Our first and second posts addressed how to get started with meal prep and meal planning, and included some handy tips on making prep less of a chore.
Let’s get to the good stuff! The recipes!
Breakfast Batching!
I shared my favourite egg muffin frittata recipe in our last post, as well as a hack for cooking lots of hard-boiled eggs. What are some other yummy things that you can do to make your mornings easier?
Overnight Oats
There are a million different recipes for overnight oats – you can add all sorts of flavours, toppers and textures. Here is the basic recipe – have fun and experiment for yourself!
Ingredients: ⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt, ½ cup (heaping) rolled oats, ⅔ cup milk of choice, 1 tablespoon chia seeds or ground flax, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, dash salt, 0-2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup if you want sweetener
Whisk everything together and pour into a jar. Seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (but ideally overnight).
Frozen Smoothies
Don’t have time to actually blend individual ingredients every morning? No worries! Make smoothies ahead of time, pour them into muffin cups (the silicone individual ones), put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them ahead of time!
What’s my favourite smoothie? I love lots of different flavour profiles, but my go-to is greek yogurt, spinach, a banana, unflavoured protein powder and peanut butter. It ends up tasting like PB and banana and is totally awesome!
Lazy Lunches
Often lunch is an on-the-go meal which can cause stress and fast choices. Here are some tasty options that you can prep in advance that will help to make your lunches a breeze!
BLT Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients: iceberg lettuce leaves, shredded or deli turkey, cooked bacon, tomato slices, avocado slices, cracked pepper, basil mayonnaise
For basil mayonnaise: 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 garlic clove, salt, and pepper (blend and refrigerate)
On a lettuce leaf, layer the turkey, then basil mayo, then more turkey, then bacon, then tomato and avocado, then cracked pepper. Roll the leaf up like a burrito. Close with a toothpick, serve cold.
Mason Jar Salads
Again, there are tons of mason jar salad recipes. Here’s a winner: Mason Jar Taco Salad
Ingredients: shredded chicken (from earlier prep), ½ C salsa, ½ avocado, juice of 1 lime, ¼ C red pepper, ¼ C onion (onion and pepper can be raw or lightly sauteed), 1 chopped roma tomato, ½ C chopped cucumber, fresh spinach, 1 quart mason jar
Pour the salsa into the bottom of the mason jar. Blend the avocado and lime juice or mash in a bowl, then gently spread it on top of the salsa. Add your raw or lightly sauteed pepper and onion, then the shredded chicken. Top with chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumber and as much spinach as you can fit in the jar. Seal and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Easiest Tuna Salad in the World
This recipe is awesome. It’s simple, delicious and you can make it where you work.
Ingredients: 1 avocado, 1 can of tuna (in a tupperware container big enough to mix stuff in, with some cracked pepper), some lemon juice (also in a tupperware container), a knife and fork
Cut your avocado in half. With your fork, scoop out most of the avocado leaving about ¼ inch on the skin. Mash the avocado up with the tuna and lemon juice. Scoop it back into the avocado skin. Enjoy!
Simple Suppers
Prep should make your dinners quick and easy. Here are a couple of recipes that keep things simple for your busy nights.
Crockpot Chili (8-10 servings)
Ingredients: 2lbs ground beef or turkey, 1 diced onion, minced garlic, 1 diced green and/or red pepper, 1C shredded carrots, 1C diced celery, (1 diced jalapeno if you like it spicy), 2 diced tomatoes, 1 28-oz can of stewed tomatoes, 1 15-oz can of plain tomato sauce, 3tbsp chili powder, 1tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp basil, 1 tsp salt, 1tsp pepper, 1tsp onion powder, dash cayenne pepper
Sautee the meat, onions and garlic together until the meat is cooked (omit the onions if you like them a bit less carmelized). Put everything in your slow cooker, stir, then cook on low for about 6 hours. Top with sliced avocado. You can add a can of your choice of beans if you want a less paleo version.
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (4 servings)
Ingredients: 4 sweet potatoes, coconut oil/butter/ghee, 2-3 chicken breasts worth of shredded chicken from your prep, ¼ C diced celery, ¼ C diced carrots, ¼ C chopped broccoli, (optional ranch or blue cheese or barbeque sauce dressing)
Preheat oven to 400. Brush sweet potatoes with ghee and a dash of salt, prick them with a fork and bake on a lined baking sheet for 40 minutes. Sautee the carrots, celery and broccoli – when slightly soft, add the shredded chicken. Once potatoes are cooked, remove from oven and cut slits in the top. Open the potatoes up a bit with a fork, then spoon in the chicken filling. At this point, you can serve or wait for everything to cool then freeze. When you’re ready to serve – top with a little bit of dressing of choice (ranch, blue cheese, barbeque, etc) and/or cheese. If you freeze the sweet potatoes, make sure to defrost them first, then pop them in the oven at 400 and keep checking in until cooked.
Enquiring minds (Booty’s and mine) want to know – how are you incorporating meal prep into your life? What can we help you with? Hit us up!