotation:
1. Healthy
It can be said that eggs are one of the best breakfast choices for good nutrition. Eggs are stuffed with essential protein and nutrition while having a low measure of fat and calories. Eggs are a complete source of protein, consisting of all of the nine vital amino acids that the human body is not able to generate by itself. Eggs are full of protein which can help keep your muscles, skin, hair, and bones in good condition.
Eggs provide numerous advantages to your health, including protection of your vision and a lower risk of coronary heart disease. Research has demonstrated that consuming eggs can assist people in trimming down securely and effectively. Organizing yourself for success by preparing meals ahead of time for the week is a wonderful approach to eating eggs if you want to slim down.
2. Quick and Easy to Cook
Preparing eggs is a plus because they’re speedy and uncomplicated. No challenging elements or extensive culinary knowledge is needed to make a good serving of fluffy eggs. Even if you don’t have much prior cooking experience, you can easily prepare a simple yet delicious scrambled egg dish. You are not obligated to put in anything aside from salt and pepper when making scrambled eggs if that is not desired.
Scrambled eggs can be prepared the classic way by beating the eggs and then heating them in a pan over an average flame. By following this procedure, it won’t take long for your eggs to solidify and be cooked. It is effortless to make a number of batches of scrambled eggs on the stove and have enough eggs for the whole week in an instant.
If you’d like to make a larger quantity of scrambled eggs in a shorter amount of time, you can use the sheet pan method. To do this, whisk together the eggs, pour them onto a baking sheet, and then bake in the oven until the eggs have cooked through. When the eggs have cooled off, you can slice them into pieces for your meals throughout the week.
3. Simple to Store
Preserving a large amount of scrambled eggs is effortless when you have prepared them. You just need to make sure the eggs have cooled down completely, store them in a container with a tight lid, and close it. You can keep your carton of pre-cooked eggs in the fridge for up to seven days without them going off.
You can create a large amount of scrambled eggs for the four weeks if you keep the surplus eggs in the freezer. Scrambled eggs can be stowed away in the freezer and still remain fluffy and airy once defrosted.
4. Convenient
Having boiled eggs on hand can be very useful for having a speedy meal or snack during the week. It is quick to heat up previously scrambled eggs in the microwave. You can also enjoy eggs cooked a different way in an egg salad or a similar dish. If you don’t have much time, throwing some scrambled eggs in a tortilla is an easy and quick way to make a moveable meal. You can also make your scrambled eggs effortlessly portable by baking them in a muffin tin, offering convenient mini omelets that you can eat while on the move to your next appointment.
5. Affordable
Eggs can help you save money while also simplifying the process of meal planning. Making a batch of scrambled eggs for your meals for the week is much more affordable compared to having to buy breakfast or lunch daily on your way to work. You can avoid spending money on eating out by preparing eggs yourself. Furthermore, purchasing a carton of eggs is an extremely budget-friendly decision when you think about you receive 12 eggs for each carton. Eggs contain a great amount of protein, making them a satisfying meal that will give you a greater feeling of fullness than many other meals.
Scrambled Egg Meal Prep Ideas
1. Egg Scramble
If you desire to make your breakfast more exciting, you can be inventive with the ingredients you add to your scrambled eggs. As an illustration, this sofrito egg scramble dish includes components that add an extra kick of taste, like cilantro, bell pepper, tomatoes, chipotle chilis, and more. Essentially, you can add whatever seasonings, vegetables, meats, and cheeses that you want to your scramble in order to make it your own.
2. Breakfast Sandwich
You can throw together a fast breakfast sandwich in the morning by putting your precooked scrambled eggs between two pieces of toast, a bagel, or a buttery biscuit. You have the option of deciding what else you want to put in your sandwich – pile it up with bacon, tomato, avocado, cheese, or what ever else tickles your fancy! You can make a batch of breakfast sandwiches ahead of time and keep them stored in the freezer for a quick meal in the morning.
3. Quick Eggs Benedict
If your taste buds yearn for eggs benedict but don’t have the time to prepare it, try a simple rendition of this favorite. Put some sheet-pan scrambled eggs, a piece of Canadian or regular bacon, and a spoonful of Hollandaise sauce over a toasted English muffin to satisfy your craving. This speedy version of the well-known meal has the same robust flavor but does not take as long to prepare. Go ahead and switch out the bacon in your eggs benedict for some spinach to make eggs florentine. This will not only make the breakfast meal prep recipe healthier, but also more nutritious.
4. Scrambled Egg Roll-Ups
A dependable way to make a low-carb breakfast is to replace the tortilla with scrambled eggs as a wrap. Using a pan, pour a thin layer of liquid egg and cook it like a pancake to make a wrap that you can stuff for breakfast. Create an easy breakfast wrap by rolling your scrambled eggs into a thin circle and adding cheese, bacon, sausage, and bell peppers to it. This meal, full of protein, can be conveniently enjoyed while you’re on the move or at your workspace.
How to Master Scramble Egg Meal Prep
The simplest method of prepping scrambled eggs for meals is to cook them, let them cool, then divide into individual portions. You can also opt to make omelettes by using this technique. Let’s investigate further how to accomplish this.
When it comes to pre-cooking eggs for meal prep, people tend to have differing views on how soon they should be done before eating, as some believe that waiting 5-7 days before scrambling them greatly reduces the taste and quality.
