What’s to love about meal prep? When I come home after work and the gym all I have to do is heat up a quick meal. What do I hate about meal prep? I feel like I’m always eating leftovers. Let’s see how we can mix and match up some meals for 4 days and knock out 4 days worth of food in under an hour.
Breakfast
We’re going to have two options over 4 days for a bit of variety. If you’re not big on variety, save some time and double up one of these hot breakfasts.
Option 1:
Steel Cut Oats 4 minutes in the IP and a natural release leave this one practically hands-free cooking. Here’s a fun fact, oatmeal freezes well. Portion it off and pop a couple extra in the freezer for next week. In the morning, just heat up the oatmeal and add a scoop of your favorite protein powder and some nut butter for a satisfying meal. My favorite is oatmeal with chocolate protein powder and peanut butter. It tastes just like a cookie.
Option 2:
A sauté of Aidells chicken apple sausage, sweet potato, and sliced apples. Pop the sweet potato in the microwave to cook. Slice up the sausage add it to a hot pan with coconut oil, and a sliced apple to brown. Add the sweet potato when it’s ready and give a good stir. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Lunch
Again we’re going to do a couple options. Depending on how much variety you like in your meals, we can either double up on the dinner protein and use it for lunches or we can take a short cut or two. There are a few brands of deli meat that are pretty clean. Things I avoid are sugar, carrageenan, and when an ingredient list looks like a chemistry class. Canned tuna is another great option to have in the pantry to add variety.
Option 1:
A bag of salad greens is a great time saver. Using a bag of slaw mix for a cabbage salad is a crunchy option that doesn’t wilt down after a couple days. Add in a couple veggies like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, radishes, or mushrooms, etc. I like to avoid adding onion when meal prepping because I feel like it tastes like an onion salad by the next day. For variety I vary the dressing and greens. To up the protein a bit add a hard boiled egg. To increase the carbs drain a can of garbanzo beans and toss into the salad.
Option 2:
A hand held lunch always seems faster to eat. Grab your pre-cooked protein and add in some of the salad veggies from above and with an Egg Life wrap or tortilla and let’s wrap it up. A bit of spicy mustard, mayo, or dressing will complete it. Looking for a low carb crunch with your wrap? Try sliced radishes. They are also an excellent vehicle for moving dips like guacamole.
Dinner
Now we’re cooking!! If you’re going not going to use a prepared protein for lunch, we’re going to double the protein here. We can change the spice mix to create two different flavors. For example, chicken breasts or thighs can be seasoned with Cajun seasoning blend or everything but the bagel blend to taste totally different. If we do that, we can partition the differently seasoned meats by aluminum foil and cook it all on a sheet pan. Protein #2, how about pork tenderloin? It’s lean cut of pork and they come packaged 2 per package each tenderloin weighing in around a pound. What that means is if you’re not using it for your lunches, we can tuck it in the freezer for a ready made meal over the next week or two. So, pre-heat that oven and load up that sheet pan. Got a grill? Grill the meat up for an easy clean up– no pan to clean, score!
Veggie 1:
Sautéed peppers and onion. This is a winning combination for me since I could add chicken or pork with peppers and onions and top with salsa, etc. It could be turned into a quesadilla or over served salad greens.
Veggie 2:
Sautéed spinach and mushrooms. Versatile and reheats well. A quick sauté with some garlic and crushed red pepper in a bit of olive oil. If you’re not a fan of spinach and mushrooms other ideas include zucchini, green beans or a frozen vegetable of your choice works.
Veggie 3:
Microwave a couple sweet potatoes to have on hand. A carb conscious option is cauliflower rice. Or you can grab some salad greens and have another salad.