Meal Prepping and Lasagna

I used to be really into meal prep. Especially when I was a new mom and working in the office still. It was usually 6pm by the time I got home with the baby, and I didn’t have a ton of time (or energy) to work on dinner. And, of course, there were the days she refused to let me set her down. If you’re a mom, you know how tricky it is trying to do, well, anything, with a child in your arms. You get pretty good at it after a while, but cooking a hot dinner while holding a young child is not the greatest idea. I mean, imagine the sauce popped (which happens) and splashed on the baby. How do you explain that to the pediatrician?

You also had to worry about the baby’s feeding schedule, and a hungry baby made for a miserable momma. On top of that, at a young age babies go to bed – for the first time – around 7. You had to hold the crying baby until she fell asleep, then while holding your breath and moving slower than a snail gingerly place her in the crib making sure she didn’t wake up. So, if you didn’t eat within that first hour of being home, you didn’t eat until like, 8:30 and that just wouldn’t work for me. Thankfully, my husband would cook dinner on the nights he was home before me (we did meet in Culinary School), so that always helped. Meal prep was the way to go, though. If I got home first all I had to do was grab something out of the freezer and either bake it or microwave it.

Lasagna was one of my favorites to prep. We’d make a big batch (about double this recipe), and use disposable foil pans to freeze it in. Since it was just 2 people eating, we used the smaller pans so one big batch left us with maybe 10 meals worth. Throw some spring mix on the plate and you had a full meal.

I’ve made this so many times that I have gotten a pretty good system worked out. I like to “weave” my lasagna. I lay the sheets of pasta lengthwise the first layer, then break a few sheets and lay them perpendicularly for the second, etc. This makes it sturdier so it doesn’t collapse. I use dried herbs often because they’re always in my cabinet and don’t spoil in my fridge. And it gives me a little more wiggle room for creativity. If I plan something ahead of time I’m more inclined to buy the fresh herbs.

I still love to prep lasagna, but now that I’m working from home, I just prep it on my lunch break. I’ll stick it in the fridge until it’s time to go in the oven. If you’re working outside of the home, you can prep the night before. My husband is a firm believer that lasagna always tastes better the second day, so we’ll just eat on this one pan of lasagna for a few days. I generally keep food in the fridge up to 5 days, so if we don’t eat it all in that timeframe, I’ll just freeze it in portions. Super simple, and absolutely delicious!

Classic Lasagna
Serves 8
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 hr 20 min

• Sauce:
  • 1 29 oz can tomato sauce
  • 1 15 oz can tomato sauce (I know, 2 different can sizes but it’s the perfect amount)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tbsp pepper
  • 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tbsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tbsp basil
  • 1/2 tbsp marjoram
  • 1/2 tbsp oregano
  • 1/2 tbsp parsley
  • 1 lb ground beef
• Remaining ingredients:
  • 1 box lasagna sheets
  • 1 20 oz container ricotta cheese
  • 1 20 oz container cottage cheese
  • 1 8 oz package mozzarella, shredded
  • canola oil spray

1. Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Drain off the fat (I put foil in a bowl, place a colander on top, pour the beef out, then back into the pan. Easy, and you can throw the foil away once the fat solidifies [put it in the fridge to speed up the process!])
2. Over medium heat, add all the tomato sauce ingredients and cook for approx. 10 mins. Remove from stove.
3. Spray a deep 9×13 pan with canola oil, and start layering the lasagna.
   • Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom
   • Take a piece of lasagna and spread some ricotta on one side (doesn’t have to be perfect, y’all. Just spoon it on there and spread it around a little. It’s all going to settle anyway. Try to use about 1/3 of the container per layer)
   • Place the lasagna sheet ricotta-side down in the pan and repeat until you have a full layer
   • Spoon approx. half the container of cottage cheese on top of the pasta and spread it out
   • Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella on top of that
   • Finish layering as follows: sauce, ricotta, pasta, cottage cheese, mozzarella, sauce, ricotta, pasta, sauce, and mozzarella
4. Bake at 350 covered with foil for approx. 1 hr (I usually place the baking dish on top of another foil covered baking sheet to catch anything that bubbles over).
5. After 1 hr, temp the lasagna with a thermometer (I know, you usually do this with meats, but this is an easy way to feel how well done the pasta is, and since I usually have this prepped ahead of time and it’s chilled, I can be sure it’s cooked to a safe temp). It might need another 20-30 mins depending on your oven.
6. Once it reaches 165 internal temp, take off the foil and continue cooking until the cheese is melted and bubbly (or broil it, just don’t forget about it!).
7. Let it rest for at least 10 mins (longer if you can resist) so it doesn’t flatten completely when you remove a slice.