Strive to make enough eggs for two to three days at a time to ensure that the food will be more recent when you are ready to eat it.
If you want to make your eggs for the week ahead, try these five strategies and keep in mind not to cook them all the way through — take them off the heat when they are about 90% done (slightly wet). This way, they won’t turn out brittle and hard when being reheated!
A good idea to remember: When you’re making eggs, always use a high-grade non-stick pan. This will lead to a more thoroughly cooked item and minimize the amount of time spent on cleaning!
5 Professional Chef Tips
I have personally used these throughout my career at various restaurant kitchens and have also applied it to my own meal prep efforts:
1. Figure out the amount of eggs you will require for the seven-day period.
2. Crack all your eggs first for the entire week
3. Based on your preference, weigh and cook your eggs
4. Only season your eggs while cooking them
5. Calculate the amount of eggs appropriate for your dietary requirements and keep them chilled.
Ingredients:
- Whole eggs, quantity based on weekly needs
- Spray oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Kitchen Needs:
- Large non-stick pan
- Rubber spatula
- Sheet Tray
- Tupperware of meal prep containers
Step 1: Build an Egg Cracking Station and Prep All Your Eggs
Search for a vessel or a bowl that is deep enough to fit all of your eggs at one time.
Put the container in the sink (if you can) and then balance a fine mesh sieve over it. Crack the eggs into the strainer.
Pouring the eggs through a sieve will help eliminate eggshells being in the mix and make tidying up afterwards much simpler. Instead of this, you may opt to put your eggs directly into the bowl and sift through afterwards to get rid of any bits of eggshell in the mixture.
Once all the eggs are broken open, put them in a hand-held blender and mix them together, then pass the mixture through a sieve. Take out the strainer and mix the contents together again to make sure the egg yolks and egg whites are fully mixed together. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can utilize a standard blender or manually mix it together using a whisk.
Only add the seasoning when you are cooking the eggs; this will ensure that you get the desired flavor and that the seasoning is evenly spread throughout all of the eggs. If you were to season your cracked eggs with salt and pepper and put it in the refrigerator, the flavoring would accumulate at the bottom of the box.
If you want to progress to the next level, acquire top notch eggs either at a wellness store or at a farmer’s market.
The yolks of grass-fed/free-range chickens are much darker than those of store bought eggs and are thus higher in nutritional value. You can observe this distinction easily.
Step 2: Portion and Prepare to Cook
When you are prepared to cook, use the following guide to discover how much eggs you will have to measure and prepare for the next few days.
If you wanted to pre-cook 3 days’ worth of eggs for your breakfast, you would need to cook 639 grams of raw eggs at one time–that’s equal to 4 eggs per day for 3 days. Keep your total measured egg quantity in a container.
Step 3: Heat a Non-Stick Pan, Cook, and Cool Eggs
Ideally, to save time, use a large non-stick pan. If you don’t own a spacious non-stick pan, try preparing your eggs in several batches in a tinier pan. In this situation, you will need to prepare your eggs in multiple sets.
Cook your pan over a moderate-to-high flame and generously coat with a sprayed oil. Once the oil is at a shimmering or slightly smoking temperature, quickly incorporate the eggs into the pan. Do not excessively fill the pan with raw eggs. Overfilling the pan will make it more difficult to scramble the eggs, and it’s probable that some of them will wind up spilled on the stove top.
You really need to have a rubber spatula; it’s extremely important. Using non-stick pans to cook the eggs necessitates the application of a rubber spatula or a wooden utensil to avoid scratching or compromising the pan. The rubber also aids in getting into the cracks of the pot, which is an added advantage. I can’t stress this enough.
When cooking, it is best to set your stove to medium-high and then add your desired cooking fat when the pan is hot. This should both cook the fat and counterbalance the chill caused by including the liquid eggs in the pan. Once you put the eggs in, lower the heat to medium to stop them from getting overdone, enabling them to stay warm enough for cooking to persist.
Add a splash of water to promote fluffiness. It is possible to make a dish similar to one made with milk, using any type of stock, but without the extra fat that milk contains. How does this work? As the eggs coagulate, the liquid in your chosen drink evaporates, leading to a light and airy scrambled eggs.
Add salt and pepper to the eggs as desired, and start stirring lightly while continually moving the eggs in the skillet. Bring the heat down to a medium level if the eggs are cooking too quickly.
While the eggs are being stirred, keep stirring them with the spatula to prevent big lumps from forming. When the eggs reach 90% of the way cooked, take them off the heat and carefully transfer them to a baking pan. Spread evenly. If you still have any uncooked eggs, go through the same steps again.
Cool down completely in the fridge uncovered.
Step 4: Portion into Containers and Store
Once the eggs have cooled, and you have determined the amount of eggs to be consumed per day. Refer to the chart above to accurately determine the amount of each container necessary to reach your macro goals.
To follow up on the example earlier on the blog and to further clarify:
If you are preparing 3 eggs per day, it would be equal to 159 grams of unprocessed egg. After cooking, you should have about 148 grams total. Split this amount among all the meal boxes and pack the necessary food for breakfast over the course of two or three days under 20 minutes!
Look at you go, you meal prep expert.