My Go-To Meal Prep

 
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I know that I am not alone when I say that I eating healthfully and mindfully is a challenge when working from home. Having 24/7 access to my refrigerator is dangerous, and leads to mindless eating, often out of boredom. Like many challenges, sometimes the solution takes just a little planning.

I have been a meal prepping for around 11 years now, and I have learned that there are three critical truths that must exist for me to eat healthy.

  1. It needs to be fast and easy to prepare multiple meals.

  2. It needs to taste just as good as the food I would rather be eating.

  3. It needs to be ready to eat in under 5 minutes.

Today I am sharing my lunch/dinner meal prep that delivers on all three of those standards, and much more. I don’t know what I would call this, but it was inspired by my favorite dish at True Food, the Ancient Grain bowl. Not only is it fast to make a healthy batch that tastes delicious and heats quickly, all of the ingredients are from Trader Joe’s.

TLDR: Just cook everything and distribute into equal parts in 5 containers/servings. These are the containers I use and love. Need more? Double all ingredients easily for 10 servings (which is what I do when I have Garrett with me all week). This “recipe” is so adaptable, I have made many variations by switching up the veggies, protein, grain, seasoning, etc. This is less of a recipe, and more of an idea.

 

Ingredients

  • Snow peas - one 8oz package

  • Brown rice (frozen isle) - one bag from a pack of three

  • Chopped mushrooms - one 10oz package

  • Chopped onion- one package

  • Zucchini- one package, slice

  • Yellow squash- one package, slice

  • Shwarma chicken- one package

  • Vegan Walnut Pesto- one package

  • Pine nuts or sunflower seeds- optional, but highly recommended

 

Instructions

  1. Lay out all of your Tupperware to start so you can easily distribute portions.

  2. Cook your veggies in your desired style. I am a fan of roasting everything in lots of olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, red and pepper flakes.

  3. Cook chicken according to package instructions, let rest for 15 minutes, and slice.

  4. Distribute each element of your meal prep amongst your Tupperware. I like the look of everything segmented as pictured above.

  5. Add a dollop of pesto and a sprinkle of pine nuts to every serving, seal, and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. Warm in microwave, mix, and serve.

I realize this recipe is more interpretive than a traditional recipe, but I hope I was able to inspire you to eat more healthfully and mindfully through this concept. Let me know what you think, and I will see you back here soon!





Angie StefanecComment